Category Archives: Study

Extroverted Introvert?

Where has the time gone? In March I was poised, full of energy chomping at the bit to write a post, with a week’s worth of ideas and thoughts and here it is the weekend and my time is almost done.  I am always at a loss of what to share and what to write about playwrighting.  But this go round, I have so much to say I can’t contain it and it is coming out in bits and pieces.

I never really thought much of the difference of Introverts and Extroverts, thinking of it as if it were some placebo affect that I was feeling and acting upon.  I didn’t want to read of what an Introvert was because then, of course I would think I was.  And I really never thought of myself as an Extrovert, but could certainly embody some of the characteristics should the occasion present itself.  But with the world closing its doors and forcing people inside the definitions came screaming out.  People needed an outlet to share their energy and ease their anxiety.  I could clearly see the defining line in people and myself and how we are dealing with it all. 

Depending on the class I’m in, I wonder how this would be different if it were in person. Does it change the dynamic of the class because we can see each others faces as opposed to sitting in classroom style. Do people hesitate to talk and be the first to talk because they are truly an introvert, or are they just feeling the effects of quarantine.

I hesitate to share my joy of writing as I know of others who have be stymied by this time.  The weight of the world on our shoulders and anxiety of it creeping in.  For me writing during this time has been marvelous.  I have always been a stickler for rules and following how-tos, so the mechanics of playwrighting always hampered me.  I am thankful for the teachers out there who reached out and shared their classes I would not have otherwise been able to attend.  The joy of sitting at home in L.A. and attending a class in NYC with far-away friends was freeing.  Being able to connect with people outside of my sphere and being able to explore writing has been a treat. So much so that I have written two short plays.  I found the joy and laughter again of why I want to write.  Tips and tricks to get past the rules of structure I suffered with and to just sit down and write.  A mantra I try to repeat to myself as a quiet motivation and just now realizing the flippantness of the statement.  

I am wondering if I am an Extrovert because of all the classes I’ve been taking and all of the participating I have been doing. My head is full of information and my computer holds bits and pieces from a variety of classes. My notebook, that I usually carry with me and takes months to fill, has only a few blank pages left. Full up from a month of opportunity and ideas and unfinished scenes.  

Lessons learned during this time:

Set aside 15 minutes to write and do it daily. Consistency helps.

If you’re looking for something to write about – think “what am I curious about?”

Think of the intention of every scene. What do your character(s) need?

What is the action of your scene? Your character needs something from the other.

Now when I get lost in the weeds, I just start out with a random line that I’ve collected from the books I read.  I usually write these sentences down because as I’m reading them a voice is commenting on them in my head and they speak to the subjects of my current writings.  As I write the scene I consider what do the characters want to get to the end of the scene.  The plays that I have finished during this time had constraints that had to be included in the play, which made it fun and I included things that made me giggle, like lines from 80s movies.

I gotta go. I have to finish some homework for class and I’m entering another #Bakeoff and it’s due tomorrow.  

Take care of you. 

Jennifer

List Of Possible Themes For Your Next Artistic Statement

By Chelsea Sutton

This fall, I went back to school. After ten years of day jobs, late-night shows in black box theatres, publications of short stories in tiny journals, bad reviews and “oh-look-how-much-she-tried” reviews, and stealing office supplies and copy machine time from said day jobs (sorry, day jobs), I thought an MFA program was a real cracker jack idea. This of course meant I had to evaluate where I really am as a person and an artist – the least of which not being that I had to get the chicken pox vaccine in order to be allowed on campus because I had apparently never had it or at least it wore off at some point and we all know that chicken pox gets worse as you get older so I could have died, y’all. You know there’s got to be chicken pox hanging out with all the other diseases in those tiny light booths in LA black boxes. Died.

Here lies Chelsea. She was a bit melodramatic. But still.

I also had to write my artistic statement (again). And I don’t know about you, but artistic statements / statements of interest are the worst part of any application to anything. My version of hell would be an eternity of writing new vision statements, probably while having chicken pox and listening to the sound track of the 1967 movie Guns of the Trees – an artsy, dare-I-say pretentious film I had to watch for a film studies class and which made me viscerally and irrationally angry. Welcome to grad school.

