Gender Bias in Theatre
Gender Bias in Theatre
#1Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/24/09 at 11:17am
Here's the link to the NY Times article: http://tinyurl.com/kojqv
Any thoughts? How should this problem be amended?
"If I could only do one thing before I died, it would be to swim with a middle-aged couple from Connecticut."- a dolphin
AndAllThatJazz22
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/8/08
#2re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/24/09 at 11:19amI actually feel that the 'gender-bias' in theatre has always been pro-female for years. Female's tend to have better written, more exciting roles.
-Danmeg's 10 year old son.
#2re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/24/09 at 11:28amPerhaps in the theatre (especally in musical theatre) but in film and TV, actresses have it really rough. And in all mediums, there is always WAY, WAY more competition for women.
WishingOnlyWounds2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/25/08
#3re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/24/09 at 11:31am
...and I thought this was going to be about the higher number of women bathrooms in theaters.
Men in the mezzanine of the Booth Theatre have to walk down two long flights of stairs where women have to walk five feet. That's not the only theatre where that is a problem either. That's biased if you ask me!
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
PiraguaGuy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/10/08
#5re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/24/09 at 11:40amYou can find bias anywhere if you look. How come there are no fat people on Broadway! Even the guy playing Shrek is in a padded suit?
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
SporkGoddess
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/27/05
#8re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/24/09 at 11:52amIsn't this research entirely correlational?
#9re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/24/09 at 12:08pmI don't think this should come as any kind of surprise. Women writers have always had a hard time breaking into the All Boys Club of getting their work produced. Not only in theatre but television and film also.
#10re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/24/09 at 1:50pmalthough this year, both the Pulitzer prize winner AND the Tony winner for Best Play were written by women. I think that's pretty interesting, to be honest.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#11re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/24/09 at 3:57pmI did find the article to be food for thought. Thanks for posting
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#12re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/24/09 at 4:45pmDo you think if you submitted the same play twice, one with "Written by Phillip Rogers Stone" on the cover and one with "Written by Phyllis Rogers Stone" they would produce the first and reject the second?
#13re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/25/09 at 12:01am
Bottom line - a play is excellent, terrible or something in between regardless of who wrote it, so while the article is an interesting read it would not be fair to produce female works over male works simply because they are female works. Equality should take a backseat to quality.
That said, it is pretty damn invigorating that the Pulitzer and Best New Play Tony winners were both women playwrights this year.
Feb. 28 - Looped, Feb. 28 - Next to Normal, March 4 - Hair, March 11 - A Little Night Music, March 24 - Time Stands Still, April 6 - La Cage Aux Folles, April 10 - Anyone Can Whistle (City Center), April 10 - Looped, May 9 - Enron, May 15 - A Little Night Music, May 15 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Behanding In Spokane, May 30 - A Little Night Music, June 20 - A Little Night Music, June 23 - Red, June 23 - Sondheim on Sondheim, July 13 - A Little Night Music, July 18 - The Grand Manner (Lincoln Center)
#14re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/25/09 at 12:16amYes, the Tony and the Pulitzer .... and another Pulitzer contender was Becky Shaw .... and there was Distracted .... in fact, a high proportion of the plays I really respected this past season were by women.
bwayfan7000
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/28/09
#15re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/25/09 at 12:26am
This article didn't really pound in a point to me, what with the recent prominence of plays by female writers. I think there is general bias anywhere based on general statistics taken like these. However, I don't think it proves any larger point. Sure, there may be more men getting plays produced than women over a certain period, but does that mean bias, or maybe just better plays written by men, or having more name-recognition for said male playwrites? What I mean by this is if you are sent two scripts, one a new play by David Mamet and another by a new writer named Sarah Smith, which one are you most likely to produce? I know this seemed a bit incoherent, but I just don't think this article proved any vital point.
And as far as the bathrooms go, Wishing, you don't need a study to show you that women's restroom lines are always much longer than men's, thereby needing more women's restrooms. lol.
#16re: Gender Bias in Theatre
Posted: 6/25/09 at 12:56am
I believe there's a law that says there have to be 1.5 women stalls to every 1 male.
Anyone who believes the men's plays are produced more simply because they're better quality is delusional. You might as well claim that the women shouldn't get produced because they might want to have kids one day and it will take them away from their work.
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