Being A Hero Over The Generations

In celebration of Women’s History Month Joe’s Pub has an amazing cast of women coming to their stage! I had the pleasure to watch one of their monthly shows, Generation Women. This heartwarming show of female empowerment will have the audience laughing and crying in their seats in no time!

The concept behind the show is that women of all ages are important. There was a cast of seven women of all different backgrounds, but each woman represented a generation. Ergo, we had a woman in her 20s, one in her 30s… all the way to one in her 70s. The host was in her 40s; so, that generation got double play.

The stories ranged from overcoming anxieties and being a good girl to getting orgasms from strangers and fighting for equal pay. So, you could say it was a roller coaster of a night! But there was one consistent thread weaved through, women can do anything, you just have to embrace yourself and your needs, aka be your own hero!

Since it’s a different show each week, let’s dive into some of the stories a bit! Team 20s was Victoria Villier. She told us about how she recognized her own needs during a stage fighting acting class that triggered her PTSD anxieties. When she told her story you felt like you were stepping into her panicking shoes, and you were just as relieved as her when she found her safe space.

Our team 30s woman was Christina Blacken, who transported us into her home to tell us about her 30s year old curmudgeon of an upstairs neighbor who was very sound sensitive. So much so, that she called the police on Christina for practicing her singing on a Sunday afternoon. The beauty of this story was less about the drama of neighbors, but more about the fact that a white woman called the police on a black woman for doing nothing wrong, and the police recognized that. We can only hope that more stories like this happen, which leads to less stories like this happening because white people stop using their privilege to call police on black people for no reason.

Vicky Kuperman, team 40s, was one of the most amusing stories of the night. Yes, she is our orgasm girl! Apparently what happens in Costa Rica stays in Costa Rica? During an artist retreat the group hired a masseur who would make his rounds every Sunday. And every Sunday Vicky would be visited at 3:15pm.. he would help her relax… and then she would pay him. As she says: “No this is not another ‘Me Too’ story, but rather a ‘You Too’ story!” Then she talks about the freedom of paying for sex.

Our second team 40s was our fearless host, Georgia Clark. Georgia shares with us a very sweet story about how she proposed to her now wife. She learned a lot from the experience, like how to relate to cis men who want to propose and to people having affairs, since they also need to hide everything from their partners.. just for slightly different reasons. 

Team 50s had a very touching story shared by Mireya D’Angelo who spoke about the need to find her way back to her Colombian music roots after her parents passed. Grief is very powerful, and so many people lose themselves in it. It is important to know that music can be a small door that can shed some light in. Try not to keep it closed for too long.

Actress Geraldine Leer came in as team 60s. Geraldine told us how she has always been a “good girl” her whole life. She wanted to be the perfect student and never cut off the tags on pillows – you know, all the normal stuff. This was until her role as an understudy forced her into the lead role unprepared and she learned to just go with it. This freeing experience changed her to be the bold woman she is today.

We ended the evening with novelist Elinor Lipman who blew us away about her story on how she fought for equal pay as a female journalist. Despite doing the same job as her male counterpart she was given a lower title, less pay, and was missing the company car he got. But as a writer who was often reporting on injustices, she wouldn’t let that stand!

For more inspiring tales of incredible women make sure you check out one of Generation Women’s shows on their website here and look out for them at Joe’s Pub!