THE SUPERHEROINE MONOLOGUES

Spoiler alert!

By JONATHAN DONALDSON

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From Playboy cartoons about Superman in the boudoir to classic Belushi skits depicting the Hulk taking a dump, we like to have fun imagining superheroes as real people. Superheroes and their stories, although massively awesome in their own right, are also massively silly. "If you look at comic book stories from the 1950s, the stories were ridiculous," says Greg Maraio, creator of The Superheroine Monologues. "But moving into the '60s and '70s, they got a little more serious and had a little more depth." In Maraio's parallel universe, the characters aren't so two-dimensional: Storm wonders where the hell all the black women are, and Lois Lane totally knows that it's Clark. (Actor Amanda Hennessey: "I think his glasses are a ridiculous disguise. Do you think I'm dumb?")

Taking snatches of The Vagina Monologues and Avenue Q as departure points, The Superheroine Monologues depicts the adult lives of superheroines decade by decade, as they grapple with the trajectory of feminist issues. "What real woman wants to work for a living? It's demeaning," says Lois Lane in the '50s (obviously unhappy with her Pulitzer). Teasing her big hair and scrunching her leg warmers, Supergirl struggles with being ultra-feminine and a gay woman in the '80s. And from our very own decade, we have Dark Phoenix, seeking self-betterment in the age of information.

But why would a character with godlike powers, such as Phoenix, capable of searing the skin off of every living life form, give a whit about feminist issues? Isn't this selling her a little short? "That very question is addressed in her monologue," says Maraio. "Our take on Phoenix is that the reason she is so angry and so powerful has a lot to do with secrets in her past that were never discussed in the comic book. With her mother specifically." Maraio is not just the creator, but also the resident geek. "I wanted to make sure that the comic book geeks like myself weren't going to be up in arms about the show that we had done. But it's a parody, so we took liberties for the comedy."

And how do we start with characters dreamed up by horny, agitated, barely working illustrators in their bleak 8th floor Manhattan walk-up offices in the 1950s and end up with feminist icons? Says Maraio: "Whether Wonder Woman was created just to show bondage, or whether Supergirl was just created to be a sexy counterpart to Superman, they are all undeniably powerful." A reclamation, I suppose, but notice that male heroes' muscles are exaggerated while female heroes' boobs and butts are exaggerated. Superheroines don't look like female body builders. They look like strippers.

Character parodies are interspersed with action scenes (featuring a menagerie of male characters) and song parodies (such as Wonder Woman's "Leaving on an Invisible Jet Plane"). Costumes and sets not only reflect the periods, but also the pop-art from the comic books, TV shows and movies that gave birth to these icons. Even if the feminist angle is a little thin, it's all in good fun. And if nothing else, comics and their characters are cool to look at.

THE SUPERHEROINE MONOLOGUES

UNTIL SATURDAY 9.26.09

BCA PLAZA THEATRE

539 TREMONT ST., BOSTON

617.933.8600

WED/7:30PM/$15

THU/7:30PM

FRI/8PM, SAT/3PM & 8PM

SUN/3PM

ALL AGES/$25

SUPERHEROINEMONOLOGUES.COM