Houston’s Alley Theatre announced its 2013-14 season with 9 plays that examine the “American character.”
Not one of the plays is written by a female playwright. All 9 plays are written by white men.
Artistic director, Gregory Boyd, said that they wanted to give female actors a place to shine. Then he also said this.
Next year’s season I really wanted to focus on the female characters. This year it was more on the male characters. I wanted to balance that with some extraordinary writing for women.
What a ridiculous statement. Maybe he got a lot of crap of his admitted season full of men. But it doesn’t go unnoticed that his season focused on extraordinary writing for women only contains plays written by men. And there aren’t any plays written by women that have both great female and male characters? Is the “American character” solely defined by white men? Apparently, the answer is yes to all of the above.
This made no sense to the Guerrilla Girls either, who have called out The Alley Theatre, and refuse to go there until they include a play written by a woman on the main stage. Check out their post below for information on how to let The Alley Theatre know that this is unacceptable.
Alley Theatre Takes on the American Character in Its 2013-14
Season Announced Today (Houston Press)
GIRLCOTT ALERT – THE ALLEY THEATRE, HOUSTON ANNOUNCES SEXIST
SEASON! (Guerrilla Girls on Tour!)