USABLE PERFORMANCE FEMINISM FOR OUR TIME 345 in psychology,she and a girlfriend attended a production of Lady in the Dark,an event Friedan remembered in part for an incident that occurred in a psychology department encounter shortly after she saw the musical.Lady:in the Dark is about a successful magazine editor who undergoes Freudian analysis,resulting in her leaving her job to marry.Friedan and her friend cringed when they returned to their office and one of their professors-a liberal,a pacifist,and a citizen committed to anti-Nazism-re- marked,"O,here come the career women."16 By the time she wrote The Feminine Mystique,Friedan had a clear sense that both attending the theatre and writing plays with useful messages were salutary activities. So,too,was participating in theatre as an activity of one's own.The Feminine Mystique reflects these assumptions.For instance,Friedan cites the case of a housewife who had given up her job in response to her husband's displeasure over her "failure to 'play the feminine role';she was trying to compete with him;she wanted 'to wear the pants.'" The woman "absentmindedly achieved flamboyant local success as the director of a little-theater group,"but gave up her enjoyable work when her son was hit by a car while she was at a rehearsal.She took this to mean that she was at fault for the acci- dent.7 Friedan makes clear her own belief that the woman should have remained with her theatre project for the sake of personal wholeness.Friedan also blames the sort of unsatisfying sexual relations she highlights in Mystique for "the declining audience of Broadway theaters...and the American novel,"again positing theatre as a significant venue for emotionally and intellectually engaged adults.1 She uses plays(most notably A Doll House)as repositories of important messages for feminism and as indicators of what is unhealthy in the America of which she wrote.1 Nonetheless,her looking to Broadway for indicators of progressive thinking shows a belief in theatre-or at least a certain kind of "serious"theatre-as a locus of significant ideas. Casual students of American history may make their own connections between Friedan's 1963 Feminine Mystique and the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (although there is no direct indication that Friedan herself used the musical as inspiration or example for the book).In 1962,the same year Friedan completed the manuscript of Mystique and published an article excerpted from the book in Mademoiselle,How to Succeed garnered seven Tony Awards,including Best Musical, as well as a Pulitzer Prize for drama-only the fourth musical to win the latter.How to Succeed,which ran for 1,417 performances in its initial incarnation and was revived on Broadway in 1995,is a satire of corporate ladder-climbing,but for feminists,its signature poison kiss is the lyrically sappy song,"Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm," in which the ingenue-a secretary-rhapsodizes about her desire to marry,retreat to suburbia,and watch her adored hubby "go onward and upward."She fully expects to be ignored and awaits the day that she can announce she's pregnant.20 Friedan's 16 Horowitz,Betty Friedan,98.Horowitz reads Friedan's interest in the play in terms of the pro- tagonist's recovery of the key trauma of her life:the moment when her father contrasted his"ugly duckling"daughter with his beautiful wife(99). Betty Friedan,The Feminine Mystique(1973;repr,New York:Dell,1974),340-41. 1sbid,253. 1 Ibid.,75-76.Regrettably,her indictment of Tennessee Williams's "man-eating"women(with a focus on Suddenly Last Summer)in the context of the nervous-making "increasingly overt male homosexual- ity"falls wide of any mark of standing the test of time;see ibid.75-76,262-63. http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/howtosucceedinbusinesswithoutreallytrying/happytokeephisdinnerwarm.htm (accessed 14 March,2007).Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. This content downloaded from 183.195.251.166 on Sat,16 Jan 2016 12:04:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
USABLE PERFORMANCE FEMINISM FOR OUR TIME / 345 in psychology, she and a girlfriend attended a production of Lady in the Dark, an event Friedan remembered in part for an incident that occurred in a psychology department encounter shortly after she saw the musical. Lady in the Dark is about a successful magazine editor who undergoes Freudian analysis, resulting in her leaving her job to marry. Friedan and her friend cringed when they returned to their office and one of their professors - a liberal, a pacifist, and a citizen committed to anti-Nazism - remarked, "O, here come the career women."16 By the time she wrote The Feminine Mystique, Friedan had a clear sense that both attending the theatre and writing plays with useful messages were salutary activities. So, too, was participating in theatre as an activity of one's own. The Feminine Mystique reflects these assumptions. For instance, Friedan cites the case of a housewife who had given up her job in response to her husband's displeasure over her "failure to 'play the feminine role'; she was trying to compete with him; she wanted 'to wear the pants.'" The woman "absentmindedly achieved flamboyant local success as the director of a little-theater group," but gave up her enjoyable work when her son was hit by a car while she was at a