Women and Hollywood: Playwright's Horizons, one of the most important institutions that supports new plays and musicals, has announced it's upcoming season and it is full of women. Five of the six plays are written by women and several are directed by women.
The current play running (through April 7) at the theatre The Flick by award-winning playwright Annie Baker has run into some controversy during its run. Patrons have complained about the length (3 hours) and the silences among other issues and there have been walkouts. Not because the play is bad, but because the play is different. Playwright's Horizons is a theatre that depends on its subscribers for its continued success means that the theatre really listens to them.
1 comment:
rant warning.
The upcoming Playwright's Horizons season is a really exciting, captivating one, regardless of the gender makeup of the season's playwrights. However, since the media feels it necessary to use that as the most important factor revolving around the next year's season (and draw parallels, very loose parallels, between the letter defending his playwright and the Artistic Director's support of female artists), we can go with that as the biggest draw. No comparison to the Testament of Mary story, where the major complaint is not that the story of Mary is being told in a blasphemous way, but that two women (and lesbians) are at the helm of the piece. That's a direct correlation to this discussion of women in the business, and more important to be discussed than ratios (which make it seem like getting as many female playwrights in your season makes your season immediately better in the vacuum of the quality of work).
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