Submissions accepted

Mia McCullough posted an illuminating comment on the TOC blog. Check it out.

Comments

[reina]

Ok, Chicago gender statistics as promised. (You all don't know how lucky you are.)

I came up with these figures in the fall by looking at Performink's 2007-08 Season Preview, making hatch marks on pieces of scrap paper which I shoved into my computer bag and forgot about till now. Sadly, I've also forgotten which piece of scrap paper represented Equity shows, and which represented non-equity shows. Luckily (I suppose) there is only one percentage point difference between the two stat collections, so I can just give you totals.

Total shows counted: 303
Total shows by male authors or teams of male authors: 222
Total shows by female authors or teams of female authors: 61
Total shows where gender could not be determined by the researcher: 9
Total shows written by mixed gender teams:10 (I think, my notes on this section are sort of weird.)
Percentage of shows written by women: 20% (of course!)

And here's an interesting little stat that the other studies don't include.

Number of companies that have an ALL MALE 2007-08 season: 34
Number of companies that have an ALL FEMALE 2007-08 season: 2

Notes on methodology. I never counted Shakespeare. Ever. Companies that only had one play in their season were not counted towards either the all male, or the all female totals. I also probably made a whole bunch of errors. I kind of wish the numbers were close enough that my errors mattered.

-goes to watch large men jump into larger heaps.

[Tony]

Here's something I've wondered about . . .

When looking at statistics it's easy to simply hone in on the lack of female writers. (Especially when talking to female writers.)

No secret there's a shortage of good roles for female actors as well.

In the grand scheme of things is it better, worse (or doesn't matter)if a company's doing a work by a male writer who has predominantly (or exclusively in some plays) strong female characters. Garcia Lorca comes to mind.