rehearsal. She took this to mean that she was at fault for the accident.17 Friedan makes clear her own belief that the woman should have remained with her theatre project for the sake of personal wholeness. Friedan also blames the sort of unsatisfying sexual relations she highlights in Mystique for "the declining audience of Broadway theaters . . . and the American novel," again positing theatre as a significant venue for emotionally and intellectually engaged adults.18 She uses plays (most notably A Doll House) as repositories of important messages for feminism and as indicators of what is unhealthy in the America of which she wrote.19 Nonetheless, her looking to Broadway for indicators of progressive thinking shows a belief in theatre - or at least a certain kind of "serious" theatre - as a locus of significant ideas. Casual students of American history may make their own connections between Friedan's 1963 Feminine Mystique and the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (although there is no direct indication that Friedan herself used the musical as inspiration or example for the book). In 1962, the same year Friedan completed the manuscript of Mystique and published an article excerpted from the book in Mademoiselle, How to Succeed garnered seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, as well as a Pulitzer Prize for drama - only the fourth musical to win the latter. How to Succeed, which ran for 1,417 performances in its initial incarnation and was revived on Broadway in 1995, is a satire of corporate ladder-climbing, but for feminists, its signature poison kiss is the lyrically sappy song, "Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm," in which the ingenue - a secretary - rhapsodizes about her desire to marry, retreat to suburbia, and watch her adored hubby "go onward and upward." She fully expects to be ignored and awaits the day that she can announce she's pregnant.20 Friedan's 16 Horowitz, Betty Friedan, 98. Horowitz reads Friedan's interest in the play in terms of the protagonist's recovery of the key trauma of her life: the moment when her father contrasted his "ugly duckling" daughter with his beautiful wife (99). 17 Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (1973; repr., New York: Dell, 1974), 340-41. 18 Ibid., 253. 19 Ibid., 75-76. Regrettably, her indictment of Tennessee Williams's "man-eating" women (with a focus on Suddenly Last Summer) in the context of the nervous-making "increasingly overt male homosexuality" falls wide of any mark of standing the test of time; see ibid., 75-76, 262-63. 20http://iwvw.stlyricsxom/lyrics/howtosucceedinbusinesswithoutreallytrym^ (accessed 14 March, 2007). Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. This content downloaded from 183.195.251.166 on Sat, 16 Jan 2016 12:04:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
346 Dorothy Chansky New York Times obituary quoted the song verbatim to limn the woman whose chains Friedan sought to break as "happy to keep his dinner warm till he came wearily home from downtown."21 While it would be foolish to disregard the satirical purpose of How to Succeed,it would also be wrong to disregard the setup upon which it depended.Whether or not corporate America was rife for deflating because of its infrastructure based on image, fakery,opportunism,intimidation,acquiescence,and dumb luck,the infrastructure was gendered.When one of the musical's numbers admonishes the leering executives that "A Secretary Is Not a Toy,"it is skirt-chasing within-not the gross injustice of-a gen- dered division of labor that was being lampooned.Friedan's blockbuster book forever changed any hegemonic sense that such a setup was invisible,fair,or acceptable. Although How to Succeed seems at first glance like the logical place to start in con- sidering the intertwining of Friedan's second-wave feminist agenda with both theatre and "real life,"her most politically astute biographer offers insights that suggest starting earlier and elsewhere.Daniel Horowitz's Betty Friedan and the Making of the Feminine Mystique is subtitled,The American Left,the Cold War,and Modern Feminism. Horowitz's project is to show that Friedan's sensibilities and ideas about women's inequality,class inequality,and social justice did not spring full-blown in reaction to a mind-numbing routine of carpools and cookies in Westchester.Rather,by tracing the details of her college and pre-marriage careers,Horowitz demonstrates Friedan's long-standing involvement with and sophisticated understanding of activism.Not only did she study with progressive economist Dorothy Wolff Douglas at Smith(in a course that "emphasized labor history,utopian movements,and socialist thought"), but she also attended summer programs at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee.2 Highlander's mission was to fight for social justice for African Americans and women; among other activities,Friedan participated in a writers'workshop where the genres covered for imparting effective documentary information included drama.After leaving graduate school,Friedan worked as a labor journalist for nine years,first for the Feder- ated Press(a left-wing news service,in a position she got because of her Highlander background)and then for UE News,"the official publication of the United Electrical, Radio,and Machine Workers of America,a radical union in the forefront of