AMERICAN THEATRE: The Women’s Voices Theater Festival has announced preliminary details of the programming for the two-month-long festival, which will unite more than 50 professional theatre companies in the D.C. metro area this coming fall. Each theatre will produce a world-premiere play from a female playwright. Highlights include new plays from Sheila Callaghan, Karin Coonrod, Jen Silverman, Jessica Dikcey, Martyna Majok and Caleen Sinnette Jennings.
2 comments:
This is great! I love hearing about steps being taken to address gender inequality in any field, particularly our own. Even in the list of people who are putting this together you could clearly see the imbalance between male and female representatives. Something that seemed to be missing however was the discussion of intersectionality within this issue. Because not only is it difficult for women in this industry but it is even more difficult for women of color who have to overcome the fact that they do not have male privilege or white privilege. And if we are trying to address issues of social inequality then I think it is risky to separate the issues out too much because that is exactly what happened with women and the right to vote. Susan B. Anthony knew it would be easier to get votes for white women instead of standing with the women of color as well and so the issue of women's rights became divided against itself. We cannot just support one thing, we need to bring the issue of race into the public mind on this issue so that the cycle of overlooking intersectionality is not perpetuated.
It is wonderful to read an article that discusses what is going right for women in the entertainment business for once. More often than not, I read about ways in which women are excluded from projects or are given demeaning roles in film and on stage, so reading this article gives me hope that there may in fact be some positive change happening for women in this field. As all actresses do, I often come across the problem of having to portray a female character who's dialogue has been written by the perspective of a man. There have been many instances in which I have felt as though there were some sort of disconnect between how I would react to a situation as a female in real life, and how I am reacting as that character. I often feel frustrated by women being portrayed as weak and victimized through the illustration of men, and I think that playing a female character who is brought to life by the words of another female would be far more relatable and realistic.
Abby Jackman
Cameron Knight
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