Lortel Awards going gender-neutral

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/The-Lucille-Lortel-Awards-Move-to-Gender-Neutral-Performance-Categories-20211028

Thank goodness, people are finally starting to see the light. Now we just need the Tonys, Drama Desks, Oscars, etc to wake up and realize they’re behind the curve. I’ve said this before, but it’s really foolish that all these other awards bodies aren’t reading the writing on the wall on this issue. Even if they don’t personally feel it’s worth doing, they would be wise to realize that they’re going to end up with a full-blown controversy on their hands within the next 5 years, and it couldn’t be easier to avoid.

To re-iterate / re-cap from past debates on this board:

--There is no qualitative artistic difference between a male performance, a female performance, and a non-binary performance. They are all doing the same craft. We don’t separate between male and female directors.

--We’re seeing more and more non-binary actors on the stage, it’s only a short matter of time before we get a non-binary actor in a big, meaty, awards-bait role that can’t be ignored. And WHEN that happens, they need to be prepared to avoid the inevitable backlash.

--One argument we’ve heard before is “non-binary people don’t mind picking one side or the other when they have to” – that may be true for some, but not all, and in any case it’s not fair to make them do so.

--People also complain that this means fewer winners. I agree that’s not ideal, but I think it’s a worthy trade-off. There are also plenty of other ways to divide a category, but it doesn’t seem like the Gotham Awards or the Lortels have quite figured that out yet. Remains to be seen, but it’s a kink that can easily be worked out with some minimal creative thinking.

--People also worry that we will end up with more men getting nominated than women. A worthy concern in theory, but if you look at our current landscape of the industry, I just don’t see that becoming a regular issue. There are so many amazing female performances every year. In many years, the “actress” categories at the Tonys and Oscars are often much stronger and more exciting than the “actor” categories. We obviously still have work to do to remove barriers and unfairness for women in show business, but the availability of meaty, award-bait roles does not appear to be the main problem area at this time. But I’m open to hearing other perspectives on this.

Updated On: 10/28/21 at 12:43 PM

JBroadway said: "--People also worry that we will end up with more men getting nominated than women. A worthy concern in theory, but if you look at our current landscape of the industry, I just don’t see that becoming a regular issue. There are so many amazing female performances every year. In many years, the “actress” categories at the Tonys and Oscars are often much stronger and more exciting than the “actor” categories. We obviously still have work to do to remove barriers and unfairness for women in show business, but the availability of meaty, award-bait roles does not appear to be the main problem area at this time. But I’m open to hearing other perspectives on this."

At the Oscars? There are some good years but it's usually dire and a struggle to fill the categories. It'll be easier to start with theatre.

I get why they're doing it, I'm genuinely glad that they are, but I fear that all this is gonna do, at least initially, is make sure white cis males largely get the award, if not at first then eventually.

The people who generally are in charge of this stuff and who vote usually still have unconscious (or, often, conscious, real being real) biases in favor of white people who've stuck with the gender they were assigned at birth, especially if said gender involves a penis as a genital organ. It will take time to create a more diverse power base, even now.

Dispensing with gendered categories is great for a truly pluralistic future, but at the present moment (unless it briefly follows what I perceive to be the welcome but likely lip-service trend of more POC plays by playwrights of color currently on Broadway at present, to name an example), it's, unfortunately, probably more likely to increase inequity.

I'd love to be proven wrong, and I'm not normally moderate about stuff like this, but I think, like an actor nervous about hitting their mark, we've moved a beat too early.

Updated On: 10/28/21 at 01:40 PM

While I certainly appreciate the idea of a gender-neutral award, to me it's not necessarily about the gender of the performer, but about the role they're playing. I think there are certainly differences in what they are given to portray and/or sing in based on the gender of their role. And what if they're in the same show? Just imagine who will be locked out if literally every nomination went to Hamilton actors that year, Just look at the work Katrina Lenk and Tony Shalhoub did for The Band's Visit - you're telling me we can compare their work against each other? Or would they cancel each other out?

everythingtaboo said: "While I certainly appreciate the idea of a gender-neutral award, to me it's not necessarily about the gender of the performer, but about the role they're playing. I think there are certainly differences in what they are given to portray and/or sing in based on the gender of their role. And what if they're in the same show? Just imagine who will be locked out if literally every nomination went to Hamilton actors that year, Just look at the work Katrina Lenk and Tony Shalhoub did for The Band's Visit - you're telling me we can compare their work against each other? Or would they cancel each other out?

