Women Behind Bars
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Women Behind Bars is a play by Tom Eyen.
A camp spoof of the exploitation films produced by Universal, Warner's, and Republic Pictures in the 1950s, this black comedy is set in the Women's House of Detention in Greenwich Village. Among the range of social and psychological types imprisoned within its walls are an innocent young woman (framed by her husband on a charge of armed robbery), who is brutalized, betrayed and sexually assualted throughout her eight years of incarceration (she is ultimately broken by the system and leaves jail a hard-edged, gum-chomping drug dealer), a chain-smoking, gum-snapping street-wise tough girl, and a delicate Southern belle reminiscent of Blanche DuBois. Lording over all is the sadistic matron and her tough-as-nails sidekick.
The subtle hints of lesbianism found in the original B-movies are played broadly for laughs throughout, while at the same time, the film has a bitter, cynical side. "It takes your worst women’s prison nightmare to the nth degree and makes it so horrible that it’s hilarious."[1] The New York Times judged the piece "an extraordinarily interesting work from one of America's most innovative and versatile playwrights."[2] The play has been translated into Hebrew,[3] and Eyen and Devine wrote a 1978 sequel called The Neon Woman that played in San Francisco.
The original production, at the off-Broadway Astor Place Theatre, opened on May 1, 1975. The piece was revived the following year at the Truck and Warehouse Theatre, with underground film star/drag queen Divine starring as the matron, it quickly developed a cult following and became a smash hit; secondary productions in Los Angeles and London enjoyed extended runs. It remains a popular choice of gay repertory companies, such as San Francisco's Theatre Rhinoceros.
