Theater
‘Frozen’ Is Coming to Broadway
2013’s best onscreen love story — which won so many hearts it was that year’s highest-grossing movie worldwide — is headed to Broadway. A stage version of “Frozen” is expected to...
National Theatre Commits to Gender Equality
The National Theatre in London has set a target of achieving a 50/50 gender balance among its directors and living writers by 2021. The plans were revealed by the prominent British venue’s current...
Guest Post: “Waking The Feminists” Starts A Revolution In Ireland
Next year will mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising, when Ireland fought for and won its independence. 2016 will thus be a momentous year to celebrate and reflect on our past and our future. Front...
Tony-Winning Broadway Musical ‘Fun Home’ Recoups
“Fun Home,” the Broadway musical based on Alison Bechdel’s bestselling and beloved graphic memoir, has recouped the $5.25 million investment behind the production. Earlier this year, the...
Theater Now Has Its Own Bechdel Test
Just over a third of theater roles in England are for women, according to a 2014 study by Tonic Theatre. To help correct the gender lopsidedness on stage, the London-based Sphinx Theatre Company has...
‘Waitress’ to Make Broadway History
When it begins previews on March 25, 2016, “Waitress” will make Broadway history as the first musical with women in all four key positions. Based on the 2007 film by the late writer-director...
Patti LuPone, Christine Ebersole to Star in New Musical About Rival Cosmetics Entrepreneurs
Two-time Tony winners Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole will team up on a new musical about a real-life rivalry. LuPone and Ebersole will star in “War Paint,” which centers on the 50-year...
Study: Nearly Two-Thirds of Theater Productions Written by White Male Playwrights
This year’s edition of The Count — a tally of regional, non-Broadway theater productions by playwrights’ gender and race — is out, and the results are grim. In the last three...
Keira Knightley Accepts Pay Cut for the Chance to Play an Interesting Female Character
Two-time Oscar nominee Keira Knightley has revealed that she accepted the scale rate — or the minimum set by a union — of $1,300 a week to star in “Therese Raquin,” her Broadway...
Where Does This Diverse Broadway Season Leave Women of Color?
Viola Davis said in her Emmy speech last month, “The onlything that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You can’twin an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” The...
Julie Taymor Becomes First Woman Director to Win Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre
Julie Taymor, the first woman to win a Tony for directing a musical, will be adding yet another award to her mantel: She’s been named the 2015 recipient of the William Shakespeare Award for...
Fall 2015 Theater Preview: A Step Backward for Women
The2015–2016 Broadway season is underway, and an uproar has already begun overthe question, Where are the women? Their absence comes after a particularlystrong spring when three female...
Gloria Estefan’s Broadway Musical ‘On Your Feet!’ to Open Nov. 15; Tickets Available Starting Today
Tickets are now available for “On Your Feet!,” Gloria Estefan’s Broadway musical about her rise to stardom. Starring Ana Villafañe, the production traces Gloria and her husband Emilio’s...
Lupita Nyong’o to Star in Danai Gurira Play About Liberian Women Held Captive During Civil War
Lupita Nyong’o is headed to the stage. The Oscar-winning actress will make her New York stage debut in playwright Danai Gurira’s “Eclipsed,” about a quartet of women held captive by rebels...
Emma Thompson on the Climate for Women in Hollywood: “I Think It’s Still Completely Sh*t, Actually”
Emma Thompson was characteristically blunt when asked recently about sexism and ageism in the film industry. “It is in a worse state than I have known it, particularly for women,” the “Saving...
Cicely Tyson Returning to Broadway in Silver-Haired Tragi-Comedy ‘The Gin Game’
Last week, Cicely Tyson earned an Emmy nomination for her guest appearance on “How To Get Away With Murder.” Now comes word that the busy actress is headed back to Broadway. Starting in the fall,...
Quote of the Day: Julie Taymor on Why Awards Matter for Women
Julie Taymor, the first woman to win a Tony for directing a musical, recently spoke out about the invaluable effect that women winning awards can have. When The Stage asked Taymor if female...
