Some titles can be deceiving, but playwright/director Trista Baldwin's B-movie parody, "Chicks with Dicks" isn't one of them.
A cult hit in both Seattle and Phoenix before it debuted at NYC's Kraine Theater, this spirited spoof celebrates the delicious trashiness of films like "Switchblade Sisters" and "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" And, as promised, failed prom queen turned violent biker chick, Vespa de Amore (Tara Gibson) literally sports her own penis... but it's not where you think.
As Vespa, Gibson doesn't capture the ruthless charm of other legendary girl gang leaders (most notably Robbie Lee in "Switchblade Sisters") but she brings a refreshing, neurotic edge to her character. Although she quickly makes the transformation from inhibited virgin to the head of Satan's Cherries, her swift kicks and karate chops appear to be more from an enraged housewife than coolly detached bad girl. Of course, how many '60s biker chicks would have the courage to carry off an improvised phallus like Gibson?
Vespa's amoral sidekicks, Varla and Chantalle, played by Polly Humphreys and Cheyenne Casebier, are consistently funny and full of sex appeal. Dressed in a low-cut tank top, red shorts and a scarf, Chantalle uses her obviously fake French accent to deliver some of the best lines in a generally well-written play. As the zaftig former leader of Satan's Cherries, Varla is lecherous and ready to rumble with any hapless gas station attendant she encounters.
It's hard to imagine stealing a scene from any of the Satan's Cherries, but Tami Dixon is impossible to ignore as the unhinged rival gang leader, Cindi. Like Vespa, Cindi undergoes a dramatic transformation that may be the result of exposure to toxic waste in her Indian Pointe, New York neighborhood. The only spectacle more unforgettable than Cindi flailing about in a pink dress with blonde pigtails is Cindi flailing about in pink hot pants, running mascara, blue stockings and an oddly masculine voice.
Baldwin's play more than delivers what it promises in the title. Now, if only she could have put something in the title about mud wrestling and girl gangs hungry for world domination, then we would know everything "Chicks with Dicks" has to offer.