You may not have heard much about the Women’s Resource Center during your time at PSU, but you might just be hearing a lot more about it this month. That’s because the WRC, a center for “advancing social justice [and] ensuring access to personal empowerment for all self-identified women,” according to its mission statement, is starting up the new school year with what WRC coordinator Bridge D’Urso predicts “is going to be a riot!”
The WRC has been making history since its establishment in 1969: From forming the Women’s Studies Department in 1972, to selling out PSU’s first Vagina Monologues play in 2003 and raising $12,000 for the Portland Women’s Crisis Line. Now, its ambitious members are back at it, showcasing the WRC’s first ever multi-emcee Feminist comedy show That’s Not Funny.
“The original idea came from a former GA, Carmen Anderson of the WRC,” said Miranda Williamson, events coordinator of the WRC and graduate student of PSU. “[Carmen] dreamed of becoming a stand-up comedian and she began to make that dream come true right before she graduated with her Masters degree. She said to me one day, ‘I want to do a comedy show here at PSU.’ And I immediately knew that I wanted to plan the show.”
Anderson’s first debut was at the WRC co-sponsored event Hellooo Cancer, what Williamson described as “very funny and fun, but it was more like a play and less like a stand-up comedy show.” Despite the description, D’Urso replied that it was “Carmen’s first foray into stand-up comedy…she has been performing multiple times per week in comedy clubs all up and down the I-5 corridor ever since.”
The goal of the show, Williamson explained, is just “to have a good time and laugh with our community, allies and friends.”
“If all goes as planned, we expect to make it the first annual!” said D’Urso of the unprecedented event. The show will not be used as a fundraiser for this year but Williamson said, “We do hope to use this as a fundraiser in the future, so if you enjoy yourselves at this event, stay tuned for more like it!”
What to expect for the lineup? “Two of the comics come from a group of mother comedians called ‘Time Out: The Mother of All Comedy Shows,’ and they find humor in their roles as mothers. A couple of the ladies are queer-identified and love to make jokes about their experiences as queer women,” replied Williamson.
In fact, the acts are so talented that even Williamson, the event coordinator, trusts to put on the show without a rehearsal. “There are a lot of great feminist jokes coming from these ladies, but the material that they are preparing for this show I have never heard, so I am very excited to see what issues they decide to humor us with.”
Ultimately, Williamson hopes that “the audience [will] enjoy themselves and see that feminists are a diverse group of people that can have an amazing sense of humor.”
Come one, come all Oct. 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Food for Thought Café. There will be a suggested donation of $5–$10 at the door while Food for Thought will remain open with pastries, coffee and tea.