"

Apologies if this sounds harsh, but this logic doesn’t hold up to any level of scrutiny. So you can’t compare Shalhoub vs. Lenk because they’re in the same show but different genders, but you CAN compare Rannels vs. Gad, Miranda vs. Odom Jr., Chenoweth vs. Menzel? Not to mention, you can’t compare Shalhoub vs Lenk, but you can compare Cynthia Erivo vs Laura Benanti in totally different kinds of shows?

The fact that Lenk and Shalhoub were very different from each other in Band’s Visit had nothing to do with their genders. It had to do with the way the roles were written.

And like yes, a LOT of art can’t / shouldn’t be compared to each other. But comparing art is the business of awards. So you might as well compare them on the basis of the actual art. Like I said, with a little imagination there are other ways to make sure a sufficient number of awards are still handed out.

I personally don’t think any of the major award shows like the Emmys, Oscars, and Tonys should create gender-neutral acting categories. If you ask me, actors and actresses must compete for their own prizes separately. That way the wealth can be spread among not only the nominees, but also the winners as well.

JBroadway, I get where you're coming from, but until I see examples of any real sensical way to split the performances aside from gender so that there are at least the same number of chances to win a performance Tony than there are now, I'm not sold. And I'm pretty sure that the producers of these shows will wonder the same thing before they decide to invest money and time into Tony campaigning.

Honestly, there is no way to make a change that will make everyone happy. Wasn't Alex Newell considered for Supporting Actress, because that is where Alex wanted to be considered?

Unfortunately, I also think this is a change that effects (in the grand scheme of things) so few people (ie. I'm thinking more of the NYC/Broadway community). Aunt Susie and Aunt Karen are going to say best actress for years to come. So, if something does happen, let's not assume we are all going to jump on board. Many people will still call it actor and actress for years to come.

Updated On: 10/28/21 at 08:56 PM

fashionguru_23 said: "Honestly, there is no way to make a change that will make everyone happy. Wasn't Alex Newell considered for Supporting Actress, because that is where Alex wanted to be considered?"



I don't recall that being the case, but I may be wrong. I believe they were primarily still using he/him pronouns back then, and I recall the conversation mostly being about their chances in Featured Actor.


"Unfortunately, I also think this is a change that effects (in the grand scheme of things) so few people (ie. I'm thinking more of the NYC/Broadway community). Aunt Susie and Aunt Karen are going to say best actress for years to come. So, if something does happen, let's not assume we are all going to jump on board. Many people will still call it actor and actress for years to come."

Again, I would argue that it already effects everyone, because the categories are split on an arbitrary criterium. But anyway, even if we remove that argument from the equation: this will effect more and more people as time goes on, as Broadway becomes more gender-diverse. The only reason they haven't had a sh*t-storm of backlash is because there hasn't been a non-binary actor who has been a major awards-contender with a lot of visibility (which is its own problem). But mark my words: it'll happen within the next 5 years, and the moment it does, it's going to be like a lightbulb going off, Twitter is going to have a field day, and the Tony committee will be desperately scrambling to save face. Like I said, the writing is on the wall.

I don't particularly care what Aunt Susie and Aunt Karen think, but in any case they won't have anything to continue calling "Best Actress" if there is nothing that resembles a Best Actress category. This isn't about changing the names of the categories, it's about changing the categories themselves.

Re: why it can make sense to separate….of course in reality there is much more complexity than can possibly be accounted for this way but the fact is there is a qualitative difference between the performances given by women and men, first in quality because women (in the context of musical theatre) are better and have higher quality roles, second because these actors with very few exceptions don’t just have a different gender identity in real life but also the characters themselves do and despite what we might want it does mean something in terms of the life experience and stories you tell depending on whether you are a man or woman (or something else) in this world so there are differences and finally because physically there are qualitative similarities within female an male actors such as range and timbre of voice and physical appearance. Of course due to the complexity of reality this still doesn’t mean it is a perfect way to group and have people compete against each other but there is more substance to this approach than saying it’s completely pointless.

Updated On: 10/29/21 at 03:46 AM