In June 2013, I curated and preformed in the “Menopause Room”, one of 21 rooms in this installation/performance of Rites of Passage at the Whitney Center for the Arts in Pittsfield, MA. In the Menopause Room I "performed" for the first time in 30 years and found an edge of encouragement and growth. I used the snake as my metaphor for the transformation of Menopause: skipping rope with it, winding and slipping it around people's necks or through their feet or whipping the floor with it. I represented the concept of menopause not as its stereotypical hormonal and erratic sweat, but as the shedding of another skin, freedom, creative energy and renewed authority; fertile in a new realm.
The performance in its entirety was created by & directed by Pooja Ru Prema of Rogue Angel Theatre.
For more information on the Rites of Passage project, visit https://www.ritesofpassageproject.org/