By the Numbers - Women on Broadway
See the full numbers on Production Pro’s Website
What is the story on Broadway in 2019 that the numbers are telling us?
What was the percentage of women writers, directors and choreographers on Broadway in 2019?
Is this an increase or decrease from the previous Broadway season in 2018? (See full info here)
Read five articles from 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020
2014: Women Push for Equality On and Off Stage
”Really, producers? Really? The Pulitzer Prize and all finalist nods go to women in 2014 and 68 percent of the Broadway audience is female, but you don’t have a single new play by a woman on Broadway in the 2013–14 season? Really?”
2016: Broadway May Not Be So White, but Is It Woman Enough?
“On Broadway, it has been a year of women: waitresses, shopgirls, concubines, Revolutionary sisters, a literary editor, a morphine addict and many victims of abuse. Is this cause for celebration or despair? Or pie?
The musical “Waitress” and the play “Eclipsed” featured all-female creative teams. Yet even as women constitute two-thirds of the Broadway audience, women still lag far behind men as playwrights, composers, directors and designers.'“
2018: Broadway Gender Gap: Women Had 37 Percent of Principal Roles in Last Season’s New Shows
“The majority of Broadway ticket buyers may be women, but there continues to be a definite gender gap on stage.
Actresses accounted for just 37 percent of the 233 principal roles in the 30 new shows mounted on Broadway last season, according to a study released Monday by the digital Broadway production resource ProductionPro.”
2019: NEW STUDY RAISES CURTAIN ON GENDER DISPARITY ON BROADWAY
“It was a banner year on Broadway in many ways. Sales were up. Prices for musicals were down (falling from $105.32 to $97.69 per head, on average). And the sheer volume of principal roles increased (jumping to 365 title characters, as compared to last season’s 233).
But where were the women?”
2020: Who Designs and Directs in LORT Theatres by Pronoun: 2020
“It is my hope that one day my study will be unnecessary, that all theatres will hire designers and directors through an equity lens and create working environments where everyone is heard, seen, and appreciated in the fullness of their humanity.”
Why do we see the same story — year after year?
Women Directors on Broadway
Watch: Julie Taymor at The Tony Awards
Watch: Rachel Chavkin Interviewed for AP
The State of Gender (In)Equality on Broadway
“My folks raised me with the understanding that life is a team sport. And so is walking out of hell. That’s what is at the heart of show: It’s about whether you can keep faith when you are made to feel alone. And it reminds us that that is how power structures try to maintain control: by making you feel like you’re walking alone in the darkness, even when your partner is right there at your back. And this is why I wish I wasn’t the only woman directing a musical on Broadway this season.
There are so many women who are ready to go. There are so many artists of color who are ready to go. And we need to see that racial diversity and gender diversity reflected in our critical establishment too. This is not a pipeline issue. It is a failure of imagination by a field whose job is to imagine the way the world could be. So let’s do it. Thank you, thank you!”
Rachel Chavkin
Homework:
Write a 250-word (one page/double-spaced) essay answering one (or more) of the following questions:
Why is it important to study women in musical theatre (use statistics from the article above to prove your point)?
Why do you believe as a young female musical theatre performer is it important to learn about women in the industry?
Why do we see the same story of gender disparity on Broadway year after year?
Take the statistics, information and opinions in the articles, videos and podcasts above to create a narrative from your perspective. These will be posted in a blog post collectively.