MT/Acting Gender Gaps

[soozievt]

Re: posts 98 and 99:

Yay for Waitress! I saw the premier of it during its pre-Broadway run at American Repertory Theater and loved it. I hope this and Fun Home are the start of more female led musicals.

And Yay for Jeanine Tesori who is so accomplished. She is a mentor to my daughter and is someone who pushes for more females in this field.

And Yay for Liz Swados (also mentioned in the NYT article linked above) who broke ground a while ago on Broadway. She is a former mentor of my D’s.

And Yay for the New York Times for reporting on this. And just because.

[MomCares]

Broadway composer Jeanine Tesori on why musical theatre is the slowest to recognise it has a gender problem

… snip
Of all the theatrical forms, musical theatre is slowest to recognise it has a gender problem, says the multi-award-winning Broadway composer Jeanine Tesori​

From the stats I’ve seen MT, straight theatre and film/TV all seem to have only ~30% female performers, and far fewer women in positions of power. Given that, I’d say that MT is no worse than other branches of theatre and that all areas of the entertainment business appear to lag most other US industries in employing women in the same numbers and at salaries that are comparable to mens’.

I’ve seen AEA report the numbers of men and women in the union (nearly equal IIRC), yet I have never seen them compare the number of actual weeks worked or $ earned by gender. I think those numbers would be very interesting, so if anyone has access to them please share!

[halflokum]

And yay for New York Times for reporting other things including full color photos recently too! Enough said

^^^Woops… I typed this on 12/1 and I guess forgot to hit “post comment”. It was supposed to be right underneath post #100 which hopefully means it will still make sense if I post it now.

[MomCares]

Yes, @halflokum, the NY Times has featured another awesome female composer/performer recently as well!

[alwaysamom]

It was a wonderful article about an amazingly talented artist! Congrats to the proud mom.

[toowonderful]

I looked it up - Super impressive!! Kudos

[MomCares]

The fact that just 16% of Shakespeare’s characters are women – and that most of the memorable lines are spoken by men – will not stop Emma Rice’s mission to get a gender-balanced stage at Shakespeare’s Globe.

… snip

Rice joins the Globe from Kneehigh, regarded as one of the UK’s most exciting and innovative theatre companies. Getting a 50/50 gender balance on stage was a priority, she said. “As somebody who has got custody of this canon for a while, I think it is quite interesting to say, yes, it is a target. How can we get the female voices through? How can we change the mould?

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jan/05/shakespeares-globe-emma-rice-if-anybody-bended-gender

[MomCares]

Just saw an interesting article on why simply increasing the number of female roles isn’t enough.

Why do we punish strong female protagonists?

“Have you ever noticed that the sort of Bad Things that happen to women in stories aren’t the same things that happen to men?” Rebecca Atkinson-Lord

“I can think of scores of plays, films, and books where women’s sexual agency is punished. I can’t think of one where a corresponding narrative happens to a man. Perhaps the unfortunate truth is that in real life more Bad Things happen to women than men and these plays are merely holding a mirror up to nature. But if that’s the case then our responsibility to act for change is even more acute.”

The full article is worth reading.

http://exeuntmagazine.com/features/32692/

[MomCares]

YES!!!

Hamilton casting appointments in Philadelphia, PA open up auditions for Aaron Burr and George Washington to female performers.

Well, if it isn’t Aaron Burr, ma’am? That’s right, according to a recent casting call for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania production of Hamilton, both men and women are encouraged to audition for the roles of Aaron Burr and George Washington.

http://www.hypable.com/hamilton-casting-female-burr-washington/

[GSOMTMom]

There’s been an update to that article. Tis not the case.

[MomCares]

Bummer, @GSOMTMom, but thanks for the update! Ah well, it was fun while it lasted (and I’ll bet it will happen some day with Hamilton).

[GSOMTMom]

If it’s going to happen with any show, it would definitely happen with Hamilton!

[soozievt]

This news article is pertinent to this thread topic:

http://www.playbill.com/article/chicago-vets-launch-female-driven-musical-theatre-company

[MomCares]

Interesting article, @soozievt. Thanks for sharing it!

Chicago-based actresses Harmony France and Danni Smith have launched Firebrand Theatre, a musical theatre company committed to empowering and employing women, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

France and Smith will serve as the company’s co-artistic directors and will focus on seeking out female talent in all aspects of production including within the creative teams, casts and artistic teams.

“When Danni and I first had the idea to create Firebrand, I searched online for musical theater companies with like-minded missions,” France told the Sun TImes in a prepared statement. “I found nothing. And that brought home how crucial it is that we launch this company. There is a void in our industry, with more actresses than actors, yet fewer roles for women. There are also statistically more women than men in our audiences. Yet most musicals are directed by men, cast with mostly men, with stories about men.