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New Play ‘Yes to Nothing’ Follows Four Women In Punk Across The Decades

Viv Albertine was a guitar player for The Slits, a British punk band from the late ‘70s. She rubbed elbows with members of the Sex Pistols and the Clash, but unlike her male punk peers, she heard ‘no’ much more often than she heard ‘yes.’ But that did not deter her from doing what she wanted to do anyway. 

A preview of the play 'Yes to Nothing" with the playwrite Mara Thomas, and actors Nelle Dunlap, Danan Marks and Steven G. Cooper.

She tells her story in the 2014 memoir “Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys” (St. Martin’s Press/2017). Her story inspired actor and musician Mara Thomas to write the new play “Yes to Nothing.” The production traces the story of four women in a punk rock band from the beginning of their career to a reunion show 20 years later. Host Frank Stasio previews the play with playwright Mara Thomas, and actors Nelle Dunlap, Dana Marks and Steven G. Cooper.

The show, from theater company Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern, is on stage at Slim’s in Raleigh this Thursday, Aug. 31 to Saturday, Sept. 2; Nightlight in Chapel Hill Thursday, Sept. 7 to Saturday, Sept. 9; and the Pinhook in Durham Thursday, Sept.14 to Saturday, Sept. 16.

Watch a preview for "Yes to Nothing":

https://vimeo.com/228746723

The Rags, the 1982 fictional band in the production 'Yes to Nothing.' Bobbi (Maggie Lea) on drums; Jo (Maxine Eloi) on vocals; Pamela (Nelle Dunlap) on guitar; Karen (Alice Rose Turner) on bass.
Kim Black /
The Rags, the 1982 fictional band in the production 'Yes to Nothing.' Bobbi (Maggie Lea) on drums; Jo (Maxine Eloi) on vocals; Pamela (Nelle Dunlap) on guitar; Karen (Alice Rose Turner) on bass.
The Rags, the 2002 fictional band in the production 'Yes to Nothing.' Bobbi (Meredith Sause) on drums; Jo (Drina Dunlap) onvocals; Pamela (Dana Marks) on guitar; Karen (Jessica Hudson) on bass.
Kim Black /
The Rags, the 2002 fictional band in the production 'Yes to Nothing.' Bobbi (Meredith Sause) on drums; Jo (Drina Dunlap) onvocals; Pamela (Dana Marks) on guitar; Karen (Jessica Hudson) on bass.

Copyright 2017 North Carolina Public Radio

Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.