There is a saying so old that nobody is sure when or where it originated, but it is to the effect that if you either have to laugh or cry. Laughing is one way of coping with things that are too terrible to face without either humor or despair.
As a brilliant illustration of that truth, Girls Kill Nazis exists.
Let’s see, the last five years have given us with the rise of an obvious fascist who has now completely captured one of our two major political parties. Not only did the neo-Nazis salute him with a seig heil, not only did he praise those marching with swastikas and changing Nazi slogans as “very fine people,” he literally tried to overthrow the US government so he could stay in office. And the end of this storyline is far from clear right now. There is a genuine likelihood that the Republican Party will end democracy in America the next time they are in power. That so many object to my calling this fascist is astonishing. It is literally textbook fascism, the kind you find in the Britannica article on the subject, or in Umberto Eco’s fine long-form discussion of the essential elements of fascism. I have come to the conclusion that some are just in deep denial and wishful thinking; but also that many on the right, particularly white evangelicals, are actually fully in favor of fascism if they can run it.
Girls Kill Nazis is set in a not-very-distant future, when the American Nazi Party has come into power, and is forcing its particular version of authoritarianism on the nation.
The play opens with a public service announcement, sponsored by the Evangelical Nazi Church of America. (Not subtle, but all too true right now.) The announcement encourages [white] Americans to “blow their whistle” when they see certain things. Things like “more than two Muslims speaking together,” or “colored folk out after dark,” or “Mexicans working without papers.” None of these seem as implausible as they did when I was a kid, that’s for sure.
As we soon find out, the title is both literally true, and also a commentary on the sexist attitudes of the Nazis, who keep calling the strong women featured in the play “girls.” But these women literally kill Nazis. The leader, Ruth, runs the local library, to the annoyance of the Nazi males. "Well I guess a man didn't want the job and someone has to run this place."
Ruth has already killed 20 Nazis, and intends to kill as many as possible before she gets caught. Which she fully intends. Just not yet. As she notes, she would have turned herself in long ago…but she isn’t done killing Nazis yet.
Ruth is joined by her young assistant, Sidney, a Hip Hop aficionado who is just done with all the sexist micro and macro aggressions she puts up with every day. These are all too familiar to anyone who watches chauvinist pigs belch their way through life casually demeaning women and girls. Just one example is from the drunken father who comes in to complain about Harry Potter, and can’t resist telling Sidney "Hell girl, do you even own any makeup? If you smiled more I bet you would look pretty, who knows in time you might even get a boyfriend."
Ruth hadn’t really intended to be more than a lone wolf, driven by her anger at mistreatment by her Nazi ex-husband and the disrespect she continues to get from so many others. But Sidney accidentally discovered all those heads in jars hidden behind a panel, and…well, she too was down for some casual murder.
And then there is Diana, a yoga instructor who killed a Nazi in self-defense, and liked the experience.
The final member of the “Nancy Wake Book Club” (named after the famed Nazi killer, of course) is the seemingly scatterbrained little old lady Betty, who tearfully confesses that she killed her husband when he went all Nazi on her. Using poisoned lemon bars, which play a key role in the rest of the play - apparently they work on ex-husbands too.
Everything is going swimmingly until their club (which does discuss books, and tries to leave the killings for other times - I mean, priorities, right?) is crashed by Bob. Well, crashed may be a little strong. Actually, there was a signup sheet, and he put his name down. But not only had nobody ever signed up for the club, certainly no man had ever considered doing so.
Bob was hilarious. He is an old hippie with a good heart, but not always a lot of sense. One of the ongoing jokes is that Bob never reads the books, he watches them. That is, he watches the movies. But he also is a HUGE Maya Angelou fan - he calls himself a “fangelou.” Bob has no idea that the club is about killing Nazis, and it is doubtful if he could ever kill anyone himself. However, as he reveals in a discussion of To Kill a Mockingbird, he agrees with the townspeople - and the Sheriff - who looked the other way when Boo Radley killed Bob Ewell. Which is exactly what he is convinced to do when he accidentally witnesses the women killing a Nazi.
Rounding out the characters are an assortment of Nazis (including Ruth’s ex-husband), and Bob’s son Horowitz, the Mexican-American sheriff of the Arizona town the play is set in. Sheriff Horowitz is no friend of the Nazis, but he is in the bind of decent law enforcement everywhere, often caught between duty in a broken system, and the desire to do the good he can in his position.
