| Liann Herder reviews GIRL SHOCK |
After years of smothering her feminine self, Maria Konner has realized the joy of being a woman. Her story, first documented in her tell-all book, Maria Konner: GIRL SHOCK, is now being transformed into a musical. The work in progress, due to be completed by the end of the year, was shared during NYC Pride weekend in the back room of Pangea, a restaurant-cum-theater in the East Village.
In her book, Konner explains that becoming a woman was an about-face to the life she led before as “the Dude” (how she refers to her former self). The Dude was a lobbyist, whose future aspirations included the presidency. But the musical mostly grapples with the emotional heft of a deeply personal battle with gender and expression—dissected through jazz, rock and roll, the blues, and more than a small dose of raunchy humor.
Konner plays herself on stage, while The Dude is portrayed by the show’s co-writer Jackson Sturkey. Their voices juxtapose as much as their gravitas. Sturkey’s ringing vibrato pushes against Konner’s brash and effervescent tones. The two duet, sometimes as allies but more often as bitter rivals, arguing over who gets to take the wheel in their shared life.
Konner first became a woman on Halloween as a joke—but the transformation went more than skin deep. As Konner takes over, she begins to lead the Dude in a rebellion against “monoculture virus,” white, patriarchal society disguised as a deceptively charming puppet, operated by Jesse “Bangarang” Atkinson. Sex and fun become Konner’s primary motivators. “Remember,” Konner tells her audience, “Enlightenment must first start with pleasure.”
Exploring her burgeoning sexuality and newfound queer community, Konner ends up at Burning Man, where she and the Dude come to terms with each other—not a resolution, but a kind of peace. Konner and the Dude take a moment in soft duet to ask a question Konner has not, as of yet, resolved: “should I burn the man?”
At its finest moments, Konner’s show is a merry, voyeuristic tell-all accompanied by some truly profound moments. While the arc of the story needs continued refining, the songs are catchy and the subject has a relevance that should resonate with viewers beyond Pride Month. Konner’s story pushes the listeners to empathize, to laugh, and to question the monoculture she once found herself so restrained by.
Words4Culture 