I made some shit up of course (can I say “shit” on the blog? I just did.) I got into school, but I was on the waitlist first so let’s not get too puffed up about it or the quality of my statement. I’m very good at almost-winning things. Lesson: I’m never anyone’s first choice but I’m making a career out of profiting off of other people’s passed up opportunities.

Okay, found the door. Where’s the damn key?

My statement is fine. But in my first quarter I really started to understand the different paths we are all on – and knowing where you are and not caring where someone thinks you should be.  That’s the key to a real eduction (inside and outside the classroom) and probably a great vision/artistic/interest statement.

[Full disclosure: I’m actually in the MFA program for fiction. After being waitlisted for playwriting programs twice, I said a big “screw you guys, I’ll figure it out on my own” to the Theatre Gods, and that’s what I did. My fiction needed some love and attention. It always blows my mind how theatre and literature generally know so very little about each other – the communities really should overlap more. But that’s another blog.]

I’m learning to become a new kind of student. It’s grad school. It’s a terminal degree. Grades alone are not going to get me where I want to be. Any other straight-A students out there? This is a big shift in mentality. I am learning how to approach each class now with the mindset of growing as an artist and a person. I’m not here for perfect grades. I’m here to write. I’m tired of trying to figure out what someone else wants me to say – because, news flash, I’ll never get it right. So lets get back to what is true. And I think this mentality can be applied to any opportunity we are applying to that requires us to articulate how and why and who.

On That Note – Optional Themes For Your Next Artistic Statement:

  • I am awesome. Give me money so I can do more awesome.
  • I see multicultural and radical race theory interwoven with the histrionic classical diegesis…(Doesn’t have to make sense as long as it sounds smart.)
  • I’m going to change the world.
  • The world will never change.
  • Puppets!
  • I’m trying to be better.
  • Sometimes it takes a long time to know what you’re trying to say.
  • I want my world to be radical and political and shattering but sometimes that means it’s a quiet story about a quiet person on a quiet but special day.
  • Marches are great, but I want to write about what happens once it is over.
  • Ghosts!
  • Burritos!
  • I almost died from almost getting chicken pox and now I understand this fleeting life we have and I just don’t have time to try to feed into what you think a playwright should be doing or thinking.
  • I can’t wait to get started.

Dramatists Guild National Conference: #writechange – The Count

Writing the Changing World — The Count

by Robin Byrd

Last night at the Lilly Awards, the Dramatists Guild gave a presentation on The Count (a national survey showing which theaters are producing the work of women and which are not).  Marsha Norman, Julia Jordan, Lisa Kron, and Rebecca Stump went over the data and spoke on why parity matters.

Seasons used for the study were 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14; the Count is an ongoing annual project which means the data will be tracked and reported for each season going forward.  The national percentage of productions for the past three seasons for women playwrights is 22.18%.  The project is managed by Julia Jordan of the Lilly Awards and Rebecca Stump of the Dramatists Guild.

The Count has been six years in the making, Julia Jordan and Marsha Norman began the process in February 2014 with funding from the Lilly Awards and the Dramatists Guild to do a collaborative study to determine how many women playwrights are produced in the US.  The data was reviewed by Lilei Xu, a statistician and economist.

According to this study, between 2011 and 2014 74% of the productions were plays, the rest were musicals; 62% were new work,  the rest were revivals.  12% were written by writers of color, 88% were white.

City Count:

City Productions Female Writers
Portland 66 18%
Los Angeles 74 23%
Minneapolis 82 23%
Seattle 104 23%
New York 234 25%
Berkeley 63 29%
Philadelphia 84 29%
Kansas City 61 30%
Washington 104 30%
Chicago 120 36%

In August 2015, research and data collection begins for the 2014-2015 season.

It was absolutely wonderful to see the presentation at the national conference.  LA FPI was mentioned as one of the groups across the nation discussing parity.  Lisa Kron suggested in her speech that theaters should check the Kilroys List, if having problems locating plays by female playwrights.

