Previews: REQUIEM FOR A BANTAMWEIGHT at Palace Theatre

Actor and director William Nabel’s new work in process, Requiem For a Bantamweight is an update of the famous play with a similar name, but it ends with a twist. Here, the lead is Jenna Driscoll, a 29-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, who is in enviable physical shape, edgy in looks, and sexually open. Sadly, her best days are over, something she does not want to admit.

Enter Dave Mirisch, her overweight middle-aged fight manager from Brooklyn. He has a gambling problem and a weak moral compass. He is always looking for fighter who can make him a big name in the industry as well as big money. To his credit, he booked Jenna in a fight at a time when no one in the mixed martial arts scene took women seriously. As Jenna describes it, “It’s boxing, wrestling, jujitsu, muy thai…. It’s all out fighting. Anything goes except for biting. Chokes, kicks, elbows, punches. All okay. But no biting.”

Sig Lipstad is the unscrupulous promoter, fixer, mid-tier mob member and someone who will do anything for money, either for himself or someone else. He sums it up towards the end of the play with his line, “This is money and money walks and money talks and money kills.”

Callie Morrison is a Columbia grad in her late 20s. She’s a do-gooder for others, but she is also worn down from the daily grind of her job at the unemployment office and burned out by the dating scene.

Finally, there’s Mongo from the Planet Mongo, a 400+ pound fighter who has no dialogue, but appears in the play’s climatic wrestling match with Jenna, “The Flatbush Flat. Faster than Flash Gordon. A woman who fights for truth and justice and against the evil monster.”

What distinguishes Requiem For a Bantamweight is that it’s a feminist take on the original play. Nabel notes that while “Male fighters are exploited, female fighters suffer that, too…and [there’s] additional sexual exploitation.” He adds, “Female fighters aren’t given the recognition that men get.” He notes that women are surpassing men in MMA because they are more devoted to the game...Jenna's struggle is harder than a man's because she is victimized serially.  This one-ups the original Requiem.”

Jenna reaches the point of feeling defeat, “but her altruism to the sport wins the day, wins over Mirisch, her manager and probably dooms them both,” he says. “But they will go out on their shields.” Jenna is triumphant, going out on her terms. “We scoff at women fighting [but] ultimately, we venerate them more.”