The League of Professional Theatre Women has released a new report on the status of women in Off Broadway theater. “Women Count: Women Hired Off Broadway,” written by Martha Wade Steketee with Judy Binus, examines women’s employment in Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway productions over five seasons, from 2013-14 to 2017-18. And the report features some good news: in its analysis of 13 major roles in theater, “Women Count” found that the number of women playwrights and directors hit new highs in 2017-18.
Women represented 41 percent of Off Broadway writers last season, a new high that marks a 13 percent increase from the five-year low of 28 percent in 2013-14. On average, 34 percent of playwrights were women from 2013-14 to 2017-18. Thirteen women writers had three or more plays in production throughout the past five seasons, including Sarah Ruhl (“In The Next Room, or the vibrator play”) and Suzan-Lori Parks (“Topdog/Underdog”).
Meanwhile, women comprised 47 percent of directors Off Broadway in 2017-18, also a five-year high. Their low came in 2013-2014 with 37 percent. Over the five seasons women made up 40 percent of Off Broadway directors. Rebecca Taichman (“Indecent”) and Liesl Tommy (“Eclipsed”) were among the 11 directors who helmed five or more plays during the years considered.
Women actually surpassed the coveted 50 percent mark as production stage managers, stage managers, assistant stage managers, and costume designers. In each study year women represented 70 percent of stage managers. Costume designers are also overwhelmingly female: in 2016-2017, women comprised 70 percent of costume designers, a five-year low. The high was 74 percent in 2013-14.
Unfortunately, despite the gains in playwriting and directing and dominance in stage management and costume design, women are not well-represented in every Off Broadway role. Set designers averaged at 27 percent women from 2013-14 to 2017-18, and lighting designers 17 percent.
While “Women Count” “seeks simply to document the status of [Off Broadway hiring] decisions” and refrains from speculating why women are hired more frequently in some roles than others, the report does take note of who is hiring women. The study found that 13 companies hired 50 percent or more women directors last season, MCC, MTC, and WP Theater among them. CSC, Keen, Mint, and New Group staged zero women-helmed plays in 2017-18. Ten companies produced at least 50 percent women-written plays in 2017-2018, including MTC, NYTW, Playwrights Horizons, and Primary Stages. CSC, Keen, and New Group didn’t produce any plays penned by women.
The study’s goal is “to change the conversation from anecdotes to action plans to support advocacy efforts on behalf of women playwrights, performers, and off-stage theater workers.”
You can read “Women Count: Women Hired Off Broadway” in its entirety here.
