TypewriterGirls uses literature to save libraries

Avant-garde poetry cabaret troupe The TypewriterGirls tackles the question that should be… Avant-garde poetry cabaret troupe The TypewriterGirls tackles the question that should be weighing heavily on the minds of Pittsburgh’s literature lovers: How can we save the libraries?

The TypewriterGirls’ solution: a benefit performance like no other.

In a manner not unlike a poetry reading on acid, the show this past Sunday night at Carnegie Library Lecture Hall included performance art pieces by Christiane D., a vocal performance by songwriter Phat Man Dee, dance performances by Nothing Against Kan Achieve Entertainment dance company and, of course, presentations from several poets including Nancy Krygowski, Sandra Beasley and the TypewriterGirls co-founders Margaret Bashaar and Crystal Hoffman.

“People don’t think of poetry as being as exciting or entertaining as other art forms. Part of what we’re doing is showing that poetry can do those things and still have an artistically valuable aspect to it,” Bashaar said.

“We have a healthy mix of different artistic styles. It’s kind of like a variety show that’s centered around a poetry reading and also incorporates comedy sketches that I write,” Hoffman said.

The sketches create a loose narrative, and Bashaar described them as having “a magical quality to it. The story gets told through the sketches, pulling all of the performances together into a big wacky ridiculous storyline.”

The performance included a literary-bent library focus in accordance with the event’s purpose.

“The library has always been very supportive of poetry and what we’re trying to do,” Hoffman said.

“Like everyone else, we heard that libraries are not getting the funding that they need. Five branches are being consolidated or closed. We wanted to do something to help, so Crystal approached the libraries to see if they’d be interested in us doing a benefit,” Bashaar said.

Bashaar spent most of her childhood in the Mount Lebanon branch of the Carnegie libraries.

“There were always nice activities, and I got to read a lot of things I would have never encountered otherwise. Now I have a 4-year-old son, and I’m trying to encourage the same desire to read and be interested in literature in him that my mother encouraged in me. I think libraries are a really important aspect of being able to do that with our children,” she said.

A silent auction was held before the performance. Items auctioned off included donations from local artists and gift cards to Starbucks and massage therapists. Many local poets and publishers donated books and chapbooks, as well. All profits generated from the auction and tickets for the performance were applied to the Carnegie Library’s general operating fund.

“We’re really big on getting the audience involved actively in our performances,” Bashaar said.

Each audience member was invited to compose a single line of poetry on — of course — a typewriter before the show began. The TypewriterGirls then created a poem out of the lines and performed it at the show’s conclusion. These collaborative poems are called Exquisite Corpses, a name taken from the first line of one of the first group-effort poems of the surrealist movement: “The exquisite corpse drinks the new wine.”

Hoffman said that the presentation of the piecemeal poem “depends on how much time we have. Sometimes we improvise it on stage. Sometimes someone will work on it to make it more fluid as the show is going on or to develop a theme.”

The TypewriterGirls coalesced into a performing group when Hoffman and Bashaar were students at Carlow College.

“We were a bunch of friends who liked writing on typewriters and took them everywhere. People started calling us ‘those typewriter girls,’” Hoffman said.

The TypewriterGirls first performed in 2006 at a benefit for the Books for Prisoners organization.

“We didn’t know it would kick off as something we’d do all the time, but it was a whole lot of fun, so we just started doing them on a regular basis,” Hoffman said.

They now perform regularly at benefits in Pittsburgh, including events for Dress for Success and Planned Parenthood. Videos of previous TypewriterGirls performances are available online on its YouTube channel and on its website, www.typewritergirls.net.