1-19-07
Women in Theatre News
“Women are underrepresented – even in theatre,” writes Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald, co-artistic director of 20%Theatre Company Chicago. “That is why every 20% Theatre Company Production stages plays written by women, under the direction of women…”
Ms. Schwan-Rosenwald’s statement may be true, especially if extrapolated on a national basis, but I’m not sure it’s true in Chicago. Certainly, among theatre critics in our town there are at least as many women as men, perhaps more. My own paper, the Windy City Times, regularly features two female critics and two male critics (of which I am one). Among our largest institutional theatres – Chicago Shakespeare, Court, Goodman, Lookingglass, Northlight, Steppenwolf and Victory Gardens – one finds women in the top artistic or management jobs at five out of seven of them, and the ratio is at least as great among smaller troupes.
But 20% takes its name and mandate from an extremely narrow base, as Ms. Schwan-Rosenwald writes: “Of the 10 productions hailed by TimeOut Chicago as the best shows of 2005, only two were written by female playwrights.” Female authors indeed may be short-changed in the percentage of their works produced among all plays produced, especially given the history of Western culture in which only men wrote plays nearly up to the 20th century, with rare exceptions such as Aphra Benn. If one counted productions of plays written since 1960, I suspect the percentage of female writers would be considerably higher than 20 percent.
Be that as it may, we decided to take Ms. S-R at face value and proceeded to conduct an informal survey: how many works by women were named in the year-end articles in PerformInk’s issue of Dec. 22? Surveying the wrap-up stories by Laura Molzahn, Lawrence Bommer, Christopher Piatt, Jenn Goddu and Venus Zarris – that’s three women and two men – we found that 22 shows out of 76 cited were authored or co-authored by women, or 29 percent. Actually, the percentage probably is higher as several times the journalists did not identify the playwrights. (FYI: the critic with the highest female-to-play ratio was Piatt, of TimeOut Chicago, with 9 out of 19.)
20% Theatre Company Chicago presents Jane: Abortion and the Underground, by Paula Kamen, Feb. 17-March 24 at the Side Studio.
OK, January is upon us, the sugarplums and treacle have been packed away for the next 10 months and everyone is getting back to the business of Real Theatre. You know what that means, don’t you kiddies? That’s right! It means another exciting episode of Opening Night Logjam! As of the date of writing this column (Jan. 9) – and not counting late-night shows, sketch comedy or theatre for young audiences – there were 48 scheduled openings Jan. 3-31 with 21 of them Jan. 17-23. Nothing opened Jan. 6, 10, 15 or 16, nothing is opening Jan. 24 or 26. The Logjam features direct competition on Jan. 20 between Court Theatre’s Uncle Vanya and TimeLine’s Brett Neveu world premiere, Harmless. About Face opens Execution of Justice at 5 p.m. that day, which means a critic also could make an 8 p.m. show if he/she hustles his/her ass and has a late lunch.
There’s a logjam of a different sort Feb. 4 and 5. Y’see, for the last three years, Lookingglass Theatre Company has invited the press to its final Saturday night preview performances before Sunday gala openings for board members and other supporters. For many years longer than that, the Next Theatre Company in Evanston has opened its shows to press and supporters on Monday nights. But for its next show, the long-anticipated world premiere of The Adding Machine as a chamber musical, Next made a change in its schedule resulting in two press nights, Sunday and Monday (the usual night), Feb. 4 and 5. Meanwhile, for its next show, The Wooden Breeks, Lookingglass planned a Saturday night gala, Feb. 3, to avoid a conflict with Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 4. Checking the League of Chicago Theatres calendar, as they properly should, Lookingglass saw the Next press night listed for Feb. 4 and scheduled their press performance for Monday, Feb. 5. In addition, Porchlight Music Theatre has a world premiere on Sunday, Feb. 4, The Teapot Dome Scandals.
So, critics must choose Sunday between Next, Porchlight and football or they must choose Monday between Next and Lookingglass. And you wonder why so many reviewers have gray hair? You thought it was because we are old and wise? I’ll tell you right now, if the Bears make it to the Super Bowl, I’ll be sitting in front of my TV and not in a theatre. A good solution would be for Lookingglass generously to give members of the press the option of seeing The Wooden Breeks on Friday night, Feb. 2 – it will have had seven previews by then – or on Wednesday night, Feb. 7.
Bailiwick Repertory is taking its Barenaked Lads franchise on the road this summer to a place where most of the lads are nearly naked all the time anyway. A special edition of the show, Barenaked Lads Greatest Hits, will run June 15-Sept. 15 at the Post Office Cabaret in Provincetown, MA, under producer Phyllis Schlossberg. Original cast member John Cardone will serve as director/performer of the touring unit, which will include five performers and a pianist. Meanwhile, spring will see the – ahem – unveiling of a new edition of the show at Bailiwick, Barenaked Lads on Broadway.
In our Oct. 13 Behind the Curtain, we announced that the well-regarded Reverie Theatre Company was in the process either of reorganizing or going out of business, as several founding ensemble members departed to pursue other interests. Well, Reverie still is deciding, but in the meantime it’s helping actor Vance Smith launch Black Sheep Productions, which will be Smith’s first venture as a producer and director. Black Sheep in association with Reverie Theatre will present the world premiere of Another Day in the Empire, by Steve Spencer, at the Royal George Theatre, opening March 11. Smith says Reverie co-founders Chris Pomeroy and Scott Westerman had expressed interest in working with him on Another Day in the Empire a number of months ago when Reverie still was considering an active producing agenda, although not the three-play season the troupe produced 2002-2005. Reverie is not actively producing the show with Smith, but has assisted him in fundraising and marketing efforts and has allowed the company name to be used in the hope that it will help attract an audience.