2015 Kilroys List Spotlights 53 Works by Women and Trans Playwrights Deserving Production
Last year, The Kilroys — a self-described “gang of playwrights and producers in LA who are done talking about gender parity and are taking action” — launched a list of 46 plays by...
Acting, Writing, Directing: Regina Taylor on What Motivates Her
This past year, whileappearing on USA Network’s “Dig” as Ambassador Riddell, I’ve beenre-mounting a play, “stop.reset.,” that I first wrote and directed for the Signature Theatre Company...
Sexism in Theatre Infographic: Women Fill 9% of Sound Jobs, Underrepresented in Most Design Fields
In our Spring 2015 theatre preview, Shoshana Greenberg wrote that “Broadwaycan be a disheartening place for women. Too few are represented as writers anddirectors, and women’s stories don’t...
How The Lilly Awards Help Make Women’s Stories Matter
The recipients of this year’s Lilly Awards gathered onthe stage of Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons Monday afternoon and remained thereas all the awards were presented, chatting, laughing,...
Get Involved: A Call to Action about the Representation of Women at the Tony Awards
On June 7th, when girls across the country turnon the Tony Awards, what do you want them to see? This is the question we’re posing to the Tony AwardsManagement Committee and CBS in a petition...
Why Wendy Wasserstein’s ‘The Heidi Chronicles’ is Still Relevant Today
Not 24 hours after producers announced that “The Heidi Chronicles” revival will close three months early on May 3rd (after only 80 performances), an article appeared in The New YorkTimes...
Broadway Star Kelli O’Hara on Maintaining Self-Worth in a Male-Dominated Industry
Cross-posted from The Interval. You know how when you’re applying to college people always ask you those cliché questions like, “What is a moment that changed your life?” and you think they...
Barbara Seyda’s Debut Play “Celia, a Slave: 26 Characters Testify” Wins Yale Drama Prize
Barbara Seyda’s first play, “Celia, a Slave: 26 Characters Testify,” has been named this year’s winner of the prestigious Yale Drama Series Prize. Based on historical events, “Celia”...
Book Excerpt: Lessons from Dedicating Three Decades to a Life in the Theater
The following is an excerpt from Carey Perloff’s memoir “Beautiful Chaos: A Life in the Theater.” Much has been written about the paucity of female voices in the contemporary theater, and...
Infographic: Female Actors, Directors, and Playwrights Lag Behind Male Counterparts in SF Theater
A study breaking down employment opportunities in the San Francisco Bay Area theatre world by gender has found that female actors, directors, and playwrights have yet to reach parity. A majority...
Composer Jeanine Tesori on Her Artistic Process and Rewarding Female Ambition
Cross-posted with permission from The Interval.We want Jeanine Tesori to be our life coach. Really. And not just for the obvious reasons, like that Jeanine holds the most Tony nominations for...
Sony to Adapt Broadway’s ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ into Movie
Broadway’s “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” will soon be translated for the multiplex. The stage production focuses on King’s early career and includes songs like “Will You Love Me...
Audra McDonald Returns to Broadway in Meta-Musical ‘Shuffle Along’
Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald will head back to Broadway in a new musical in 2016. McDonald will star as stage performer Lottie Gee in a production that looks back at musical-theater history,...
Keeping Score: A Record Number of Female Composers on Broadway
How many female composers on Broadway can you name? Probablynot more than you have fingers on a hand, but while gender equality in thetheater has not yet been reached, there is reason to rejoice....
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Historical Play ‘Father Comes Home From the Wars’ Wins Kennedy Prize
Pulitzer-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks has received the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for her American epic “Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3).” The Kennedy Prize, which...
Tony Winner Laura Benanti on ‘Nashville,’ ‘Parade,’ and the Importance of Female Mentors
“Thank God we’re interviewing Laura Benanti,” was a phrase we were proclaiming a lot the past two weeks. It’s only the middle of January, but so far 2015 hasn’t exactly been a banner year...
Anne Hathaway and Julie Taymor Team Up for Play About Female Fighter Pilot
After winning an Oscar for playing the doomed Fantine in Les Misérables two years ago, Anne Hathaway will delve even deeper into her theatre roots by starring in Grounded, a one-woman play about a...
