That Uppity Theatre Company

Joan Lipkin has been a fixture on the St. Louis theatre scene for some time now.

Recently, her That Uppity Theatre Company was one of the groups affected by the closure of the St. Marcus Theatre, in the City's Fox Park neighborhood. The old church basement was transformed for more than a decade into the area's most progressive theatre venue, featuring a high of experimental and gay-themed programming, as well as a good number of one-man and one-woman shows, brought to life by a handful of independent producers.

Lipkin, though, never lets a mere problem like the shutdown of a space keep her from moving in multiple directions at once.

In an e-mail exchange over a busy weekend -- she brought in Arelene Malinowski for a short run at COCA -- Lipkin talks to stlouis.citysearch.com about her plans for the immediate future.

Can you give me the brief history of That Uppity Theatre Company?

I lived several lives before I founded That Uppity Theatre Company (TUTC) in 1988. Like many people before me, particularly women and minorities, it became clear that I would have to start my own company in order to find a home for my work. Ironically, since that time, my work has been published and presented throughout the United States, Canada and Great Britain. And the alternative structure that I created has, on some level, because institutionalized.

How has the work of TUTC changed over time?

Over the past five years, my focus has shifted from primarily developing my own work to producing other people's work as well. My very first production was a collaborative piece by several writers called "See How They Run" about the 1988 Presidential election in which we staged our own debates and a woman played George Bush. Not the current George Bush. Oh, I know I'm dating myself. The other one! I loved doing political/social satire and collaborating with other artists, which led me to pieces like "Some of My Best Friends Are..." and "He's Having Her Baby," a gender reversed pro-choice musical comedy that I co-wrote with Tom Clear.

While the work was fun, some of the circumstances surrounding it weren't. I had a bomb threat and a series of harassing phone calls in response to "He's Having Her Baby." And with "Some of My Best Friends Are...," we struggled with a lack of visibility both from advertisers and the general media. So much so, that I took that autobiographical situation and incorporated it into the opening number. Happily, "Friends..." became the runaway hit of the season, sold out every performance, and was voted best play of the year by "Riverfront Times" and "Spotlight Magazine." But it could so easily have gone another way. So much of being successful is about perseverance and finding creative solutions, especially when things are rough.

Describe, in basic terms, the AC/DC series.

The Alternate Currents/Direct Currents series showcases work by and about gays, lesbians, feminists, people of color, the working class, those people who are not usually represented in mainstream culture or theater. Several years ago, I felt we were in an important historical moment as a culture. Within a brief span of time, we witnessed the debate over the NEA, the 500 year anniversary of the landing of Christopher Columbus, the Los Angeles uprising after the Rodney King verdict and the 1992 Republican National Convention.

As disparate as these events might seem, they all raised questions about what it means to be an American. Who speaks and who is spoken for. It was clear to me that the cultural wars in which we were engaged in this country were about the soul of the country and about what type of country we are going to be. Theater seemed like a natural and exciting place to explore these issues. And some of the hottest work going on was in the area of contemporary performance. So I decided to found the AC/DC series.

How long were you at the St. Marcus Theatre?

Several hairstyles and eyeglass prescriptions ago! In other speak, eleven years. I co-founded the space and have spent a substantial amount of my life there. As have a lot of our audience. To be asked to leave at this point, frankly, is devastating.

Did that situation seem to crop up very quickly, or was it a long-developing problem?

I have had a few problems with the congregation over the years, particularly around "My Queer Body," a brilliant piece by Tim Miller involving nudity and a proud assertion of gay male identity. I, the congregation and the minister had received harassing calls in response to the material and the fact that it was being produced in a church basement. On some level, I understood. The congregation was not accustomed to this kind of work and didn't understand it. So I used this occasion as an opportunity to bridge the gulf. Along with the minister, I worked with the congregation, as well as financial backers and the media, to create a context for the work and why it was legitimate. Ultimately, we worked it out, and the congregation and I have maintained a cordial and mutually respectful relationship for years now.

Although some members of the congregation have never been comfortable with all of the work that's gone on, there seemed to be an unspoken understanding, a civility that lasted for years. More recently, in the last year and a half or so, that changed. Some of the pieces that have been done, were of a more frivolous nature and didn't necessarily have the critical context or support in which to "legitimize" them. Given those instances, some of the congregation felt embarrassed and no longer committed to supporting the theater as a whole.

What will be your fondest memories of working in that space?

