Women's Media Nation | Social, political, and cultural issues relating to women

Women onstage this season

posted by Women & Hollywood
Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 11:03am CDT

Earlier this spring I wrote how excited I was to see so many amazing women appearing on the NY stage this season. New Yorkers are lucky to get all the indie films as well as the opportunity to see such great theatre if you can afford it.

I’ve gotten to see a few of these performances: Jane Fonda in 33 Variations, Allison Janney in 9 to 5 (I will have an interview with Janney later this week); and Janet McTeer and Harriet Walters in Mary Stuart. I also saw Tovah Feldshuh in Irena’s Vow when it was off-Broadway. All gave great performances and except for Feldshuh all are nominated for a Tony.

Female actors have been flocking to the theatre for years. It’s where they can work. In the theatre, it’s actually a plus to have experience unlike in films where they always want the new young thing. Also, theatre audiences are older (cause it’s more expensive) and women make most of the theatre ticket buying decisions.

But this season is clearly special and it’s about time we acknowledged this exciting season for women’s roles. But let’s keep in mind that most of these women are appearing in plays by MEN. Just because there are women onstage does not take away from the fact that there are hardly any women who get their plays to Broadway. We need more women playwrights on Broadway. Of the four nominees for the Tony Award for Best Play, only one - Yasmina Reza- is a woman and she’s French. Where are the female American playwrights? It’s great that we have women onstage, now we just needs more women’s voices and visions.

Here are some comments from the piece and I have to say I love the picture so I had to post it:

But the current number and quality of roles for actresses on the New York stage is especially noticeable at a time when Hollywood is more obsessed than ever with youth and is providing so few meaningful parts for women, no matter what their age.

In film “women’s roles on the whole are defined in terms of their family relationship to the hero,” Ms. Walter said from her basement dressing room at the Broadhurst Theater, not far from a tank that collects the 400 gallons of water it takes to produce an onstage thunderstorm. “They are the wife, the girlfriend, the mother, the daughter. Rather than being the center of their own story, they’re usually a planet revolving around a male figure.”

Forget the Ingénues; Cue the Grown-Ups (NY Times)