Playbill: What started as a group of like-minded women getting casual drinks in Midtown has grown into the Broadway Women’s Alliance, serving women in the business of theatre all over the U.S. In their first 2017 meetup, “we just started talking about the industry—about our frustrations, our hopes, our dreams—and it all just became a group therapy session almost,” remembers founding member Jennifer Isaacson.
3 comments:
Finding community is vital for survival. Thus hearing about Broadway’s Women's Alliance– a peer-to-peer networking and programming organization for female professionals on the business side of Broadway, is (in its own way) comforting. This group of women gets together every once in a while over drinks to talk and discuss everything from the entertainment industry to their personal lives. As I continued reading the article, I could not help but relate the alliance to the ongoing DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) student-only gatherings being hosted at the School of Drama. As I mentioned before, finding community is vital. And I’m glad I’ve done so with a group of fellow “diverse” individuals. These meetings have, for me, just like Broadway's Women Alliance, become a place to laugh, cry, and chill with people. Not only that but, as has been mentioned in the meeting various times, it is also an incredible way to meet upperclassmen.
I think the origins of an organization are super important to its success as an organization, and this foundation really seemed to have an authentic and community based history. Salameh’s quote, “We want to make sure that when you walk into a room that there is another woman who's standing there with you and that you're connected to her within this industry” really touching to me, because this vision really seems like a goal of equity and inclusion, and a great way to create safe spaces. It seems like a really valuable way to create an intimate community while also having a huge reach. It also sounds like a large diverse variety of benefits from professional social networking, to mentorships, to just generally establishing a good social environment in the industry. I am sure this was even more valuable in the pandemic, as we all felt very isolated from each other and this artistic community.
I think that the humble beginnings of this organization are something that is really impressive. They didn’t set out with the intention of making a Women’s group, so the purpose and message seem more genuine and authentic. It comes out of a place of teamwork and community common concern. Also the fact that it was only started in 2020 and hasn’t been thought of or created before that time is pretty surprising. I think that the work that these women are doing is great. I think that the collaborative nature and the community that it creates are really vital to helping out with problems of sexism in the theatre industry. Also they aren’t just focusing on actors or designers, their effort reach all kinds of workers in theatre, like ushers and producers like they mentioned. I’m glad that Playbill did on article on this a alliance, or else I wouldn’t know anything about them and the work that they are doing to help ease the stress of being a women in the theatre industry.
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