We all laughed…

but what is not funny is the fact that we still need to have this conversation.

 

For the complete report containing more thorough data, please check the Lilly Awards (thelillyawards.org and the Dramatists Guild www.dramatistsguild.com) websites.

 

Equality Pledge for U.K. Theatres and More

by Laura Shamas

There’s some excellent news from London this week. From the BBC News article entitled “Theatres Make Gender Equality Pledge“: “Leading English theatres have committed to making changes in their programming and working practices to address gender inequality in the theatre industry.” The theatres involved include “the Almeida, Tricycle and Young Vic theatres in London; the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC); and the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds.” One theatre hopes for new results to be viable within a year. The overall aim is to include more opportunities for women working in all areas of theatre, including acting, writing and directing. “One theatre complex has made a concrete pledge to balance the number of men and women actors in its in-house shows.” Read more at the link above. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if something similar happened in other countries, including the U.S.?

Also, related U.K. news, the reason the pledge came about: The Advance Programme from Tonic Theatre, an intensive, 6-month effort to advance women in theatre, was profiled in The Guardian in an article by Lyn Gardner on Monday, Sept 22, 2014. Only 29% of shows at big theatres in London are directed by women, “but change is in the air.”  About the field of playwriting: “among the writers of new plays produced in leading theatres such as the Almeida, Tricycle, Royal Court, Donmar and Olivier and Lyttleton at the National, only 24% were female.”

If you missed it from last week, a new 4-year study was released from the League of Professional Theatre Women, about gender parity Off-Broadway: “Women Hired Off Broadway, 2010 – 2014.” The study was  conducted by LPTW members and professional theatre women Judith Binus and Martha Wade Steketee; this study includes new data about women working in all areas of Off-Broadway theatre, including playwriting and directing: “Women playwrights working Off-Broadway ranged from a high of 36% in 2012-2013, to a low of 28% in 2013-2014. Women directors Off-Broadway ranged from a high of 39% in 2012-2013 to a low of 24% in 2011-2012.”

Earlier this month, the LA FPI’s own So Cal League of Resident Theatre [LORT] count for 2014/2015 season was updated: Out of the 57 LORT shows announced for the 2014/2015 Season for the 9 LORT theaters in our area, LA FPI calculates that about 29.5% are female-authored, and about 30.5% are directed by women.

Art in a Time of Terror

It’s hard for me to justify plodding along with all of my work on a day like last Monday. The Boston Marathon was an annual trip with my father and sister, walkman buds in our little years, switching radio stations between the race and our latest music tastes.

Then of course remembering that attacks like this happen all over the world every day and this one just happened to be in my hometown.

snoopy

 

Life moves on, and “Tragedy Social Media Plan” was implemented among my clients. The fact that I even have such a thing depressed me.

Yet there was still work to do.

There always is.

[to be continued….]

The Suits

Whenever I need to refer to those on high with the money and power to make business decisions in a creative industry, they are THE SUITS.

I’m sure you can think of a few.

Last week for my monthly Bechdel Test Talk (which originated on this blog), we took the SAG Award nominees, the Independent Spirit Awards nominees for Best Picture, and the IAWTV (International Academy of Web TV) Winners to see how they stacked up against the Bechdel Test.

When I have more energy, I’ll update this with the score for the SAG Winners.

Normally, we don’t ‘score’ based on the Bechdel Test; we use it as a starting point for deeper discussions on how it affects our audiences and thus society.

For this Broadcast, however, scores seemed appropriate:

YES – MAYBE/DUBIOUS – NO

SAG AWARDS

SCORE: 2-7-5

 

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS (Best Picture Nominees only)

SCORE: 1-2-2

 

IAWTV Winners

SCORE: # of shows 7-1-4
# of awards 12-2-6

See full lists below.

Shocker, as Co-Host Etta Devine stated. When there’s a lower barrier to entry (Whether The Suits, or the numerous people in -between, or society itself), Where most entertainment (web TV) is self-produced, The Bechdel Test flies high above the rest.

