Female Playwrights
American culture has been greatly influenced by female playwrights who bring culture and ethnic diversity to their writings. Today, there are numerous female playwrights. However, their work continues to be put on the back burner in our society. Only nine Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded to women in this field. Five of them have only been won in the past 15 years.
Today, playwrights by women seem to be exploding into production. The Humana Festival of New American plays is held each year in Louisville, Kentucky since 1979. It consists of six full length plays by new American Playwrights. In 2004 five of the six plays chosen were written by women. In New York, one of the largest play publishing services is beginning to back more and more plays written by women. This makes since as over sixty percent of those who attend plays in New York are women.
For some women, this movement is ending years of frustration with the industry. Julia Jordan is a playwright who did not have a play produced in ten years. Then suddenly, there was a huge interest in her writing. She had four plays produced in a 2 year period. She said she has thought about putting her brother’s name on her materials to find out if it is a gender issue or the material that she is writing that is keeping it from being accepted for production.
The consensus in the industry is that it truly is discrimination. The New York State Council of the Arts conducted a study in 2001. They were able to show several examples of playwrights written by females that were considered to be political, too dark, or issue plays. In reality, the scripts were never even read by the theatrical decision makers. One director admitted passing on writings submitted by women. It is believed this information by the New York State Council of the Arts is what directed the drastic change in the industry.
The addition of some many plays written by women is definitely changing the demographics of the shows. There are more black women as well as women from other cultures attending plays now then ever before. These women state it is because of the content offered in such plays, not the fact that they were written by a female that attracts them.
