Lortel Awards going gender-neutral — Page 2

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

Ravenclaw said: "I completely agree with JBroadway. Non-binary performers should not have to compete in categories that don't align with their identities, and they should not be seated at a separate kids' table. Separating actors' and actresses' work perpetuates the thinking that their work is fundamentally different. It makes no sense to separate "Best Actor" and "Best Actress" just as it makes no sense to award "Best Male compose" or "Best Female Lighting Designer". There are plenty of possible ways to address the "but then fewer people will win awards!" concern."

Again, I think this is easier for theater and harder for film, TV, etc. Things are a little better in recent years but in the acting categories, the roles women tend to be nominated for are still wife/girlfriend, mother, or biopic leads. I think that's the fundamental difference. And that's before you get into the quality of the scripts and the money going into a movie centered around a woman's story. Back to the Tonys, the point about the other categories is interesting as it highlights the lack of gender equity in different fields. I think women are still most likely to be represented in costume design.

Do you think it would work to have multiple winners depending on how much of the vote share nominees receive? You could still have two (or more) lead acting winners but it could potentially be a man and woman or two men or a woman and a nonbinary performer, etc.

Gender is not the only way to split up awards.

I would agree with a previous comment that splitting them by drama/comedy actually makes more sense. It's easier to compare the merits of two comedic performances than a comedic vs a dramatic performance but they're both men. there's just such vastly different goals and metrics in comedic vs dramatic performances.

MikeInTheDistrict said: "Maybe one solution could be to have ranked choice awards, so that there are more awards to go around: first place, second place, third place, or gold, silver, and bronze, as in the Olympics. The rankings would be based simply on the number of votes. It would give more recognition to spread around."

FWIW, the Lortels are already ranked choice to determine category winners. I feel like having 2nd and 3rd winners would defeat the point unless the categories themselves become much larger.

Designers and directors and writers don't have gendered categories. Why is it so hard to imagine performance categories the same way?

Updated On: 11/8/21 at 12:06 PM

I definitely agree that gendering the categories is silly and antiquated, but cutting the number of acting categories would be a bummer and would be bad for business for the televised award shows. The alternative that would make the most sense to me would be to separate the categories by genre/style. The Emmys and the Golden Globes already do this by separating comedy and drama. You could also add in categories for best ensemble or best debut/newcomer or things like that to give out more performance-based awards. There would likely be some years where there aren’t enough candidates to fill a category or some instances of category fraud, but we have those issues already. It’s not an exact science.

No one has mentioned the other change: that there will finally be an award given for Outstanding Ensemble, which is a category that should be in the Tonys as well. I think only the SAG awards has it now.

How daring!

A dumb solution in search of a problem.