Methinks it’s time to show The Suits why creativity breeds quality.

There is far more diversity in the Web Series World as well, and not just in neat little boxes easily consumed by any audience. Some suggestions: My Gimpy LifeOut With DadThe Unwritten RulesBreaking Point and there are so many more but I can’t think of them past midnight. Follow Web Series Watch’s blog for news and recommendations (yes, that is my own web series and I’m too tired to disguise self-promotion either – besides, frick it. I’m proud of it.).

Watch our nifty 30-minute Broadcast to hear why some of the movies are dubious. Silver Lining Playbook, anyone? Full list and links we mention after the video.

Special special I love you forever thanks to Etta Devine & Caroline Sharp who join me on this adventure every month.

 

LA Times Story: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-sundance-2013-women-lag-men-even-in-independent-film-study-finds-20130120,0,712589.story
Ted Hope’s Blog: http://hopeforfilm.com/?p=8838

SAG AWARDS

SCORE: 2-7-5
yes:
The Paperboy
Les Miserables

dubious:
Flight
Argo
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Zero Dark Thirty
Skyfall

trouble seeing film:
Rust and Bone
The Impossible

no:
Lincoln
Hitchcock
Silver Linings Playbook
The Master
The Sessions

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

SCORE: 1-2-2
yes
Moonrise Kingdom

dubious
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Keep the Lights On

no
Bernie
Silver Linings Playbook

IAWTV Winners

SCORE: # of shows 7-1-4
# of awards 12-2-6

yes
Best Comedy Series – Squaresville
Best Ensemble Performance – Squaresville

Best Drama Series – Leap Year
Best Writing (Comedy) – Squaresville – Matt Enlow
Best Costume Design – The League of S.T.E.A.M. – The League of S.T.E.A.M.
Best Makeup/Special Effects – The League of S.T.E.A.M. – The League of S.T.E.A.M.
Best Design (Art Direction/Production) – Continuum – Eric Whitney – computer voice
Best Editing – Continuum – Blake Calhoun
Best Directing (Comedy) – My Gimpy Life – Sean Becker
Best Female Performance (Comedy) – My Gimpy Life – Teal Sherer Teal
Best Directing (Drama) – Anyone But Me – Tina Cesa Ward (but it’s complicated in a good way)
Best Interactive/Social Media Experience – The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

maybe
Best Original Music – Cost of Capital – Rob Gokee
Best Male Performance (Comedy) – The Jeff Lewis 5-Minute Comedy Hour – Jeff Lewis – Poker Episode ?
Best Visual Effects (Digital) – H+ The Digital Series – Faction Creative and The Sequence Group: VFX Supervisor Ian Kirby; Digital Effects Supervisor Chris van Dyck; VFX Producer Caleb Bouchard

no
Best Animated Series – Red vs. Blue
Best Cinematography – H+ The Digital Series – Brett Pawlak – up to Episode 12. silent conversation probably about work between two women in Episode 13.
Best Female Performance (Drama) – Blue – Julia Stiles – Blue
Best Male Performance (Drama) – The Booth at the End, Season 2 – Xander Berkeley – Lead
Best Writing (Drama) – The Booth at the End, Season 2 – Christopher Kubasik
Best Supplemental Content – Red vs. Blue

Taking Stock

(Guest Blogger This Week – Laura A. Shamas, LA FPI Co-Founder and National Outreach Agent)

The Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative, as a grassroots movement dedicated to the cause of achieving gender parity for women playwrights (and all female theatre artists), has been around for awhile now. Inspired by the advocacy efforts by women playwrights in New York, Jennie Webb and I had our first conversation about it in September 2009 over lunch at the Marmalade Café on Ventura Blvd. In November 2009, we put up a temporary website, begged Ella Martin to head a study of L.A. female playwrights’ activities in the first decade of the 21st century, and tried to figure out how to organize a community-wide outreach to the hundreds of female dramatists here (and those who love them)—not an easy feat when you consider SoCal’s 500 square miles.  But we knew lots of people here cared about this issue and wanted to do something about it. We had our first official meeting in March 2010 at Theatricum Botanicum during a major storm; it seems like a metaphor, looking back. Still, many talented women and men trekked to Topanga Canyon during the torrential rain, and spoke from the heart about how and why this cause—and theatre as an art form—matters.

