The Feminine Dilemma

As promised, a writeup of Saturday's panel at Chicago Dramatists. I was taking notes by hand so not much in the way of direct quotes, but there seemed to be a recorder on the table; if Dramatists puts up a recording or transcript I'll be sure to point it out.

The panel was entertaining and informative, if longer on statistics and anecdotes (both personal from the panelists and those cited by Kerry and Mia) than on solutions. But as I alluded to at TOC, Rome wasn't built in a day, and this problem won't be solved in an hour and a half on the set of Cadillac. Not to repeat myself, but the best way to address the issue is to keep addressing the issue.

Comments

[Marisa Wegrzyn]

Thanks for posting a writeup, Kris. Wish I could've been there.

[Kerry Reid]

Thanks for coming, Kris.

Sarah Wambold at MCA just sent me this yesterday. Not sure I can make it, but thought I'd pass it along.

Roundtable Discussion: Women and Stagecraft
Saturday, February 9, 2-4 pm
Join Jenny Magnus and invited guests for a discussion on the unique contributions of women in Chicago's distinctive stagecraft. Actors, playwrights, directors, and stage technicians will speak to the challenges as well as advantages existent in the field today, and how their work has shaped it and may shape generations to come.

[Kerry Reid]

And another one I got last week:

C-WiF Holds its Inaugural Panel with Chicago's Top Female Improvisers

CHICAGO,IL (January 14, 2008) – Long before Christopher Hitchen's article on the worlds death of funny women sent improvisers to the message boards, there has been a need for a women-centric comedy community within Chicago. Enter C-WiF: The Chicago Women's Improv Forum. With the goal of giving women a place to work on their improvisation away from testosterone-filled and often competitive classes, C-WiF aims to create a supportive environment for women to grow as artists and improvisers.

We'll get down to business soon enough with weekly workshops tackling such topics as Character Building, Environment, Movement, Stage Combat, and more—but before that, it's time for the great pep talk of '08. And who better to inspire future dynamic dames than seven of the top female improvisers in the city?

Sponsored by C-WiF, panelists include: Jet Eveleth, Tara DeFrancisco, Dina Facklis, Anne Libera, Niki Lindgren, Rachael Mason, and Susan Messing. Moderated by Jessica Rogers. Ladies should bring all their burning** questions about improv, auditions, acting and networking within the Chicago comedy community.

Details:

When: Tuesday, February 5th
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: The Del Close Theatre @ i.O (Upstairs)
3541 N. Clark
Free forum
Free food
Free entrance to the Reckoning's 10:30 show following the panel!!

RSVP to Rebecca Grossman at [email protected]
Must RSVP by Jan 31, 2008 as space is limited.
Check out C-WiF on www.myspace.com/cw_if

**Other burning questions should be directed to a medical professional

[Patrick Hudson]

Just curious: what is the estimated percentage or ratio of female and male playwrights? I assume that plays by women are still underperformed, regardless of the ratio, but I am wondering just how out-of-wack the proportions are.

[Kris Vire]

Patrick: I wonder if there's any good way to measure (or even estimate)? I've seen several published claims that the number of women coming out of the MFA playwriting programs is equal to or greater than the number of men, which says a lot but it's not a true measure—as much as it may seem sometimes that the only new playwrights being produced have Brown/Trinity, Yale or Juilliard on their resumes, not every playwright gets an MFA.

Someone asked Tanya Palmer at the panel if she could estimate the ratio of women to men in the submissions they receive (she couldn't offhand), but if we could survey the LORT theaters about their submissions that would be an interesting barometer. It's still not terribly useful considering that even in Chicago only three of our theaters are LORT (Goodman, Northlight and Court, assuming the data I'm looking at is current), and I suspect the theaters would balk at opening up their data.

Anyone have other ideas?

[Kerry Reid]

Didn't Mia mention talking to the Dramatists Guild and finding it hard to get this data from them (i.e., how many male members vs. how many female)? Of course, not every playwright is in DG, since it doesn't confer the same kind of union benefits WGA, AEA, SAG, etc. provide for their membership. But I would think they would have some demographic data on their membership available. I'll try to check into that on my own.

[Reina]

I used to read scripts for Victory Gardens- I think I got through about 100. My own personal count was about 50/50.

This is hardly a representative sample.

Whatever. I think it's weird that theatre in high school and college is so feminized, but as soon as you get to the pro level it's a boy's game. Like cooking.

More highly unprofessional stats to come when I remember.