FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/ WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF

This is an excerpt from Ntozake Shange's choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf.
Each line break signifies a different lady speaking, all of whom are denoted in the script only by the color of their clothing.

a friend is hard to press charges against

if you know him
you must have wanted it

a misunderstanding

you know
these things happen

are you sure
you didnt suggest

had you been drinkin

a rapist is always to be a stranger
to be legitimate
someone you never saw
a man wit obvious problems

pin-ups attatched to the insides of his lapels

ticket stubs from porno flicks in his pocket

a lil dick

or a strong mother

or just a brutal virgin

but if you've been seen in public wit him
danced one dance
kissed him good-bye lightly

wit closed mouth

pressin charges will be as hard
as keepin yr legs closed
while five fools try to run a train on you

these men friends of ours
who smile nice
stay employed
and take us out to dinner

lock the door behind you

wit fist in face
to fuck

who make elaborate mediterranean dinners
& let the art ensemble carry all ethical burdans
while they invite a coupla friends over to have you
are suffering from latent racist bravado
& we are left wit the scars

bein betrayed by men who knew us

& expect
like the stranger
we always thot waz comin

that we will submit

we must have known

women relinquish all personal rights
in the presence of a man
who apparently cd be considered a rapist

especially if he has been considered a friend

& is no less worthy of being beat witin an inch of his life
bein publicly ridiculed
havin two fists shoved up his ass

than the stranger we always thot it wd be

who never showed up

cuz it turns out the nature of rape has changed

we can now meet them in circles we frequent for companionship

we see them at the coffee house

wit someone else we know

we cd even have em over for dinner
& get raped in our own houses
by invitation
a friend

The lights change, and the ladies are all hit by an imaginary slap.

ALYSSA'S MOVIE OF THE WEEK

MEAN GIRLS

In respect to the GSL dance this Saturday, Mean Girls is setting the precedent as the first film of the week. Although you wont see this title alongside other acclaimed films such as Citizen Cane or Doctor Zhivago, the dynamic/betchy combination of Tina Fey and Lindsay Lohan will prepare you to walk into the dance this Friday with confidence and the ability to look a guy in the eye and answer “Yes. I would like someone assigned to butter my muffin.”

A BRIEF CHECKLIST OF QUALITY FILMS

1)     Harold and Maude

2)     Gone with the Wind

3)     The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

4)     Ordinary People

5)     Splendor in the Grass

6)     Pulp Fiction

7)     The Piano

8)     Shawshank Redemption

9)     District 9

10)The Godfather

11) Mean Girls

12)  Sex, Lies, and Videotapes

13) Casablanca

14) Doctor Zhivago

15) All About Eve

16) Gilda

17) The Big Sleep

18) Out of Africa

19) Sophies Choice

20) La Vie en Rose

21) Bande e part

22) 8 ½

23) Finding Neverland

24) Manhattan/Annie Hall

25) Marie Antoinette

26) East of Eden/Rebel Without a Cause/Giant

27) Good Night and Good Luck

28) Memoirs of a Geisha

29) Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

30) The Pianist

31) The Reader

32) Doubt

33) And God Created Women

34) Two Women

35) North by Northwest

36) Reversal of Fortune

37) No Country for Old Men

38) Kramer Vs. Kramer

39) Chaplin

40) Milk

41) American Psycho

42) Big Fish

43) My Left Foot

44) The Deer Hunter

45) American Beauty

46) Pride and Prejudice

47) Brideshead Revisited

48) The Way We Were

49) Pretty Women

50) Rachel Getting Married

51) Factory Girl

52) The Hours

53) Fargo

54) Crazy Heart

55) Crash

56) The Wrestler

57) A Clockwork Orange

58) Revolutionary Road

59) I’m Not there

60) American Beauty

61) Citizen Kane

62) The Elephant Man

63) On the Waterfront

64) Casino

65) Raging Bull

66) There Will be Blood

67) The Tree of Life

68) The Graduate

69) Schindler’s List

70) Rear Window

71) A Streetcar Named Desire

72) Taxi Driver

73) Philadelphia

74)From Here to Eternity

75) Tootsie

76) Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

77) Forrest Gump

78) All the President’s Men

79) City Lights

80) In a Lonely Place

81) The Apartment

82) Badlands

83) Goodfellas

84) My Fair Lady/Roman Holiday/ Breakfast At Tiffany’s

85) Mommy Dearest

86) Blue Velvet

87) The Usual Suspects

88) The Untouchables

89) The Silence of the Lambs

90) Memento

91) Apocalypse Now

92) City Lights

93) Taxi Driver

94) The Departed

95) The Ocean Movies

96) To Kill a Mockingbird

97) Requiem of A Dream/Pi

98) Modern Times

99) Rashomon

100) Some Like it Hot

101) The Big Lebowski

102) Touch of Evil

103)It Happened One Night

104) Fanny and Alexander

105) Magnolia

Some Things an Actor Needs to Know (Part 1)