I won’t go any further into the plot, which is full of fun twists, scary moments, and slapstick violence. It is not, shall we say, subtle. But that isn’t the point. It says the truth loud and proud, and without concern for “good taste.” As Ruth puts it:
"Women killing Nazis is nothing new. It's just part of the story. If these walking abortions want to glorify a page from history, I say we show them what's on the next page."
And that really is the story. Fascism is nothing new: it is an evil that has existed since humans first discovered violence and tribalism. But along with that has always come the resistance, the good people of the world who stand up to those who reduce humanity to racial and gender hierarchies (which is really the core of Nazi belief, after all.) Whether we who resist do it like Corrie Ten Boom, who along with her family hid Jews in their home until they could be smuggled to safety; or like the teen girls who killed Nazis, or like the resistance members who risked their lives to publish the truth about the Nazi regime, we are all crucial to changing the direction of history, of pushing back against evil.
This was my first time back to The Empty Space since before the pandemic, although we did catch When We Were Young and Unafraid as a virtual event during the closure. One of the things that makes me happy is that all our local theaters made it through the pandemic. As I have noted about TES, they combine low prices, small budgets, and an intimate space with high artistic and production values. They are a real credit to our community
The casting was great as usual. Claire Rock had the lead as Ruth, and was fantastic as usual. (Her Tybalt four years ago was one of my favorite performances ever.) In her scenes in this one where she stares down Nazis with guns, she is entirely believable. When you are unafraid of death, you have the advantage.
I hardly recognized Maya Blackstone as Diana, as she looked a bit different than in other productions, but she has a great stage presence, and brought a “biker-chick” vibe to the role. She is another young actor worth watching.
Kate Gill was relatable as Betty, with just enough ditz to make the role comic but not so much as to undercut her competence as a killer.
Elizabeth Bomar has been in a number of productions as part of the ensemble, but I don’t think I had seen her in a lead role. She has long impressed me with her physicality and energy, but she was great in the role of Sidney.
In the role of the sheriff, Divyang Motavar brought a bit of small town folksiness. I don’t recall seeing him in anything previously, so he is new to me.
And then there was Bob. Ed French is another longtime stage regular (sometimes under the pseudonym of “Lord Skudley”) who is always fun to watch. As the main comic relief in this show, he was hilarious. And often touching, as when Sidney gives him a “fangelou” t-shirt. His shirts throughout the show are fun, and I think he owns most of them. (Including the “If your parents reject you for being LGBTQ, I am now your family” one.)
But what is a show like this without villains? The villains were great in this show, all of them very convincing and loathsome and oh-so-killable. Which is kind of fun because in real life, they are so far from horrible. So, Janice Bondurant, Morgan Roy, Nate Pugh, and Jordan Fulmer, you guys were great. I mean nasty and evil and good riddance. And all that. Good performances, enjoyed your work too even as I cheered for your deaths on stage.
I know I am leaving out a few ensemble people, and the sound and light crew. You guys were great too. In fact, I should probably call out John Morrison for the fantastic soundtrack. And yes, that bit of Mysterious Mountain by Hovhaness caught my ear.
Unfortunately, we went to the last weekend of the show, so it is too late to see it now. But consider the other shows at TES this and next year. The best bang for the buck you will ever find.
And Nazis, take note. We’ve seen this show before, and we know how it ends. Eventually, you will lose. I may not live to see it, but my kids probably will. And as long as human history is kept, you and your orange messiah, your great white hope, will be held in the same contempt as your forebearers.
***
Note on exhibit:
Usually, TES has an art exhibit to go with each production, featuring local artists. You can buy the artwork, so it serves both as a fundraiser and a way for local artists to make a living.
This time, however, they did an exhibit featuring the various women who resisted the Nazis, including the ones mentioned above.
I forget which of the teens it was, but the best story of all was about one of her assassinations. She was tiny, and looked far younger than she was, and could impersonate a child. On one occasion, she marched up to the local headquarters and asked to see the head honcho, using euphemism to indicate that she was pregnant out of wedlock. She was allowed up to see her “lover,” then shot him dead with a silenced gun, and slipped out the back door. That’s badass. And also telling that it apparently was “normal” for Nazi leaders to fuck underaged girls. But that is also neither new nor of the past. Jeffrey Epstein, anyone? (And anyone who thinks Il Toupee hasn’t sexually assaulted underaged girls wasn’t paying attention in the 1980s…)
Great exhibit, and really added to the event.
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