HowlRound: Sometime in March of 2016, I got a Facebook invite to an organizational meeting to talk about the goals of the first annual North Carolina Women’s Theatre Festival (WTFNC). When I went to the meeting, I found myself in a room of over 200 women and men listening to Ashley Popio, the now artistic director of WTFNC, pitch a festival that would happen in August of that year.
3 comments:
Especially because of our current political climate, I think about gender equality a lot. There was a point in our world where men dressed up as women in theatre because women were not allowed to perform. Because of sexism, women have had to fight in the theatre and movie industry. I love that the Women’s theatre festival is trying to change that. I think it’s important to empower women and give them their moment to showcase their talent. It’s important for women to have the opportunity to prove to the world around them that they possess the same amount of talent, if not more, than men do in the industry. Also the fact that in the second year of the Women’s theatre festival they were able to double the profits shows that women deserve more recognition in the theatrical workforce. I completely agree with the way this writer ended their article. I too hope that other theatre festivals and companies can look to the Women’s Theatre Festival as a positive example of women as playwrights, directors, designers, and theatre technicians and I hope it incites change in other festivals and companies.
I found this article particularly intriguing to read, especially since I'd never heard of a "Women's Theatre Festival" before. It hadn't occurred to me as much that the gender divides that are so present in Hollywood can bleed over into the world of theatre, especially when it comes to things like female directors, producers, and technicians. It was inspiring to read about the various ways in which this particular theatre festival changed the lives of women in the field-- one specific point that resonated with me was how much of a concerted effort these theatre companies were making to fill empty job slots with women, especially in the wake of the recent presidential election. Not only this, but these same theatre companies were offering open opportunities to transgender and gender nonconforming individuals to participate in the incredible art of making theatre as well. I hope other companies and organizations aspire to be as inclusive and open as the ones mentioned in this article.
I am thrilled to know that this space is inclusive to gender nonconforming people as I haven't found my space where that is true for me in theatre.
This space is the kind of space that can grow and find itself truly safe for marginalized people. I hope that this movement catches on for all theatre. One day I want to be able to see something that came out of this festival with all types of women in it: trans women, black women, fat women, gay women, and most of all disabled women. I sincerely hope that this space is a space that embraces womanism (a branch of inclusive feminism started by black women).
Women have such a light to bring everywhere they go. I for one am excited to see theatre be influenced by this change. I hope that one day female kids can be excited about theatre and feel like it has a space for them.
Post a Comment