ALL HUMAN BEINGS LOVE TO SUFFER

One of the greatest competitions between human beings is about who has suffered the most:
1. I have suffered more than you have;
2. I have suffered more than anyone ever has;
3. You'll never know how much I've suffered, but you could at least try;
4. Let me tell you the extend of my suffering (you'll never believe it);
5. My childhood was total suffering, my wife doesn't understand me, I'm too sensitive, my trouble is I'm too truthful. Etc.

The reason people love to suffer is because it makes them right.

The reason people love to suffer is because it proves how deeply they feel; what profound caverns of emotions exist beneath that brave, smiling surface!

People fight hard to prove the extent of their suffering. They feel no one is listening. (And, most of the time, they're right. We human beings are incredibly self-absorbed.)

In making the competitive choices for any scene, an actor must always keep in mind how much we all suffer and how hard it is to prove.

Study LUV, Murray Schisgal's very funny play, which has the truest scences of competitive suffering. Note particularly the section on the bridge where Ellen and Milt (or is it Harry?) compete over who had the most tragic childhood. "I was raped by two boys on Parsons Boulevard... I was raised by an uncle who was an alcoholic...I never got any presents on my birthday." The extremities presented may seem farcical, but they are also real. Compete. If you don't, you'll suffer alone. What's the good of suffering if no one else knows?


- excerpt from AUDITION, written by casting director Michael Shurtleff

Visual Art: Pacific Standard Time

For years, New York City has been considered the mecca for the arts in America. Los Angeles arts have always been overlooked in the global art scene. This month marks the beginning of Pacific Standard Time, a Getty - sponsored collaboration of over 60 cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to celebrate the birth of the Los Angeles art scene. Museums like MOCA, LACMA, and the Hammer, as well as private residences and smaller galleries will feature works of the major L.A. art movements during 1945 - 1980.

Currently, 36 out of the approximate 70 exhibitions are open. Exhibitions range from Queer Art and Culture in Los Angeles (ONE Archives West Hollywood and ONE Archives West Adams) to Indoor Ecologies: The Evolution of the Eames House Living Room (LACMA) to L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema (opening soon at the Billy Wilder Theater). Practically all mediums are featured in this collaboration - film, photography, fine art - from every demographic that makes up Los Angeles today.

These exhibitions will continue opening throughout October, running until May. This is the biggest and most exciting art event to occur in the Southern California area - practically every gallery and museum you can think of is participating! Click here for a list of daily events all through next year. We'll keep you updated on major exhibits, openings, lectures, screenings, etc. Visit pacificstandardtime.org for more information.

PST also creates these awesome promotional videos. This one features artist John Baldessari and actor Jason Schwartzman. Others include Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers with artist Ed Ruscha.



Spinning, by Joe Bohlinger

I didn’t remember having two doorknobs…
They seemed to float before me, flickering golden embers that burned to the unfamiliar touch. I groped for the right one. I slapped my hand angrily towards the light until I felt the solidity and coolness that I had grasped so many times before. I was back at the apartment. I was home.
***
I don’t like it when Mommy leaves. The house makes scary noises. It’s really hard to sleep with my coughing. It hurts so bad when I cough. My chest hurts so bad. I wish Mommy was home. I just can’t stop coughing.
***
“What the h-h-hell is that?” I yelled as Gabriel’s coughing stung my ears. I couldn’t deal with any loud noises right now. My vision rattled and my head felt heavy. The bitter and fiery taste hadn’t left my throat, and I could smell the acute sourness leave my mouth with each breath. The coughing wouldn’t stop. “Shut up Gabriel! I’m coming!”
***
I don’t like it when Mommy yells. It makes me scared. The house is already yelling at me. It croaks and creaks and makes the scariest noises. It’s so big. I feel lost inside it. I could hear Mommy making loud noises in the kitchen.


