Susana Cook is a New York-based Argentinean theater and performance artist. Mainly directed to queer and Latino communities in New York City, Cook's work also encompasses a heated response to broader State policies that oppress communities defined in the intersection of race, gender, and class. In her shows, Cook parodies discourses of power, drawing attention to the close ties between the state, religious and political conservatism, and the military. Cook's plays usually feature all-women casts that defy the normative performance of gender, race, and sexuality. "Gross National Product" is a response to the Giuliani administration in New York and the devastating effects that his policies had on the poor. The play deploys the interrelation between poverty, the working class and marginalization.

Script

 Gross National Product (eng) (238.73 kB)

Excerpt

We hear industrial sounds. On stage seven working stations. Factory, sweaty ambiance. We see them in the far back. They’ll say these lines into a microphone. The music is loud.

Don Antonio - Gross National Product

Maria - General Narration Performed

Moreira - Nationally Produced by a Gross Product

Don Segundo - Gross Negation Permitted

Vicenta - The Gross Ones in this Nation of Products

Zoilo - What makes me Gross? Why Aren’t I National? Should I become a Product?

Don Antonio - Of how I became gross in this nation of products

Maria - Of how this nation produces products for the gross