Bash Compactor: Let's Get Wet

A floodgate of female-positive actors and playwrights was released Monday night at WET (Women’s Expressive Theater) Productions’ annual [LOVE benefit].

The she-thing shebang was held in the The Angel Orensanz Foundation on the Lower East Side, and the organization, founded by Sasha Eden and Victoria Pettibone, awarded producer Lynda Obst and HBO vice president Maria Zuckerman for forwarding WET’s mission, to challenge female stereotypes and give women a voice through the power of media.

“She’s the only person who knows about and uses phrases like ‘cultural hegemony,’” said movie witch Nora Ephron, presenting the WET award to Obst.

After a trio of short plays featuring Rosemary DeWitt, Ron Livingston, Rachel Dratch, Maulik Pancholy and Zachary Quinto, rows of chairs were exchanged for café tables, a dance floor and a breadbox-sized red carpet area. It was while standing on that very carpet that the dreamy Quinto informed New York Press that his name is officially pronounced “Kwin-to,” and, exasperated, crinkled his wonderfully monolithic forehead at our query about the tonguein-cheek nature of the acronym “WET.”

“Really?” he said, his eyebrows like a constellation. “Can’t you ask a question about the organization itself?” He was also surprised that we noticed how much he’s been popping up around town all of a sudden.

“I live here now!” he said, chuckling.

“I’ve been here about a month. It’s my favorite city in the world. Aside from the people I left in L.A., I don’t miss it over there at all.”

With a slightly less serious grimace, DeWitt was more open to the idea of a play-on-words.

“Maybe they thought that would boost their ticket sales,” she said, with a glimmer in her eye.

Thank goodness for 30 Rock’s Pancholy, who was the only actor who could adequately address the question of wetness (except for his own: his wettest-ever memory was “my shower, this morning”).

“If it at all makes people uncomfortable, I think that it’s interesting,” said Pancholy, now referring to the organization. “I mean, why is women’s sexuality so scary to certain people? Good for them for putting it out there.”

“It scares the crap out of me,” I admitted, fidgeting with my expertly tied summer-weight scarf.

“Then,” he said with a smirk, “you’re going to have a really fun night!”