The Boston Glass Proscenium

A panel discussion

addressing the state of

employment parity for women in theatre

Monday, April 4, 2011

6:30pm

Calderwood Pavilion

at the Boston Center for the Arts,

539 Tremont Street, Boston

Registration: $0-$5 online, $8 cash at the door.

PANELISTS

Elliot Norton Award  and IRNE Award winner Janie E. Howland has been a Scenic Designer in the Boston area for 18 years. Founding member of CYCO SCENIC; MFA from Brandeis University; lecturer at Wellesley College; USA local 829.

Fight Choreographer and Actress Angie Jepson is currently performing in Reasons to be Pretty (Steph) with SpeakEasy Stage, where she previously appeared in The Little Dog Laughed (Ellen) and The Vibrator Play (Annie u/s). Angie is a graduate of the MFA Acting program at BrandeisUniversity.

Boston Native A. Nora Long is Producing Associate at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, co-Artistic Director of fringe company New Exhibition Room, and a founding member of the Small Theatre Alliance of Boston. She received her MFA in Dramaturgy from the American Repertory Theatre/ Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.

Karen MacDonald, honored with an Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence and the Robert Brustein Award for Sustained Achievement in the Theatre, is a succesful actress and director with both local and national credits including Arts Emerson, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, New Rep, Huntington, and A.R.T (founding compnay member).  Graduate of BostonUniversity’s CFA.

Courtney O’Connor is a free-lance director with credits at Lyric Stage Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Intern Company, Coyote Theatre, and Brandeis University. She is an adjunct faculty member at EmersonCollege.

Associate Producer at the Huntington, M. Bevin O’Gara is an IRNE Award Nominated Director with credits at New Rep, Company One, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Holland Productions), and Williamstown Theatre Workshop.  Bevin holds a BFA from Boston University in Theatre Studies.

Director and writer Dawn Simmons is co-Artistic Director for New Exhibition Room, Director of Programs for StageSource and a founding member of The Small Theatre Alliance of Boston.  Dawn’s credits include GAN-e-meed Theatre Project, The Theatre Offensive, Holland Productions, The Boston Theatre Marathon, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Another Country Productions, and Company One.  Ms. Simmons studied playwriting at Boston University and earned a BA in English Literature from The University at Buffalo.

Artistic Director of New Repertory Theatre Kate Warner serves as a board member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and will co-chair the 2011 National Conference in Los Angeles.  Her impressive history as both a director and producer include credits with Atlanta’s Theatrical Outfit, Dad’s Garage, Actor’s Express, and Magic Theatre.  She is also a member of the Lincoln Center Theatre Directors’ Lab in New York, the Directors Lab West in Los Angeles, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

The studies tell us....

• of employed individuals working in theatre, 20% are women
• of the leaders of theatres, 7% are women
• audience members are made up of 65% women
• the larger the budget, the fewer women are in the room

Qualitative interviews tell us....

• we graduate men and women from MFA and BFA programs at equal rates
• a majority of plays produced have more male roles
• producers and agents think plays written by women "won't sell"

While Boston-specific statistics have not been compiled, a glance at local companies’ seasons shows that the local female theatre artists face a “Glass Proscenium” in Boston. 

MORE INFO

An invited panel of established and mid-career theatre artists (including actors, directors, playwrights, technicians, designers, and producers) will discuss their personal experience working in Boston theatre.  Panelists will address their experience of gender bias, effective strategies they have seen or employed for handling it, and changes the Boston theatre community can make to even the playing field.  After a question and answer session, audience members will suggest topics that they would like to explore in breakout sessions of pro-active idea sharing.  The evening will close with a summation of all break-out sessions and plans for action.