That initial wet chilly meeting seems like ancient history now; so much good work has happened in the past 2+ years. There’s a long list of artist-volunteers who have contributed to the LA FPI mission. Some highlights include: the creation of this website by Jennie Webb, sponsored by Katherine James; the award-winning staff of playwright-bloggers (Tiffany Antone, Erica Bennett, Nancy Beverly, Robin Byrd, Kitty Felde, Diane Grant, Jen Huszcza, Sara Israel, Cindy Marie Jenkins, Analyn Revilla, and Cynthia Wands) who are featured daily in this space, expertly managed by editor Robin Byrd; Ella Martin’s historic 2011 study results; Alyson Mead’s podcasts with inspiring women playwrights; the Women at Work Onstage page (still the only weekly list of female-authored shows in L.A.), created/maintained by Laurel Moje Wetzork; the bi-monthly e-mail blasts that include member news and submission opportunities, curated by Erica Bennett, then Helen Hill (we’re now looking for communication help!); the support from Larry Dean Harris, who wrote about us for The Dramatist—and gave us a spotlight, featuring Janice Kennedy, at a 2010 regional Dramatists Guild meeting (followed by a panel slot for us at 2011 National DG Conference); the new venture with Tactical Reads launching this week, connecting women playwrights to female directors, originated/helmed by Sabina Ptasznik; the spread of our badges on the Web and in person (a branding scheme with an important meme); an annual look at LORT seasons and stats in SoCal as related to gender parity and playwriting; the enthusiastic LA FPI support for female artists in the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2011 & 2012 (lead by Cindy Marie Jenkins, Jennie Webb, Jan O’Connor, Alyson Mead, Kat Primeau, and Jessica Abrams); sharing scenes via social media in order to increase accessibility and visibility; approaching theaters to ask how we can build relationships, fostered by Debbie Bolsky and Tami Tirgrath; meet-ups to see plays by women, coordinated by Task Force leader Diane Grant; online discussions, such as the fascinating one just hosted by Cindy Marie Jenkins with guests Etta Devine and Carolyn Sharp, about applying the Bechdel Test to the stage—a streamed broadcast that may (fingers crossed!) evolve into an ongoing monthly LA FPI/TV theatre conversation; etc. We have more people following us on Twitter, domestically and worldwide, than ever before. Lots of folks “Like” us on Facebook. And it’s all been created and executed by volunteers of professional theatre artists, for free!

Whew!

But has anything really changed? “Has LA FPI made any difference at all?” It’s a question I’m frequently asked and asking. When we compiled the SoCal LORT stats in May/June this year, for a while it looked as if there might be small gains of +1.5% or even +3.5%, in terms of female-authored shows for the 2012-2013 professional seasons. But then, in the end, it was pretty much the same as it ever was: still around 22% (or slightly less). Discouraging! “Is consciousness-raising effective anymore?” we wonder. Why doesn’t the excellent LA FPI blog have more commenters, at the very least?

In these moments, I have to remind myself: Statistics don’t tell the whole story—only part of it. Things have changed in this way: we are not sitting around and ignoring “the problem” any more. We were cautioned in the early days of LA FPI not to confuse “Activity” with “Progress.” Maybe not, but when you have this much ongoing work towards a goal (see above), there’s a shift of some sort—of attitude, of creativity, of focus, of opportunity, of spirit. It may take many more years before we achieve true gender parity for female theatre artists in the English-speaking theatre (or for women in the world at large). But we’re pretty sure that more Angelenos are aware of the issue and are working towards the goal of parity now. Solved? No. Better? Definitely.

