D.C.’s Signature Theatre and Broadway Producer Launch Writers Initiative to Support Female Playwrights
Broadway producer Jenna Segal is teaming up with the Washington D.C. Signature Theatre to sponsor a female playwright, Broadway World reports.
Segal heads Segal NYC/Gatherer Entertainment, which “develops and produces theater, digital content, television, and film with a focus on female audiences.”
In a continued effort to highlight women writers, The Jenna and Paul Segal Foundation will provide a grant to sponsor a world premiere of a play by a female playwright with a female director for the next five years through SigWorks: The Heidi Thomas Writer’s Initiative.
“I’m thrilled Jenna shares our commitment to supporting the finest female artists working in theater today,” said Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer. “Washington brought a national focus to the work of women playwrights with the Women’s Voices Theatre Festival and it’s our job to not only continue it but expand it.”
“We are so proud to partner with Signature Theatre and sponsor a world premiere by a woman each year along with a female director,” added Jenna Segal. “These full productions are essential for women to hone their craft. We hope the writers will draw inspiration from Heidi Thomas, whose writing across all media reminds us of the fundamental impact women’s works bring to the world.”
Heidi Thomas, for whom the Writer’s Initiative is named, is a British playwright and the creator and executive producer of “Call the Midwife.” She adapted the recent Broadway revival of “Gigi,” and has multiple acknowledgements and awards from BAFTA, the Emmys, The Writers Guild Of Great Britain, Women In Film And Television UK, and the Royal Television Society.
“Female writers have so much to say, and all too often their voices are not heard,” said Thomas. “However, at Signature, Eric, and Jenna have created a new and exciting platform for work entirely by women, where talent will not just be showcased, but also nurtured. I am proud beyond measure to be linked to this initiative, and support it with my whole heart.”
With so few female playwrights with work being produced, it’s wonderful news that this new grant will support not only a female writer but a director as well.