the fight for social justice for African American and women workers."23 Why not,then,trace Betty Friedan's legacy retroactively to Pajama Game,the 1954 musical in which a union activist at a factory falls in love with a new supervisor and manages to get both the man and the salary increase?This show,like How to Succeed, was a major hit,running for 1,063 performances and winning the 1955 Tony for Best Musical,as well as the 2006 Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.A revised trajectory in theatre as a feminist tool would begin with what Friedan advocated rather than what she deplored.Ben Brantley's review of the 2006 Broadway revival describes it as"a bona fidc adult love affair,with all its attendant frictions,translated into the populist poetry of hummable songs."All these features-adultness foremost-emerge in the song"7 Cents,in which the workers figure out what they can do with the raise for 21 Margalit Fox,"Betty Friedan,Who Ignited Cause in 'Feminine Mystique,'Dies at 85,"New York Times,5 February 2006. 2 Horowitz,Betty Friedan,52 23bid,121. This content downloaded from 183.195.251.166 on Sat,16 Jan 2016 12:04:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
346 / Dorothy Chansky New York Times obituary quoted the song verbatim to limn the woman whose chains Friedan sought to break as "happy to keep his dinner warm till he came wearily home from downtown."21 While it would be foolish to disregard the satirical purpose of How to Succeed, it would also be wrong to disregard the setup upon which it depended. Whether or not corporate America was rife for deflating because of its infrastructure based on image, fakery, opportunism, intimidation, acquiescence, and dumb luck, the infrastructure was gendered. When one of the musical's numbers admonishes the leering executives that "A Secretary Is Not a Toy," it is skirt-chasing within - not the gross injustice of - a gendered division of labor that was being lampooned. Friedan's blockbuster book forever changed any hegemonic sense that such a setup was invisible, fair, or acceptable. Although How to Succeed seems at first glance like the logical place to start in considering the intertwining of Friedan's second- wave feminist agenda with both theatre and "real life," her most politically astute biographer offers insights that suggest starting earlier and elsewhere. Daniel Horowitz's Betty Friedan and the Making of the Feminine Mystique is subtitled, The American Left, the Cold War, and Modern Feminism. Horowitz's project is to show that Friedan's sensibilities and ideas about women's inequality, class inequality, and social justice did not spring full-blown in reaction to a mind-numbing routine of carpools and cookies in Westchester. Rather, by tracing the details of her college and pre-marriage careers, Horowitz demonstrates Friedan's long-standing involvement with and sophisticated understanding of activism. Not only did she study with progressive economist Dorothy Wolff Douglas at Smith (in a course that "emphasized labor history, Utopian movements, and socialist thought"), but she also attended summer programs at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee.22 Highlander's mission was to fight for social justice for African Americans and women; among other activities, Friedan participated in a writers' workshop where the genres covered for imparting effective documentary information included drama. After leaving graduate school, Friedan worked as a labor journalist for nine years, first for the Federated Press (a left-wing news service, in a position she got because of her Highlander background) and then for UE News, "the official publication of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, a radical union in the forefront of the fight for social justice for African American and women workers."23 Why not, then, trace Betty Friedan's legacy retroactively to Pajama Game, the 1954 musical in which a union activist at a factory falls in love with a new supervisor and manages to get both the man and the salary increase? This show, like How to Succeed, was a major hit, running for 1,063 performances and winning the 1955 Tony for Best Musical, as well as the 2006 Tony for Best Revival of a Musical. A revised trajectory in theatre as a feminist tool would begin with what Friedan advocated rather than what she deplored. Ben Brantley's review of the 2006 Broadway revival describes it as "a bona fide adult love affair, with all its attendant frictions, translated into the populist poetry of hummable songs." All these features - adultness foremost - emerge in the song "7Vi Cents," in which the workers figure out what they can do with the raise for 21 Margalit Fox, "Betty Friedan, Who Ignited Cause in 'Feminine Mystique/ Dies at 85," New York Times, 5 February 2006. 22 Horowitz, Betty Friedan, 52. 23 Ibid., 121. This content downloaded from 183.195.251.166 on Sat, 16 Jan 2016 12:04:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
