ABOUT THE PLAY

"What is a rape culture? It is a complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent. In a rape culture, women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself. A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women and presents it as the norm.

"In a rape culture, both men and women assume that sexual violence is a fact of life, as inevitable as death or taxes. This violence, however, is neither biologically nor divinely ordained. Much of what we accept as inevitable is in fact the expression of values and attitudes that can change."

ABOUT LENNY BRUCE (1925-1966)

Leonard Alfred Schneider, aka, Lenny Bruce—an American stand-up comedian who satirized the hypocrisy of traditional American mores and values—shocked the comedic world with his loose, profane, and prophetic tongue. He ushered in a new era of comedy; one that dared to challenge the conventions of the stand-up milieu of slapstick jokes. His debut of social satire and strong language paved the way for such comedians like George Carlin, Richard Prior, and Eddie Murphy, Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld, Louis C. K. He was into pushing limits, and his impish attitude both charmed and outraged Americans. A creative genius, Lenny definitely explored the edges of the first Amendment, and although he was arrested for his use of the profane—perhaps what Americans remember most—he embodied the words of Kate Chopin: the artist must possess the courageous soul—the soul that dares and defies.

In Every Six Minutes "Dirty" Lenny's ghost (having been dead 48 years) reflects about his life, his comedic purpose, his regret about perpetuating patriarchal traditional gender roles, and most importantly, how all of this affected his ability to love.

CAST & CREW

MUSIC CREDITS

RELEVANT LINKS