Lesbian Dancing After The Show: An Improviser's Non Improvised Life

Oui Be Nuts.

We had some interesting people walk through the doors of Oui Be Negroes.

We once had a company member who cost us $4,000, over Egyptian Weed.

It seemed like a pretty innocuous request: Please don't travel with any weed to Canada. You will probably find better weed there than what you could ever bring from Chicago.

The company was living all over the place at that point around the country: Myself and Hans in San Francisco. Two members in Los Angeles, and This Particular Member (I will from now on call her "Waken Baker") back in Chicago. The entire company (sans myself and Hans) decided to try their luck in Los Angeles. We decided we wanted to live in SF.

They made the decision to live with each other, not listening to my advice not to do this. We had been there and done that with the company, and it did not work out at all.

Their living situation of course, did not work out at all...and people went their separate home ways, with "Waken Baker" going back to Chicago.

We were invited to the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. At that time I was also invited to teach and perform back in Chicago at The Funny Women's Festival. I did not head to Winnipeg, but I was the one who got all the usual paperwork and accommodations together for the company.

As usual I paid (out of my teaching fee) airline tickets for the folks who could not afford them. One of whom was "Waken Baker". It was the only transferable ticket. I said to Ms. Baker when I got her this ticket (and keep in mind, this is before 9/11) do not travel with weed to another country!

Before I get onto a plane to Chicago and while Oui Negroes were traveling from different locations? The tour was crumbling in on itself.

A phone call from the two actors in Los Angeles. They had been stopped at the border. Why? No idea. Just TWB (Traveling While Black) before 9/11. They were pulled over. Luggage torn apart and strip-searched. They looked through Ronnie Ray's notebook (after not finding anything incriminating) and noticed he wrote he was excited to go to The Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

That is when they asked if they had work permits. Permits nobody needed for this Fringe Festival. They called me in San Francisco and said they were in Customs, they would not let them through, they had missed their connecting flight and they needed to pay for temporary Work Permits.

They were not letting them through no matter what calls came from The Fringe Festival. So, with all the money I had for my trip to Chicago, I got them permits, a hotel room and paid the extra for a connecting flight the next day.

My husband Hans was already in Winnipeg. They offered my white husband a cup of coffee and a pen while he filled out his paperwork. He did not need a permit. He was performing at a Fringe Festival, you know.

While all this was going on, I get a call from Hans. "Waken Baker" had arrived. She was also stopped and searched at the border.

Waken was a ridiculous traveler in the worst of ways. She traveled every place she went like she was moving there. She needed her personal pillows, blankets, knick knacks and other assorted kitsch to make her feel "At home."

The original story from "Waken Baker" came out like this when she found out two other of our black members were stopped on the other side of the country: They stopped me and strip-searched me!

My head imploded. Now, I'm politically and socially pissed. I'm now riding down the blatant racism trail.

This is where I get on the phone with The American Consulate of Canada. I'm fuming. I then take my case to the media. I make a phone call to the CBC. (Canadian Broadcasting Company)