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.