USABLE PERFORMANCE FEMINISM FOR OUR TIME 347 which they are fighting.Like several other songs in the show,this one involves male and female turn-taking within the same song-that is,a kind of egalitarianism-at both the musical and lyrics levels.In terms of content,the song reveals something that receives as much attention in this particular show as the usual love interests and flirtation at the heart of so many plays and musicals:the desire for justice in the workplace.The working women are not looking to retire into the household,and the working men do not see their futures primarily in terms of figuring out"how to succeed in business." Both envision being heard,redressing inequity,and spending their increased earnings. As the two union members-a man and a woman-rhapsodize about what they could do over time with the raise,it is the man who wants a washing machine and carpeting for the living room,while the woman imagines travel and,finally,owning a factory so the boss can work for her.Moreover,for the latter to come true,the woman who sings the lyric will need to earn her seven-and-a-half cents per hour(with a little overtime) over a twenty-year period.Since she is also the leading lady and we are rooting for her to get her guy,it is clear that she does not equate the resolution of her problems with the conclusion proffered in the typical marriage plot.Dropping out to stay home does not enter the equation,but neither does social climbing.The benefits of union action make for a good workplace and a good love story. Unions were not a panacea for their women members.Horowitz notes the failures of the Left in general and unions in particular to support women members'needs for systematic attention to child care,maternity leave,equal pay,and other forms of concrete social change that contributed to Friedan's disillusionment with the labor movement as a means to women achieving equality.24(Unions were,however,forums for discussing these issues.)Horowitz's sympathetic assessment of Friedan's repressing her labor- activist past locates her silence in a fear of McCarthyism and red-baiting-a fear that, for those who observed it firsthand,could remain alive and frightening regardless of the passage of time and changes in cultural perceptions.Whatever Friedan's personal disappointments,though,it is worth asking:What kept labor unions and their collec- tive possibilities out of mainstream American theatre after Pajama Game?25 Nelson Lichtenstein,in State of the Union:A Century of American Labor,locates an "erosion of the union idea"during the 1950s and 1960s.2 The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 (passed the same year as the president outlined the Truman Doctrine-the "contain- ment"policy that marked the start of the cold war)defanged trade unions by ban- ning union shops,enacting "right to work"statutes,forbidding secondary boycotts (resistance by other,sympathetic unions),forbidding unions to contribute to political parties,and requiring union leaders to attest that they were not members of the com- munist party.(Management was not bound by the same requirement.)Unions became many,fragmented,and top-heavy with their own management,and their focus on cost-of-living increases above all else made them comfortable-enough bedfellows with M Horowitz,Betty Friedan,139-42 Bells Are Ringing,the 1956 musical,features a female lead who is a telephone operator at an an- swering service and who previously sold ladies'underwear.The 1949 South Pacific's female lead is a nurse.Beginning in 1962,working women as characters in musicals who were not singers or actresses might be secretaries,as is the case in that year's How to Succeed and in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, and later in Promises,Promises.The 1970 Company features an airline stewardess Nelson Lichtenstein,Stale of the Union:A Century of American Labor (Princeton,NJ:Princeton Uni- versity Press,2002)."Erosion of the Union Idea"is the title of chapter 4. This content downloaded from 183.195.251.166 on Sat,16 Jan 2016 12:04:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
USABLE PERFORMANCE FEMINISM FOR OUR TIME / 347 which they are fighting. Like several other songs in the show, this one involves male and female turn-taking within the same song - that is, a kind of egalitarianism - at both the musical and lyrics levels. In terms of content, the song reveals something that receives as much attention in this particular show as the usual love interests and flirtation at the heart of so many plays and musicals: the desire for justice in the workplace. The working women are not looking to retire into the household, and the working men do not see their futures primarily in terms of figuring out "how to succeed in business." Both envision being heard, redressing inequity, and spending their increased earnings. As the two union members - a man and a woman - rhapsodize about what they could do over time with the raise, it is the man who wants a washing machine and carpeting for the living room, while the woman imagines travel and, finally, owning a factory so the boss can work for her. Moreover, for the latter to come true, the woman who sings the lyric will need to earn her seven-and-a-half cents per hour (with a little overtime) over a twenty-year period. Since she is also the leading lady and we are rooting for her to get her guy, it is clear that she does not equate the resolution of her problems with the conclusion proffered in the typical marriage plot. Dropping out to stay home does not enter the equation, but neither does social climbing. The benefits of union action make for a good workplace and a good love story. Unions were not a panacea for their women members. Horowitz notes the failures of the Left in general and unions in particular to support