Over
the course of the last year, the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements have found
themselves imprinted onto the public consciousness. In the past, theatre
artists marched out in front of issues like these through provocative new
works, and performances. Today, however, many theatres settle for tried, true,
and safe expressions in art, recycling the old war-horses instead of confronting
systems of oppression and advocating for change. Other branches of the arts are
fighting for improvements in equality and representation, but where can we find
the theatre? The Region 6 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival indicates
that theatre has a lot of catching up to do.
Of
the seven invited productions at this year’s festival, only one of them—Luna Gale—was penned by a female
playwright (Rebecca Gilman). Nationally, productions of plays written by women make
up a paltry 22% of theatre offerings. Region 6 of the Kennedy Center suffers an
additional 7% drop in this representation. The argument has been made that men
write better and more plays, and therefore of
course producers select their work more often. That statement doesn’t stand
up to the facts. In the National Playwriting Program’s 10-Minute Play Competition,
blind submissions are evaluated to choose the regional finalists. Of the six
plays selected, five of them were written by women. If 83% of plays by female
playwrights are selected on blind submission, how do we explain such a
precipitous drop once identities are revealed?
The
problem goes beyond the playwrights. Male directors outnumber female directors
4 to 3. On the surface it appears that female actors outnumber male actors at
KCACTF, but much of that depends on the monologue play Shakespeare’s Other Women. Without that play, men would outnumber
the women 16 to 11. Are female theatre artists absent? A quick glance at any
common area during the festival proves that women outnumber the men, yet the
symptom persists. We must correct this disparity between available resources
and representation.
When female
characters are represented in these
plays, they are often subject to misogynistic tropes at the hands of the playwrights
and creative teams. Robert Askins’s Hand
to God makes no attempt to create female characters that have agency as anything
other than a sexual object. When protagonist Jason’s mother does show a sense
of being in control of the situation, she does so by committing statutory rape.
Jason’s love interest Jessica almost maintains her innocence throughout the
play before succumbing to sexual deviancy in the way of explicit puppet sex. She
must use sex as a tool to stop the evil since a woman couldn’t possibly have any other skills
available. These women are not characters so much as props designed for men’s pleasure.
Lydia by Octavo Solis, for all its
beauty, reduces the women of the play to sexual objects, jilted lovers, or
helpless creatures that cannot care for themselves. The Royale by Marco Ramirez only includes one woman in the story of
the play. Once introduced late in the evening she serves mostly as a sounding
board. Gruesome Playground Injuries by
Rajiv Joseph levels the playing field in terms of representation as it features
one male and one female character, but Kayleen serves little purpose outside of
being a comforter for Y-chromasomed Doug. He calls on her to heal him
physically, emotionally, and mentally throughout the play to the detriment of
her own health. In the one moment of the play that she seems to really need
him, he attacks her saying, “Make me stay;” The onus moves to her. Even in her
vulnerable moments, the script requires she serve as caretaker to a man. The
festival includes Gilman as the one female playwright in the mix, and even she finds herself guilty of the
negative portrayals of women that pervade the festival. Luna Gale, though full of strong female characters, focuses a bit
too much on the ways that some women tear each other down to achieve their
goals.
When
the issue of representation comes up at KCACTF6, theatre professionals trumpet the
aforementioned play Shakespeare’s Other
Women. On the surface, a play directed by a woman featuring 12 women
playing 36 female roles deserves credit as a triumph, right? Not so fast.
Although the play appears to bridge the divide, the production proves quite
problematic. In the casting of the show, stereotypes are invoked across the
board. More attractive women play queens and love interests while other body
types play clowns, jilted lovers, and servants. Furthermore, the characters are
only allowed to speak when prompted by the two male characters in the play. After
these men have listened to these words from female characters that give agency,
power, and depth, the papers holding their stories are left strewn about the floor
as the men head to the bar to show off the bound copy of Shakespeare’s first
folio—a book filled with stereotypical female tropes. The final moment of the
play features the women standing alone in the library, no longer able to act or
speak without the permission of a man. They remain there, steadfast as the
building catches fire. With these closing acts, the play appears to suggest
that women stepping out of line leads to being burned alive: hardly a positive
message for women.
Given
all of these problems, how do we correct this imbalance? Do we simply instruct
responders to balance representation when inviting productions to participate
in the festival? Perhaps, but with the 78/22% disparity between productions of male
and female playwrights, can we level the playing field? If the solution does
not exist at the regional level, where else should we look? The answer lies
elsewhere on the totem pole: the students. Educational institutions must make a
more concerted effort to include students at the molecular level. Get a
balanced representation of artists involved in season selection, dramaturgical
presentations, direction, playwriting. We may bemoan that the region should do
a better job in selecting works by female artists featuring female characters,
but if schools aren’t producing those works, how can Region 6 possibly extend
an invitation to the festival?
But
can we count on young theatre artists? Can they really enact real change? To
answer that question, I point your attention to the national debate on gun
control, especially as related to school shootings. Politicians have been
running circles around each other for years on this issue. A tragedy happens,
words are thrown about, but no real change happens. Following the shooting at
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, the students took control of
the narrative. They were able to force face-to-face meetings with Senators, law
enforcement, and the NRA while getting their message out to major media outlets
across the country. In the wake of their efforts, almost ten gun-control bills
have been filed in the Senate. They did all of this in little over a week. If a
group of students can have this kind of effect on a national issue of such
importance, they certainly can when it comes to the problem at hand. These are
powerful, driven individuals ready to make a change. We must trust them to
shape the future not only of KCACTF, but of American Theatre as a whole.
---Shane Strawbridge
---Shane Strawbridge
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