Last year New York City women playwrights convened a meeting to discuss women's parity in playwrighting.At an October town hall meeting of women playwrights Julia Jordan's pointed out in her introduction that:
Thirty years ago, only 7% of plays on national non-profit stages were written by women. Currently that number is around 17%. A rise of around 3.3% a decade. At that rate, if it continues, we will reach parity in just under another hundred years.
With this in my mind while I was looking at the February theatre line-up, I decided to call out the plays here in the Bay Area in production written by women playwrights. They are:
Cuckoo by Madison Clell, Jump! Theatre, Feb. 5-28
Girls War by Joyce Van Dyke, Golden Thread Productions, Feb. 16-March 8
Mud by Maria Irene Fornes, Cutting Ball Theatre, Jan. 9-Feb.15 (an extended run)
Song for Coretta by Pearl Cleage, Brava! For Women in the Arts, Jan. 22-Feb.7
Tough Titty by Oni Faida Lampley, Magic Theatre, Jan. 24-Feb. 22
In the Next Room (Or the Vibrator Play) by Sarah Ruhl, Berkeley Repertory, Jan. 30-March 15
I'm sure this list isn't absolutely exhaustive. If there's any plays that should be added to the list, please feel free to mention them in the comments section.
I'm going to add Sophie Treadwell's Machinal at Brava Theater, March 12-22. She's not a contemporary playwright but she was one of our many pioneers.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Lillian Groag's War Music at ACT, March 26-April 26.