Scarlet Ribbons--Picture of Katie Richards as Ruby

Scarlet Ribbons, a play by Susan Faye Roberts, was performed by 7 women at the Covellite Theatre June 7,8,9, 2007 for benefit of the Dumas Brothel restoration project by CPR Butte. The production's performances raised over $1000 and sparked interest in the historic building, the last standing Victorian style brothel structure in the United States. Photo by Robin Jordan.

THEATER: SCARLET RIBBONS SHOWCASES BUTTE MEMORIES

Review by Robin Jordan


(Scarlet Ribbons was presented June 7-10 at the Covellite Theatre as a fund raiser for the Dumas Brothel renovation project of Butte CPR)

Scarlet Ribbons, a series of seven monologues written, produced and directed by Susan Faye Roberts, is a lively exploration of the social motivations of women who worked in Butte’s brothels at the end of the 19th Century. Showcasing the individual acting abilities of seven local talents, the production was staged minimally but featured opulent costuming by Rediscoveries Vintage Clothing and Antiques.

Lasting less than an hour with a brief intermission, the production invites an expanded production, perhaps including folk music performance, as suggested by the inclusion of lyrics from an American ballad in the first vignette.

The play explores the circumstances and motivations of each character for her choice to work at the infamous Dumas, considered the last known example of Victorian Brothel Architecture in the U.S.

Roberts, the writer, focuses on the dichotomy between the ideals of “true womanhood” and “the cult of domesticity” with the harsh economic reality of woman’s plight in the mining west. Her characters are forced by circumstance of birth and accident to chose prostitution, one of the few means of earning a living available to women of the time.

Forced, perhaps by the brief length of the production or short time spent preparing the production, to reduce the “problem” of prostitution to an economic necessity rather than a conscious choice, even in the case of “Babette,” a character played with lusty verve by Melissa Morin, who chooses prostitution as a means of competing with men on an equal footing, the play never touches the women who might have simply enjoyed sex and getting money for it.

At least those few lucky women of pleasure enjoyed a few moments of remembrance by some of the older gentlemen who knew them and who were reminded of their charms by this performance. A few rheumy male eyes twinkled in Butte’s night spots after Scarlet Ribbons.