Sex Takes a Holiday – The Women’s Revolt

Sex Takes A Holiday: The Women’s Revolt by Forrest Blaine Callaway is a two act contemporary comedy that is a re-telling of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata set in Nashville, Tennessee (on the site of the Nashville Acropolis) in June, 1969, during the height of the Vietnam War and shortly after the inauguration of President Richard M. Nixon. The characters are all loosely patterned after historical figures in the women’s movement and politics of the era (such as Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Richard Nixon, and Henry Kissinger). The women of the United States all band together to place a moratorium on sex until the men install a permanent truce to the war in Vietnam, and in honor of their Ancient Greek predecessors, they carry out their plan on the grounds of the Parthenon in Nashville. After several wars between the sexes and a little cross-dressing, the various factions have a meeting of the minds, the war is ended, and sex can once again carry on.  In addition to the 18 nominated roles; this play also includes crowd scenes, the largest of which is for approximately 15-20 non-speaking roles.