When you first see the staging of your latest piece, it's thrilling. It's that amazing leap from your own amorphous consciousness to some kind of concrete reality. Most of my plays, like "Some of My Best Friends Are...," "He's Having Her Baby," and "Small Domestic Acts" were all incubated in that sweet space. And they've grown up to find substantial outside lives. "Small Domestic Acts," in particular, began as a workshop production at the St. Marcus and has since been published, taped by the BBC, produced throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain and translated into Italian.

I doubt whether that could have happened without an affordable, available space in which to experiment and take risks. One of the things that was significant about "Small Domestic Acts" was that after the first workshop in which I solicited audience feedback, I rewrote the play and presented a much stronger version a year and a half later, again at the St. Marcus. What a luxury. And yet, what a necessity, too.

Do you see any natural "art zones" cropping up in town? Grand Center? Washington Avenue? South Grand? U City?

There are some great scenes that are happening throughout the St. Louis area. But the needs for a theatrical performance space are different than for the visual arts or even music. Even in a most rudimentary state, a performance space needs to be wired for lighting and sound. There are all sorts of building regulations, and of course, as a disability rights activist, accessibility is foremost in my mind. And as a person who loves to eat and drink, who believes that theater is a social occasion, I think that cafes and bars that are on the premises or nearby are an essential part of the equation. Frankly, to date, Grand Center has been quite disappointing in terms of its outreach to small and mid-sized arts organizations. Spaces tend to be unaffordable and/or booked up months and months in advance.

I am very excited about the new Forum for Contemporary Arts that will hopefully soon break ground next to the forthcoming Pulitzer building. But for an organization like mine, I don't see a lot else happening to make it possible for me to work in that significant part of town. Hard to say at the moment about Washington Avenue. It's a great club scene, but whether that can translate to performance spaces for companies like mine remains to be seen.

Frankly, with all the development going on down there, I'm a little concerned that the artists and young adults who have pioneered in rebuilding that area may be driven out by escalating rents and steeply priced condominiums. If that happens, it would be a shame. Because artists and young adults are the pulse of forward thinking and moving.

It will be interesting to see what happens when The Pageant, the new proposed musical venue that Joe Edwards of Blueberry Hill is spearheading, opens. U City would be a great place to have a theater and dance venue because of all the foot traffic and great places to chill before and after a performance.

I think South Grand has real possibilities. I personally have been looking at a lot of spaces around town since the eminent eviction from the St. Marcus. If any of your readers have ideas for accessible, centrally located venues, I'd love to hear from them via email at [email protected]. I'm interested in exploring as many new ideas as possible and I check my email many times a day!

You once worked as a columnist for the "Riverfront Times?" Would you ever care to do that type of writing again?

I really enjoy cultural commentary and might be open to something if it could work around my crazy schedule. Sometimes even scheduling a dental appointment can be hard to pin down these days.

Cultural commentary is one thing. Being a theater critic is another. It's not that I don't have the chops. In my "RFT" days, I didn't have the heart to give public printed feedback to people who didn't especially want it. But more to the point, personally, much of the work being done doesn't interest me sufficiently to warrant a deep level of scrutiny or analysis. But that's different than talking about larger cultural and political issues. I love to talk about those things and will usually rearrange my schedule if an opportunity presents itself. I think it's very important to have a voice in that kind of public conversation.

What are some of the current projects that you have underway?

I am committed to continuing the Alternate Currents/Direct Currents series but will need to find a new home for it. I am a strong proponent of collaboration and co-present the Women CenterStage! series, now in its fourth season, with the Center of Contemporary Arts (COCA) in University City. I have a strong creative life that also takes place outside St. Louis and I frequently travel to conduct workshops and attend productions of my own work.

Currently, a lot of my energy is focused on The DisAbility Project, a series of workshops that I have been conducting for several years now with disabled and non-disabled adults, to create a large scale theatrical piece about the culture of disability. We have been asked to present a lot of performances and lecture demonstrations for national conferences and other professional organizations. Our biggest challenge, not surprisingly, is not trying to generate a theatrical vocabulary to contain experience, but instead is locating accessible, affordable spaces in which we may share our work with a wider public. As this year marks the tenth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, I really hope we can find appropriate venues with which to share this groundbreaking work.

Who are some the folks that are doing innovative work around town, in your eyes?

Are you going to make me do a list? I hate lists. You know what happens...we'll finish talking and then I'll think of all the people I haven't named. Metropolis gives my 45 year-old heart hope for the future. Historically, St. Louis hasn't been all that welcoming to young energies or recent transplants. It's so refreshing that there are all these 20 and 30 somethings who are saying, "I don't care where you went to high school or who your family is or how much money you make. I'm here. And with a community of like-minded folk, I want to live my life and help transform this environment that is teaming with potential into something great."