WHY IT MATTERS: GAINS FOR WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS
It’s no secret off the WALL Productions is a huge advocate for women playwrights. It’s a busy world we live in, and sometimes we fail to question the obvious as we go about our day-to-day lives. We accept ‘things’ for what they are. ‘Things’ become so ingrained within a culture that few bother to think about them, let alone ponder or question the reasoning behind the current status or possible solutions for change. And we get that. If you’ve been to our theater, you know we like to select productions that tell a meaningful story, productions they may in their own small way allow you to see life through the eyes of another. Another perspective per say.
So when it comes to hearing the voices of women, we 100% support parity in theater. Parity as applied to playwrights would mean that 50% of the time, the audience is hearing the voice of a female playwright, and 50% of the time that of a male playwright. As it is, just one in five plays currently produced around the country are written by women. And that’s accounting for a significant increase in the number of staged female playwrights over the past few years. This quote by Marsha Norman, one of the playwrights overseeing a study on the topic of female parity in theater, sums up this disparity perfectly:
“If life worked the way theater does, then four out of five things heard in an entire life would be said by men,” Ms. Norman said. “That’s a grim prospect given how much valuable information comes to us from women.”
Marsha Norman as quoted in Cara Buckley’s article ‘Small Gains for Female Playwrights’ in The New York Times
We urge you to take a few moments and read this article Small Gains for Female Playwrights by Cara Buckley as it appears in The New York Times. The article focuses on a new study “The Count” that is being overseen by playwrights Julia Jordan and Marsh Norman to track, study and improve parity among playwrights. Here are a few points from the article:
Lisa Kron
Lisa Kron – playwright of WELL
The number of productions by female playwrights across the country rose to 22% from 17% in 2002.
There is a disparity between cities. For example 36% of plays in Chicago were written by women as opposed to 17.5% in Portland, Oregon.
And of special noteworthiness, Lisa Kron, the playwright who wrote WELL which was staged at our theater in December of 2013, along with Jeanine Tesori, made history for being the first all-female team to receive a Tony Award for best score. Read more in this article in the New York Times on the Tony Awards by Michael Paulson and Patrick Healy.
So remember, when you visit our theater, you’re supporting the voice of women… and hopefully gaining a broader perspective of the world around us at the same time.
So when it comes to hearing the voices of women, we 100% support parity in theater. Parity as applied to playwrights would mean that 50% of the time, the audience is hearing the voice of a female playwright, and 50% of the time that of a male playwright. As it is, just one in five plays currently produced around the country are written by women. And that’s accounting for a significant increase in the number of staged female playwrights over the past few years. This quote by Marsha Norman, one of the playwrights overseeing a study on the topic of female parity in theater, sums up this disparity perfectly:
“If life worked the way theater does, then four out of five things heard in an entire life would be said by men,” Ms. Norman said. “That’s a grim prospect given how much valuable information comes to us from women.”
Marsha Norman as quoted in Cara Buckley’s article ‘Small Gains for Female Playwrights’ in The New York Times
We urge you to take a few moments and read this article Small Gains for Female Playwrights by Cara Buckley as it appears in The New York Times. The article focuses on a new study “The Count” that is being overseen by playwrights Julia Jordan and Marsh Norman to track, study and improve parity among playwrights. Here are a few points from the article:
Lisa Kron
Lisa Kron – playwright of WELL
The number of productions by female playwrights across the country rose to 22% from 17% in 2002.
There is a disparity between cities. For example 36% of plays in Chicago were written by women as opposed to 17.5% in Portland, Oregon.
And of special noteworthiness, Lisa Kron, the playwright who wrote WELL which was staged at our theater in December of 2013, along with Jeanine Tesori, made history for being the first all-female team to receive a Tony Award for best score. Read more in this article in the New York Times on the Tony Awards by Michael Paulson and Patrick Healy.
So remember, when you visit our theater, you’re supporting the voice of women… and hopefully gaining a broader perspective of the world around us at the same time.
