ACTING LIKE WOMEN tells the story of a movement – California feminist performance art of the 1970s. At the film’s center is the Woman’s Building in Los Angeles – an incubator for some of the most innovative, fearless and still-relevant work in the history of performance art. It was a birthplace for radical new ideas that made the art world take notice and laid the groundwork for future art and social justice movements.

Feminist performance art brought women’s private experience into the public consciousness illuminating issues like sexual identity, equal pay, and violence against women. Feminist artists were passionate about social justice and caring for the earth, creating some the first eco-feminist artworks. They exposed lesbian content, and claimed their bodies as sacred.

During this era, museums and galleries excluded women and artists of color. These women knew they were navigating blatant white male and East Coast bias. Los Angeles was at the epicenter of change. With performance art, they brought art out of the elite gallery system, into the streets and directly into people's lives. 

Founded in 1973 by Judy Chicago, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and Arlene Raven, the Woman’s Building was the only public center for women’s culture in the world. Women performance artists came to try out new ideas in the supportive atmosphere, including Eleanor Antin, Nancy Buchanan, Helen Harrison, Leslie Labowitz-Starus, Suzanne Lacy, Linda Montano, Senga Nengudi, composer Pauline Oliveros, Adrian Piper, Faith Ringgold, Rachel Rosenthal and Barbara T. Smith, among others. Its second location is now a historic cultural landmark.

I was on the frontlines of these new art forms and practices – performance, ritual, collaboration, social engagement and media intervention. In 1980, I wrote these words:

Oh my goddess, I have been developing this film for the last 46 years!

This is not just my story – it is the story of many women. The film includes diverse multigenerational voices who participated in and were inspired by the groundbreaking performance art of the 1970s. 

By definition, much of our work was immediate and temporary. This is partly why women and others have been so easily marginalized in the historical canon of performance art. 

I remember seeing nine 7-foot-tall women draped in black emerge from a hearse and stand atop the steps at LA City Hall (In Mourning and In Rage, Ariadne: A Social Art Network, 1978). I was sipping coffee in the diner where the many-breasted Waitress Goddess Diana both satirized and honored the role of women as nurturer (Ready to Order?, The Waitresses, 1978).

I danced in a coming-out conga line in a lesbian play (An Oral Herstory of Lesbianism, directed by Terry Wolverton, 1979). As a nun in a rainbow-colored habit, I performed a dance of death in a graveyard of white shovels to protest Reagan-era nuclear policies (Shovel Defense, Marguerite Elliot and Sisters Of Survival, 1981).

The film reclaims the history of a medium, conjuring the spirit of ephemeral work. As time has passed, key voices have disappeared. Many of the women artists that were involved are in their 60s-80s or have passed away. Archival materials are deteriorating. 

Now is the time to tell this story! 

Cheri Gaulke, director and writer, and Anne Gauldin, co-writer, joined the Feminist Studio Workshop at the Woman’s Building in 1975 to re-invent themselves as artists. 

Rejecting the stereotype of the lone male artist, we created collaborative performance art groups to create from a collective voice – Feminist Art Workers, The Waitresses and Sisters Of Survival. More recently they co-wrote the award-winning film Gloria’s Call. 

Gaulke and Gauldin have unique access to the historic and contemporary characters and are excited to bring this movement alive through film. 

The history of feminist performance art is not a tangent about artists on the fringes, but an essential and highly influential period at the heart of the medium’s development. Performance art and the Woman’s Building changed art and society.

Prominent scholars and artists from across the country recognize the importance of ACTING LIKE WOMEN and have become advisors – Betty Ann Brown, Judy Chicago, Sheila de Bretteville, Catherine Gudas, Amelia Jones, Suzanne Lacy, Laura Meyer, Marcia Reed (Getty Research Institute), and Maura Reilly.

We are grateful this project is supported in part by California Humanities, The Puffin Foundation and the Woman's Building.

PRE-PRODUCTION – Research and Development on ACTING LIKE WOMEN launched in 2019. Our Seed&Spark crowdfunding campaign is part of this important phase to raise funds for Production. We are outlining the story, securing locations, crew, and subjects now through the end of the year.

PRODUCTION – We plan to film our interviews and restage some performance imagery February-March 2022.

POST-PRODUCTION – April 2022 the complicated process of editing our material will begin. During this phase we will collaborate with additional professionals – editor, animator, sound mixer, composer, and graphic designers. 

COMPLETION AND DISTRIBUTION – We anticipate completion in September 2022 at which time we will send the film out into the film festival world. Our previous films have had successful international runs. Most importantly we want this film to be seen by students, educators and arts professionals, so that this movement will be part of the art historical canon. 

CONTRIBUTE any amount, big or small. Pick a fun incentive or check out our Wish List. Our non-profit fiscal sponsor The Chimaera Project will give you a receipt for your tax records. We must raise 80% of our crowdfunding goal to keep our funds.

FOLLOW our campaign on Seed&Spark. If the timing is not right for you to make a contribution, your support by following our progress means the world to us! When you contribute you are automatically following. As the project gains followers we earn rewards courtesy of Seed&Spark.

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SPREAD THE WORD by sharing our campaign with your community. Personal requests make all the difference. Here's the link to our campaign. www.seedandspark.com/fund/acting-like-women

We are deeply grateful for your support! Thank you for joining us on this creative journey.

Email: [email protected]