Female theatre artists in New York continue to advocate for gender parity; the 2012 Lilly Awards held on June 4, 2012, at Playwrights Horizons, and the upcoming “We Are Theatre” protest on September 24, 2012, at the Cherry Lane Theater (organized by the Guerrilla Girls On Tour!, 50/50 by 2020, Occupy Broadway, and the Women’s Initiative members of the Dramatists Guild) are two timely examples.

Recent reports from the U.K. and Australia also mirror our struggles. Lyn Gardner, writing from London in The Guardian in February 2012, wonders if a universal blind submission policy is a possible remedy. A new report, “Women in Theatre,” released April 2012 by the Australian Council for the Arts, details the status of Australian women playwrights and female theatre artists. Those who authored the report found “no progress over the decade since 2001 and there is evidence that the situation for women in creative leadership deteriorated over that time” (pps 4-5). It’s a thorough, well-crafted study, and on page 49, there’s a “cross-sectoral approach” that suggests three pathways towards improvement in the professional theatre arena:

1) Information
2) Accountability
3) Vigilance

These points really resonated with us because they align with so much of our LA FPI work thus far. And it’s reassuring to know that others in the arts, including the Australian Council, recognize that the problem of gender parity in theatre is a grave one and must be remedied.

Here’s our promise. We will continue to spread the word; we are taking stock. And of this you can be certain: we won’t give up.


What are your ideas about how to create equal opportunities for women playwrights and female theatre artists? Join us on Wednesday, June 27, 7 p.m., for our next LA FPI gathering to share ideas and network, followed by an 8 p.m. reading of Paula Cizmar’s new play Strawberry, directed by Sabina Ptasznik in the new Tactical Reads program
. And please share your thoughts in the comments section below. 

 

The Bechdel Test for the Stage

Today I invited Etta Devine and Caroline Sharp to talk with me about the Bechdel test, how it affects their film viewing and careers, then see how it can be modified for plays.  This topic came up when I was trying to codify my reactions to some of the female characters I’ve seen on stage recently. We’ll talk starting at 1pm, and you can watch here (a video will be embedded before the start time) or on You Tube. Updates will be sent via @LA_FPI as well. Please join us and ask questions!

 

Here is a great introduction to the Bechdel Test:

Beyond the Bechdel Test: how do LGBT characters fare?

“The ‘Bechdel Rule,’ Defining Pop-Culture Character”All Things Considered (National Public Radio).

Day Three: Playwrights in Mind: A National Conversation – part four?

What will it take to have gender parity in America?  Julia Jordan says lots of local, grassroots groups are springing up – like LAFPI.  Collectively, they hold a lot of power.  But not as much as artistic directors.  They have the power to break the cycle.  Look at the Blackburn Award winners and runners up who’ve never had a production.  AD’s can aggressively go out there and decide to produce work by women and they won’t be hurt artistically or economically.

Sheri Wilner says AD’s are choosing playwrights not plays.  We need to raise their conscience – take it to the streets and ticketbuyers.

Laura Shamas says she spent a year going to nothing but plays by women.  If someone asks her to resubscribe to a theatre season, she says “no” unless they’ll do more shows by women.  Economic information.

What can I do if I live in a tiny town?  Jordan says it’s almost a PR war.  You’d be hard pressed to find an artistic director who doesn’t know the “right” answer when it comes to the question of playwrights of color.  Not so with gender.  Add to the conversation with those artistic directors, this is something people have thought about and there IS a right answer.  The numbers are so glaring, it cannot be ignored.  Write letters, don’t give them your money.  And it’s not just playwriting.  It’s about all the arts, beyond the arts. 

Sheri says there should be a wider net.  A study looked at children’s books: 33% have a lead female character; 100% have lead male characters.  We need to start early.

Laura says we were so inspired in LA by the east coast work, they did their own study, there’s a listing of plays by women on the website, and a blog as well.  Start a festival!  Address it creatively.  There are LAFPI “agents” who reach out to theatres to ask, “how can we get you to consider more plays by female playwrights.  Mixers.  You can do this in your hometown.  You’d be surprised what you can do with some cocktails. 

