There will be no monkey business when a bunch of New York thespians take to Shanghai streets today to spread the word about some major social issues.

New York City-based theater group, Guerrilla Girls On Tour, wearing ape masks, will present their original comedy “Silence Is Violence” on Shanghai streets today.

Don't panic if you suddenly run into four women today performing on the street in ape masks or handing out pamphlets to you.

It will just be the New York City-based theater group, Guerrilla Girls On Tour, acting out their original comedy "Silence Is Violence." They will be on streets around the city from 9am to 10:30pm.

Launched in 1985 as an activist group demanding equality in the art world, the Guerrilla Girls split into three groups in 2001 focused on activist projects, digital artwork and theater performances.

Members of the group remain anonymous by naming themselves after famous dead female artists "to put the focus on the issues instead of our own personalities," says one of the Guerilla Girls calling herself Aphra Behn after the 17th-century English writer.

Behn is touring Shanghai with Eva Le Gallienne, Coco Chanel and Edith Evans. During the performances, they always wear ape masks to ensure the focus remains on the issues they promote.

Their repertoire includes "Feminists Are Funny," "History of Women in Theater," "Silence Is Violence," among other fresh original comedies celebrating the history of women.

"In all countries, we have found there is an interest in feminism and feminist issues although some countries do not consider feminism as political as we do in the United States," says Behn.

Today's show will be the group's first in China. "Silence Is Violence" is a 60-minute play addressing violence against women, specifically date rape. The group has done the piece in many colleges and universities in the US.

They will deliver a 10-minute street theater version of the play in Shanghai and focus more on domestic violence against women. The group researched and gathered information about domestic violence in China off the Internet before coming here and believe it is "as big a problem here as it is in other countries."

They also tried to find organizations that work with victims and survivors of domestic violence in order to gather more realistic information. They will also hand out reading material about violence against women during their performance.

"People who attend our performances in theaters are usually there because they want to be and are familiar with our work," says Chanel.

"With street theater, I feel we are able to reach a broader audience that is not always aware of the issues we are presenting. Their reactions are very immediate and spontaneous. Therefore we hope to reach more people with our message of equality," she says.

Date: November 14, 9am-10:30pm

Venue: various public places in the city

Tel: 5033-9807 ext 2002

(Shanghai Daily November 14, 2008)