Spring 2015 Theatre Preview: Women on Broadway
Broadway can be a disheartening place forwomen. Too few are represented as writers and directors, and women’s stories don’toften make it to the stage. The previous 2013–2014 season did not...
Trailer Watch: Helen Mirren Returns to Broadway as Queen Elizabeth II in ‘The Audience’
Anglophiles, rejoice! Helen Mirren will reprise one of her greatest roles, albeit in an entirely different production, when she returns to Broadway this winter. Mirren will play Queen Elizabeth II...
Jessie Mueller to Take ‘Waitress’ to Broadway
Crosspost: Broadway Actress Erin Davie on Being Called “Weird” and Avoiding the Typical Ingenue Roles
Crossposted from The Interval with permission of the author. We took Erin Davie to Coney Island to talk to her about starring in the Broadway revival of Side Show, and it was an adventure. There...
Playwright Katori Hall to Direct Film Version of ‘Hurt Village’
Katori Hall, the Olivier Award-winning playwright of The Mountaintop, will direct a screen adaptation of another one of her works. Hall will helm Hurt Village, her 2011 play about the dissolution...
Crosspost: Tony-Winning Theater Director Susan Stroman on What’s Changed for Women in the Last Ten Years
Originally published on and cross-posted with permission from The Interval. Let’s just start with some facts. Susan Stroman has won five Tony Awards and has received an additional nine...
Crosspost: Romola Garai on Sexism in Film and Theater and Feeling Like a “Commodity”
Cross-posted with permission from The Interval. When we saw the announcement of Romola Garai’s casting in Indian Ink, we e-mailed The Roundabout right away — seriously, like within ten...
Crosspost: Tony-Nominated Writer Sarah Ruhl on Plays About Motherhood and Challenging Theater’s Male Domination
The following has been cross-posted with permission from The Interval. “You should know about me arranging playdates for my daughter,” says Sarah Ruhl as she runs into a friend during the course...
Patricia Ariza Wins Award for Creating Social Change Through Theater
Patricia Ariza, a Columbian artist and activist, has received the LPTW Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award for her endeavors toward peace and greater awareness of women’s issues during...
Anna D. Shapiro Takes Over as Steppenwolf Artistic Director from Martha Lavey
Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company will pass the torch from one female artistic director to another next year when Anna D. Shapiro takes over the position that Martha Lavey has occupied for two...
Helen Mirren to Reprise Her Role as Elizabeth II on Broadway
Helen Mirren will soon reprise the role that made her an Oscar winner, that of Queen Elizabeth II, on Broadway. Here’s the twist: Mirren won’t be starring in a stage adaptation of The Queen,...
Women Playwrights Make Up Only 33% of the Most-Produced Plays of the Past Decade
American Theatre has released its annual list of the top ten most-produced plays, and while the 2013–2014 season boasted a commendable 50–50 split between male and female writers, a look at the...
Has the London Theatre Community Found a Solution to Gender Inequality?
Earlier this week, the theatre community in across the UK came together to discuss the problem of gender inequity on its stages. The numbers are just as bad over on that side of the Atlantic as they...
Julie Taymor’s ‘The Lion King’ Becomes Highest-Grossing Work of Any Media in Entertainment History
The stage version of The Lion King has a lot of things going for it: a universal story, sing-a-long songs, childhood nostalgia for the animated movie, and relatively affordable tickets. But it’s...
The World Doesn’t See Lydia Diamond As a Female Playwright
The dearth of women in the theater world is well documented. While the three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama this year were all women, not a single female playwright appeared on the Tony...
Elisabeth Moss to Star in Broadway Revival of Wendy Wasserstein’s ‘Heidi Chronicles’
It’s hard to think of another actress with a better career than Elisabeth Moss does today. She was utterly fantastic in Jane Campion’s Sundance miniseries Top of the Lake, steals every scene...
Emma Stone to Make Broadway Debut in ‘Cabaret’
Emma Stone is coming to Broadway. The Help actress will replace Michelle Williams as Sally Bowles in Cabaret when the latter’s extended run in the show comes to an end on November 9. Stone will...