Thursday, March 12, 2015
DC Theater Demographics: The 2014-15 Season
Gwydion Suilebhan: This year’s analysis of the 2014-15 DC theater season continues the pattern established last year. It covers playwright and director demographics, and it also investigates the plays themselves to a modest extent. I completed the analysis in collaboration with fellow DC playwright David Mitchell Robinson.
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4 comments:
First of all, for this article to be about the DC area is special to me because it is so close to home. Secondly, it's great to see the gender gap decreasing for our playwrights. Hopefully, this will allow for greater bodies of work to be produced toward the advancement of women in society. However, it was disheartening to see that the diversity of our playwrights in race has not advanced nearly as much. Since this is the capital of our nation, it's a fair indicator of how the rest of the country is going to move toward, and that's sad to see. I'm not sure if there's anything I could do at this time to change this, but to increase my knowledge of playwrights of color and give them as much publicity as I can. As an actor, we're supposed to be the conduit for the playwrights words to have life. That's what I'll do. 15-201 <15-102> <15102>
Being from DC I am also a little disappointed with the lack of racial diversity in the pool of playwrights and even more so with the greater deficiency in the pool of directors. What is most disappointing though is the lack of dc natives participating.I think my disappointment stems fro not only a love of my home but from having a first hand view of how unique the black dc voice is. Realizing that this voice isn't being fostered is sad. 54-102
The facts and figures that one can learn from looking at any given regional theatre’s season is something that really interests me. Every regional area has their own unique preferred type of theatre. For example, Pittsburghers love their old school classic musical revivals (such as “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat” and “The Sound of Music” to just name two of many). As a student growing up it was nice to see all of this classics, but I always wanted there to be at least one exciting show that was new (such as “Spring Awakening” and “Legally Blonde: the musical” just to name two again) because they are from my time. I remember saying to my mom that if companies just did at least one new work a year they would be able to attract my whole generation. And if they were to put this show at the beginning of the season they can potentially have them then buy tickets to the rest of the season. That’s my thought.
I do not usually read articles about the demographics in theater; I find that they tend to be over shadowed by those of the film industry especial around award show season. I find that both the theater and film industries continue to suffer from a lack of representation for both women and people of color. It is great to see Washington D.C making progress no matter how little. Hopefully as this season comes to a close and the new seasons starts we will see a spike in the inclusion of contributions from people of color and women as the issues surrounding those communities come to a head. I have seen a few amazing shows this year and last in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s murder and other race based issues around the world. Even here at CMU, plays like Kafala and Steubenville, which highlight the struggles of women in different cultures, are starting to become popular. Hopefully the trend remains strong.
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