“Every time I have sex I get into a relationship. Every time I get into a relationship I stop having sex. I found the Bermuda Triangle. It is between my legs. Everyone who goes there disappears out of my life.” (Penny Arcade from her Longing Lasts Longer). After three years of touring her one-woman show around the world, the eminently quotable performance artist Penny Arcade, an uncanny, in-your-face, truth-telling Cassandra that people actually believe, is back at Joe’s Pub at NYC’s Public Theater. For three Tuesday evenings, one of which is already a fond memory, the internationally acclaimed performer and her longtime technical director Steve Zehentner (genius of light, sound, and video) are work-shopping, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Arcade’s latest provocative show. As the press release warns us, among the hot button subjects that Arcade tackles in her usual ironic and humor-laced, jaw-dropping style are the culture of rape, victimhood, political correctness, and the normalization of self-censorship. She also asks the question of our times: who gets to speak and to whom? And deliver she does, this with a vengeance. Wearing all black, which makes her long, straight, platinum tresses stand out even more, Arcade, in heavy working mode, spends most of the evening standing close to a music stand upon which her work-in-progress script rests. Sometimes Arcade reads a section from the script. At other times, she reads only the first line, and knowing what she wants to say (actors call it “being off book”) she continues her story-telling, often introduced by hand-picked songs, in a kind improv style which she is justly famous for. At other times, Arcade stops mid-stream to talk with Zehentner, who’s off stage, to notate (and set) certain music, dance, and sound cues. Judging from the audience’s response the night that I attended, The Girl Who Knew Too Much is going to be another solid hit for the forever feisty performer. Like all of Arcade’s works in progress, whether solo or in one her many-peopled shows like her international hit, Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!, once the production is good shape, Arcade will travel it around the world. The gift of the evening, in addition to Joe’s Pub’s reasonably priced drink and food menu and the conviviality of Arcade’s converts, was that we all felt both privy and privileged to be in on the show’s birthing—which of course gives us bragging rights forever. Below are three extremely telling snippets from The Girl Who Knew Too Much. I think of them, and you should too, as teasers, ones that will guarantee that when this show opens for a full run, you will be there front and center. I know I will. “When I was a little girl in the 1950’s we watched cowboy movies every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, and they were always about water rights. The bad guys were stealing the water, and the good guys were trying to free the water. And by the time I was 9 years old, I was an emotional wreck till I hit 11 and realized that the fight for water was in the past…in the old days… Then in the 60’s, people started saying that in 20 years we wouldn’t be able to drink the water, that we would have to drink bottled water, but we couldn’t imagine that….but then starting around 1985 everyone started drinking bottled water, so I understand the glacial pace of change. Now it is being said that in 30 years, there won’t be any water to drink. The Bush family has been buying water rights for decades. So I’m right back to where I was when I was 9 years old, worried about water.” “We live in a culture where everyone is supposed to win. But not everybody wins. A lot of people have to lose. Every day we’re being told, you can have it all. Be positive. If you’re not a millionaire, it’s your fault. You're creating the sorrow in your life. If you were clear, you too would be a millionaire. There is no limit to what we can achieve in our lives, which is empirically impossible.” ”I don’t understand the whole Black Lives Matter thing about the police killing people…that is what the police are supposed to do. That is their job! They're supposed to kill people. That's why they have guns. I know a lot of people are concerned about the police killing black people, but the police are supposed to kill black people. Not all the black people. Not the Black people who went to college. They're supposed to kill the other black people, the black people who won't go to college.”
