LOY POLLOI

Loy Polloi: Feminist Collective Exploring the Poetic Dramas of Mina Loy

Futurism, Feminism, and Modern Advocacy

Artist, poet, playwright, feminist, inventor, and entrepreneur Mina Loy (1882-1966) played a major role in Futurism, Dada, and Surrealism but has been marginalized in the annals of the historical avant-garde and almost completely omitted from modern theater history. Her four short plays – “Collision,” “Cittàbapini,” “Sacred Prostitute,” and “The Pamperers” – written between 1914 and 1920, are experimental, ribald, hilarious, and provocative. As much literary as theatrical, these poetic dramas push the boundaries of modern art, music, and stage design. We selected Loy’s feminist Futurist plays in part because these witty, inventive dramas have been overlooked in annals of the avant-garde and never staged in a full production. But we are not simply engaging in an act of recovery: we are using the plays as a catalyst to generate interest in avant-garde theater among audiences who may have little exposure to it. Loy’s explicitly feminist worldview takes particular aim at realist conventions of love, sex, power, and seduction, encouraging audiences to question the veracity and desirability of conventional romance plots. Whereas avant-garde theater typically tries to disorient and disturb, Loy skillfully fashions an amicable, playful relationship with the audience, one of mutual interest in stepping outside norms in order to imagine new possibilities for human relationships.

National Performances

University of Maine – Farmington, March 2024
University of Michigan-Flint, December 2023
Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, December 2023

Performance Artifact

Futurism, Feminism, and the Right to “Genius”: Mina Loy’s “The Sacred Prostitute and Other Plays

Directors of Loy Polloi:

The creative team use methodologies inspired by Loy’s creative practice of experimentation (art as a way of knowing), embodiment (the immediacy of theater, grounded in physical relations), engagement (immersive and experiential learning), and enjoyment (the shared pleasure of creative expression). The collaboration is directed by 6 women leaders in the disciplines of performance art, English, music composition, and theatrical design, who seek to involve students, faculty, staff, audiences in different regions in the ongoing effort, championed by Mina Loy, to center women artists in culture and histories.

Project Director: Alison Dobbins, Professor of Theatre at Michigan State University
Dr. Alexis Bacon, Associate Professor of Composition at Michigan State University
Dr. Suzanne Churchill, Professor of English at Davidson College
Dr. Melissa Thompson, Associate Professor of Theatre at University of Maine-Farmington
Dr. Alex Goody, Professor of Twentieth Century Literature at Oxford Brookes University
Dr. Laura Scuriatti, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Bard College Berlin

Creative Team of Loy Polloi:

Alyssa Ridder, Costume Designer
Megan Heeres, Environmental Designer
Janet Haley, Performer
Bret Beaudry, Performer
Students in UGS200H, Performers