women members' needs for systematic attention to child care, maternity leave, equal pay, and other forms of concrete social change that contributed to Friedan's disillusionment with the labor movement as a means to women achieving equality.24 (Unions were, however, forums for discussing these issues.) Horowitz's sympathetic assessment of Friedan's repressing her laboractivist past locates her silence in a fear of McCarthyism and red-baiting - a fear that, for those who observed it firsthand, could remain alive and frightening regardless of the passage of time and changes in cultural perceptions. Whatever Friedan's personal disappointments, though, it is worth asking: What kept labor unions and their collective possibilities out of mainstream American theatre after Pajama Game?25 Nelson Lichtenstein, in State of the Union: A Century of American Labor, locates an "erosion of the union idea" during the 1950s and 1960s.26 The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 (passed the same year as the president outlined the Truman Doctrine - the "containment" policy that marked the start of the cold war) defanged trade unions by banning union shops, enacting "right to work" statutes, forbidding secondary boycotts (resistance by other, sympathetic unions), forbidding unions to contribute to political parties, and requiring union leaders to attest that they were not members of the communist party. (Management was not bound by the same requirement.) Unions became many, fragmented, and top-heavy with their own management, and their focus on cost-of-living increases above all else made them comfortable-enough bedfellows with 24 Horowitz, Betty Friedan, 139-42. 25 Bells Are Ringing, the 1956 musical, features a female lead who is a telephone operator at an answering service and who previously sold ladies' underwear. The 1949 South Pacific's female lead is a nurse. Beginning in 1962, working women as characters in musicals who were not singers or actresses might be secretaries, as is the case in that year's How to Succeed and in / Can Get It for You Wholesale, and later in Promises, Promises. The 1970 Company features an airline stewardess. 26 Nelson Lichtenstein, State of the Union: A Century of American Labor (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002). "Erosion of the Union Idea" is the title of chapter 4. This content downloaded from 183.195.251.166 on Sat, 16 Jan 2016 12:04:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
348 Dorothy Chansky the cultural status quo.Lichtenstein quotes long-time AFL president George Meany on what Lichtenstein clearly reads as goals of diminished expectation:"We do not seek to recast American society in any particular doctrinaire or ideological image....We scck an ever rising standard of living."2 Workers themselves seemed primarily interested in their lives outside the factory rather than in improving their situation on the job itself. While labor had inspired artists and intellectuals during the 1930s and 1940s(think Clifford Odets and Elmer Rice,among many others),radicals of the 1950s and beyond looked elsewhere(think Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg,again among many others), especially in the wake of the hearings chaired by Senator John McClellan in 1957 and 1958 whereby major corruption and nepotism were revealed to be part of the ordinary operation of the leaders of several unions(think On the Waterfront).In 1953,labor union membership"stood at its proportional apogee",28 pro-union sentiment dropped steadily, from an all-time high in 1957,before the hearings began,throughout the 1960s. Friedan,then,was not alone in turning away from a belief in the power of union activism,nor was she unusual in her anxiety about being associated with communism, particularly since she was a freelance journalist for women's magazines-notorious for their commitment to safe,middle-of-the-road,traditional,cheery ideology.Union members fantasizing about spending a seven-and-a-half cent per hour raise over a period of five-to-twenty years were not to be the stuff of which Broadway heroines were made.2 Friedan's final book,however,reveals that her concern with equity,ac- cess to adequate child and health care,and a guaranteed safety net for single parents trumped any of feminism's other concerns.This situates her,at the end of her life,in a radical group(which includes Lichtenstein),and hardly as a second-wave fogey whose ideas were totally passe.3 Nonetheless,some of her ideas became almost antediluvian in the eyes of many feminist theatre practitioners and theorists.It is worth examin- ing these ideas in order to ask whether the goals I am situating as still radical can be addressed by theatre and performance as Friedan understood these.Again,while the dominant stream of academic feminist performance criticism of the 1980s and 1990s would say "no,"widening the lens to include most theatergoers and practitioners may yield a "yes." Friedan's work proffers the usual bourgeois respect for theatre as a place where meaning resides in literary texts or where amateurs can display their social and intel- lectual depth(or possibly superiority).31Yet hers was a love-hate relationship with the Meany,quoted in ibid.,147. Ibid. x Nor were they to be the leaders of a national feminist movement,since the work and class that united them financially lost status and ceased to be a primary locus of either identity or pride.Inde- pendent,career-focused women as dramatic characters would come from the middle or upper middle classes,perhaps reflecting a shift in the anticipated sympathies of anticipated audiences. 