It’s not enough to have clear statistics about how women are discriminated in theatre, but now a new award — The Steinberg Playwright Awards — given to “emerging” playwrights has decided that there is no woman good enough to qualify as emerging.

Bollocks.

This is a brand spanking new award and while the committee (which included several women) couldn’t decide the definition of “emerging” (is it a person right out of school, or a person who is mid-career) they easily decided that no woman qualifies.

It’s not like this award is $2,500.  There is some serious money — $25,000 and $50,000 — and prestige attached.  I don’t know how people can sit in a room and give out awards and be ok with not including a woman, especially in light of the recent statistics showing how discriminated women playwrights are.

Trust Tussles Over Playwright Award Eligibility (NY Times)

• Filed Under:  
• Arts, Entertainment, Theatre, Discrimination

• Tags:
• Awards
• Theatre

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