Mary Matoula Webb is an actor and playwright.  A San Francisco Bay Area native now living in New York City, has studied playwriting at ESPA Primary Stages NYC and at Foothill College. Mary is a member of the Dramatists Guild and founding member of the John Doe Theater Company and Us3 Productions.

http://MaryMatoulaWebb.com

 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich once said, “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” It can be seen on magnets and t-shirts and bumper stickers. It’s a wonderful anthem for those women who draw outside the lines, take risks, and are the anomaly from the masses. It is interesting, however, that she originally used the phrase in a paper where her goal was to shed light on the history of women who were not featured in history books, the “ordinary” women. I admire the history making women, their stories are riddled with the intensity of overcoming extreme hardships, ordeals, and obstacles. I am envious of their tenacity and bravery. But I am drawn most intensely to the stories of the women and men overlooked in history lessons, overlooked in our modern day: the “well-behaved” ones who work diligently after the spark of a history-making event and work quietly to help it become a full flame.  The ones who weave out the change that that spark illuminated. 

I grew up near the Santa Cruz Mountains. There were many mudslides after winter storms. I remember how, in the spring, the community would plant seeds of grass over the eroded areas. The grass would grow and knit the soil together so that it would withstand a future winter beating. The ordinary women and men, the non-history-makers, are like each individual blade of grass. Pluck one up and it seems small, insignificant, but together those blades of grass can save mountains.  My aim is to apply a microscope to those seemingly inconsequential lives of our sisters and brothers and illuminate how valuable they are.