3In the conclusion of his study.What's the Matter with Kansas?How Conservatives Won the Heart of America(New York:Metropolitan Books,2004),Thomas Frank notes that,even among religious fun- damentalists,the single group that does not cast its votes to reflect concerns with abortion or Jesus (among other hot-button topics)comprises union members,who understand politics as the realm for redressing inequality and social systems that fail to serve the rights of citizens for access to better health,education,and working situations. 3 For example,when she wrote of her outrage at her middle child's college-application process being sabotaged by a resentful private school headmaster,she listed as one of three examples of her son's being"your model everything to everyone"the fact that he played Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dreamt (Triedan,Life So Far,258.) This content downloaded from 183.195.251.166 on Sat,16 Jan 2016 12:04:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
348 / Dorothy Chansky the cultural status quo. Lichtenstein quotes long-time AFL president George Meany on what Lichtenstein clearly reads as goals of diminished expectation: "We do not seek to recast American society in any particular doctrinaire or ideological image We seek an ever rising standard of living."27 Workers themselves seemed primarily interested in their lives outside the factory rather than in improving their situation on the job itself. While labor had inspired artists and intellectuals during the 1930s and 1940s (think Clifford Odets and Elmer Rice, among many others), radicals of the 1950s and beyond looked elsewhere (think Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg, again among many others), especially in the wake of the hearings chaired by Senator John McClellan in 1957 and 1958 whereby major corruption and nepotism were revealed to be part of the ordinary operation of the leaders of several unions (think On the Waterfront). In 1953, labor union membership "stood at its proportional apogee",*28 pro-union sentiment dropped steadily, from an all-time high in 1957, before the hearings began, throughout the 1960s. Friedan, then, was not alone in turning away from a belief in the power of union activism, nor was she unusual in her anxiety about being associated with communism, particularly since she was a freelance journalist for women's magazines - notorious for their commitment to safe, middle-of-the-road, traditional, cheery ideology. Union members fantasizing about spending a seven-and-a-half cent per hour raise over a period of five-to-twenty years were not to be the stuff of which Broadway heroines were made.29 Friedan's final book, however, reveals that her concern with equity, access to adequate child and health care, and a guaranteed safety net for single parents trumped any of feminism's other concerns. This situates her, at the end of her life, in a radical group (which includes Lichtenstein), and hardly as a second-wave fogey whose ideas were totally pass^.30 Nonetheless, some of her ideas became almost antediluvian in the eyes of many feminist theatre practitioners and theorists. It is worth examining these ideas in order to ask whether the goals I am situating as still radical can be addressed by theatre and performance as Friedan understood these. Again, while the dominant stream of academic feminist performance criticism of the 1980s and 1990s would say "no," widening the lens to include most theatergoers and practitioners may yield a "yes." Friedan's work proffers the usual bourgeois respect for theatre as a place where meaning resides in literary texts or where amateurs can display their social and intellectual depth (or possibly superiority).31 Yet hers was a love-hate relationship with the 27 Meany, quoted in ibid., 147. 28 Ibid. 29 Nor were they to be the leaders of a national feminist movement, since the work and class that united them financially lost status and ceased to be a primary locus of either identity or pride. Independent, career-focused women as dramatic characters would come from the middle or upper middle classes, perhaps reflecting a shift in the anticipated sympathies of anticipated audiences. 30 In the conclusion of his study, What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004), Thomas Frank notes that, even among religious fundamentalists, the single group that does not cast its votes to reflect concerns with abortion or Jesus (among other hot-button topics) comprises union members, who understand politics as the realm for redressing inequality and social systems that fail to serve the rights of citizens for access to better health, education, and working situations. 31 For example, when she wrote of her outrage at her middle child's college-application process being sabotaged by a resentful private school headmaster, she listed as one of three examples of her son's being "your model everything to everyone" the fact that he played Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Friedan, Life So Far, 258.) This content downloaded from 183.195.251.166 on Sat, 16 Jan 2016 12:04:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions