Cellphones silenced? Cough drop wrapper crinkling done? Contract signed?

In its first production, Twin Cities theater company Grumble Theater will require audiences to agree to view its show “Feminaal” as a female.

“Every audience member is required to sign a contract agreeing to identify as a woman while viewing the play,” a news release from the new theater company states.

Director Alison Ruth calls the contract “intentionally ridiculous and completely unenforceable.” Grumble, which started this spring, is using the contract as a framing device, Ruth says.

“Feminaal” is set in 1960s Paris and focuses on a pop star and a photographer who fall in love, Ruth says. The feminist play by Nina Morrison was inspired by the Bertolt Brecht play “Baal” and the Jean-Luc Godard film “Masculin Feminin.” The two are stylistically important, Ruth says, but misogynistic in content.

Grumble’s news release describes the play: “‘Féminaal’ questions gender, capitalism and time. This play says women can be jerks, too.”

Grumble’s production will feature 12 Twin Cities artists, Ruth says, in a “range of gender expression.” The audience will be watching as women.

GRUMBLE THEATER’S ‘FEMINAAL’