***
“Where is the goddamn cough medicine?” I heard myself say aloud. Gabriel’s cries echoed in repeat like a broken record: Spinning. Spinning. Spinning. My head was spinning. I no longer seemed to control my movements. My hand floated, now the arm of a ghost, up to the cabinet. Numbness crept about my body, latching itself on to my nerves. My detached arm flopped about the cabinet, grasping and groping for the small pink bottle. The ceramic plates toppled to the floor. The Tupperware lids hit me in the head. Where was that goddamn bottle…
***
“Mo-” I coughed before I could finish. It hurt my chest.
***
“Gabriel! You’d better stop coughing! I told you I’m coming!”
***
I held in the coughs as best as I could so Mommy wouldn’t be mad at me.
***
Finally. The fluorescent kitchen light made the pink bottle glow. I pulled it off the shelf. I held it up to my eyes. Spinning. Spinning. Spinning. The words spun before me. I could see the number one. I could see the word Gdenar. Danger? The words were spinning… I could see Warning. I saw a 1-800 phone number. I saw the word tablespoon. Gabriel let out a stifled cough. The apartment was so small, I could feel the hot air from his cough. “Damnit Gabriel! I’m coming!”


***
I didn’t want Mommy to come anymore. Her noises are scary. I can hold the cough in till I fall asleep.
***
The hallway looked so narrow, and the ceiling was so low. I didn’t know if I could make it all the way to Gabriel’s room. I leaned on the wall as I walked. My arm scraped against the white paint gluing me to the wall. I slid, leaving a trail of stinging alcoholic discretion to forever stain the whiteness behind me.
***
Mommy was coming. I could hear her in the walls. I covered my ears. I tried not to hear. I closed my mouth. I tried not to cough. I shut my eyes. I tried not to cry. I held my nose. I tried not to breathe.
***
I didn’t open Gabriel’s door. I seemed to slither beneath it. He was huddled on his bed. His chest heaved up and down, but his mouth remained closed. The fan on his ceiling was spinning. Spinning. Spinning. Spinning.
***
Mommy fell on top of me. It hurt.
***
My eyes opened, and I was draped across Gabriel. I tried to stand, but I just fell back upon him.
***
I tried so hard to keep quiet, but it hurt so bad.
***
He whimpered when I fell on top of him. I knew I couldn’t stand. I handed him the pink bottle. I could feel the air spinning from the fan. Spinning. Spinning. Spinning. I handed Gabriel the bottle. “Here honey, drink this.”
***
“All of it Mo-” I coughed. I couldn’t stop.
***
Oh god. The coughing hurt my head so bad. I tried to remember the bottle. The words were just spinning though. Spinning. Spinning. Spinning. But he was coughing so much. “Drink it sweetie.”
***
I didn’t want to drink it. “It’s too much Mommy.”
***
“Drink it Gabriel! Now!”
***
It tasted icky. I felt sick.
***
He kept coughing.
***
Everything was dark. I could barely see Mommy.
***
He stopped coughing.
***
I stopped coughing! Mommy was always right. I looked at her, on top of my legs. I felt happy.
***
The fan was spinning.
***
My heart was quiet now. I couldn’t hear it in my chest. I couldn’t see mommy.
***
Spinning.
***
“Mommy?” I thought, but I couldn’t talk it.
***
Spinning.
***
It was dark now…
***
Spinning…
***
Imagine you are spinning. You move around and around. But you always return to the same place. No matter how far away from it you go, you always come back. If you’re spinning, you will return to it. It’s always the same. You can trust that you will always come back to that one spot. And, believe it or not, we are all spinning. Dancers spin, making sure they choose a spot to come back to so they can stay on balance. The Earth spins, and the days and nights always come at the same time. And children spin. They spin around and around with only one thing to come back to. Mommy and Daddy. No matter how far they go, children can always come back to Mommy and Daddy. But,
what happens when Mommy and Daddy are spinning too?

Liu Bolin, "The Invisible Man"

Say hello to the real-life Invisible Man, Chinese contemporary artist Liu Bolin. Bolin graduated from the sculpture department of Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts and is now best known for taking photographs of himself or other people painted head to toe in order to blend in to whatever background. 

This photograph is part of Bolin's "Dragon Series," which was featured in his most recent show presented by Eli Klein Fine Art in New York. Since his first solo shows in Beijing in 1998, Bolin has showcased his work in solo and group shows worldwide, including the U.S., France, and Venezuela. 

Kenny Scharf x Liu Bolin

Part of Bolin's "Hiding In Italy" series

To see more of Bolin's work, click here. If you enjoy Liu Bolin's work, check out artist Alexa Meade, who also paints on people in order to make them look like actual paintings.

Before we begin.

Mission Statement: The PAC aims to provide a welcoming environment for artistic expression by all while maintaining a high artistic and creative standard.

MEET US:
Rita G.: Head of Performing Arts Department
Rachel N.: Head of Visual Arts Department
Joe B.: Head of Music Department
Alyssa P.: Head of Film Department
Kelsey K.: Head of Literary Arts Department