Marsha Norman says every woman has to help another woman.  There’s an infinite amount of “antelope” out there – we can be in the business of generosity.  Why do the stories of women need to be told?  Not just because they’re stories of women.  We need to hear the stories of all the people here on earth if we’re to live here with any semblance of compassion and understanding.  Every story that’s there to be told has to find its way to the stage.  People in power have to stop telling the same damn story again and again on the American stage.  We also have to get our own body of work done.  And make it possible for people to come after us.

When Primary Stages did a season of plays by women, it was their lowest grossing season…it was also the season after the market crash.  But did women get blamed for bad sales?  Playwrights Horizons did really well with female playwrights.  Last year, nearly 40% of the plays in NYC were by women, and many were hits.

How about cross-discipline boycotts?  Dancers boycotting theatres that don’t do plays by women.  Is there a Dramatists Guild policy on gender parity?  Marsha said if that’s what’s needed, we’ll do it.

Marsha says the “afraid” part is a huge part of it.  Be not afraid.  Because what?  It’s gonna get worse?  Her two Broadway producers kept asking whether she’d seen any Tony nominated shows.  She said no.  “In a season where’s no work by women, I’m not going.”  Our mouths have to open.  Create an organization, be the artists telling stories who go to the White House. 

Parity: Julie says she met with funding organization who told her what they did for writers of color.  No quotas.  Instead said, “we just want to see the numbers…how many did you produce…just for our own information.”  Suddenly more works by writers of color were getting done.  Something similar could be down the line for women.  It starts with data, which is being compiled now and being available for anyone who wants them.

“And now?”

Now that we’ve released the results, I’m experiencing feelings of relief and gratitude. 

Relief: that the Study is “done!” 

Gratitude: to all those whose participation and encouragement made it possible. 

The main goal of the LA FPI is to bring people together to support each other, and I really saw that happening with the Study.  I received so many e-mails from people who wanted to participate and were happy we had undertaken this, and so much help from fellow LA FPI badge-holders. 

For my parting words, I’d actually like to point you to the words chosen by participants to describe their experiences.  At the end of the survey, I asked participants to choose one word to describe either their experiences as a female playwright, or the LA theater scene as a whole.

Here’s what they had to say:

What one word would you use to describe the LA theater community?

theater companies:

passionate

Varied.

Saturated

Diverse

Energetic

Disconnected

Elitist

struggling

Struggling

Diverse

awakening

Appreciative

Brimming

mainstream

Growing

underfunded

Male

Vital

tenacious

For female playwrights: what one word comes to mind to describe the experience of being a female playwright in the 21st century?

playwrights:

Courageous

perseverance

Underappreciated

outlier

Difficult

Opportunity

challenging

Perseverance

Frustrating

empowering

wicked

driven

self-actualizing

Difficult

Frustrating

solace

Underestimated

Challenging

outsider

challenging

confusing

Sexist

open

trivialized

Challenging

OPPORTUNITY

dismissed

Undervalued

Challenging

Empowerment

undervalued

HARD

over-looked

exciting

duplicitous

competitive

challenging

challenging

Maddening

Difficult

Frustrated

Tenacity

Challenging

frustrating

innovation

passion

exciting

schizophrenic

Lonely

Condescending

Exciting.

Challenging

dream

exciting

Tough.

Vivid

exciting

challenging

challenging

limiting

collective

no comment

determination

unemployed

frustration

Lonely.

Uphill

discrimination

excellent

Voice

LIMITING

Outsider

potential

destitute

bipassed

Arduous

lonely

marginal

Threshold

Difficult

Challenging

unique

unrelenting

 

Regardless of your gender, being a playwright or a theatermaker is no easy task.  The experience is challenging, frightening, exciting, mercurial… at different times, it probably suits whatever words you can think of.  But perhaps the greatest aspect of theatre is that it reminds us that we are not alone.  Theater is not just about the relationships between performers and audiences, performers and performers, or audiences and audiences, or… any other partial combination of that kind.  Theater is about everyone and everyone… It brings us together.  And for that we can all be thankful.