Thirty-six actresses have come together to fight theater’s woman problem. According to The Stage, a new, all-female acting company, Dangerous Space, has been introduced in London. Voice coach and director Barbara Houseman and HerStory: Feminist Theatre Festival founder Nastazja Somers started the company in response to the “lack of representation for female actors” on the stage.
“We’ve called the project Dangerous Space because it is about going to places we [as women] are not normally allowed to go and changing the status quo,” Somers told The Stage. “It is going to be a very radical project.”
After auditioning nearly 200 women, Houseman and Somers selected 36 actresses for Dangerous Space, who will participate in training and creative workshops throughout the course of a year. After that, the company will find six playwrights to draft a number of six-person plays. Dangerous Space will also put together a Shakespeare production.
Houseman and Somers are currently looking for Dangerous Space’s six playwrights. The scribes do not necessarily have to be female, but the company founders are planning to hire writers of color.
“We have to change the way this industry works,” Somers emphasized. “If you want to attract kids to see theater, you have to allow them to see themselves on stage.”
“This is a very diverse pool of women,” she added. “The youngest is just 20 and one is in her 60s. They all have different expectations, but every one of them wants to change things.”
Dangerous Space arrives not a minute too soon. As you’ve probably noticed, theater is not especially welcoming to women onstage or off. In June Actors’ Equity published a study that found acting and stage management jobs are still being dominated by white men. July saw research from Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) and American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.). It found that the number of women leaders in nonprofit theater has plateaued at about 25 percent for decades. Not long after that, yet another study examined the last 10 years of West End musical productions and concluded that male writers outnumber women nine to one.
Houseman recently worked on Phyllida Lloyd’s all-women Shakespeare trilogy. The trilogy began with “Julius Caesar’s” 2012 bow at London’s Donmar Warehouse. “Henry IV” debuted at the Donmar in 2014 and “The Tempest” premiered at King’s Cross Theatre in 2016. All three productions were filmed live and are receiving theatrical releases in the UK. “Julius Caesar” began screening in July and the other two filmed productions are expected to open later this year.
Dangerous Space performances are expected to begin in late 2018. The company has applied for funding and Somers is currently working to find rehearsal and performance venues.
