TCG is hosting a fabulous Playwrights in Conversation at The Greene Space, WNYC’s beautiful downtown studio on Wednesday, June 19th at 8:00 pm. And the playwrights in conversation are three of today’s hottest scribes (and they are all women). 

Annie Baker has charmed and moved audiences around the country with her plays Circle Mirror Transformation, The Aliens and The Flick. Melissa James Gibson is known for her stunning work — [sic], This, What Rhymes with America. Amy Herzog’s wonderful plays include The Great God Pan, 4000 Miles and Belleville. And, the event will be moderated by the Village Voice’s Alexis Soloski. This is a not-to-be-missed event.

Tickets are only $15 – cheaper than any show around — and for those who cannot make it to 44 Charlton Street in NYC, the event will be live streamed.

From the WNYC web site:

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has partnered with The Greene Space to present this series of events featuring TCG authors and featured artists. The evenings are part of The Greene Space initiative A New Theater of Sound.

These events are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Everyone is encouraged to dress like a famous theatrical foremother or all in white or in purple or black. Hats are very welcome.

Here are details about the parade:

5:30: Meet up in the 50th-51st Street passageway adjacent to the Gershwin Theatre (222W 51st) between Broadway and 8th Avenue.
6:00: Begin the Parade

For more information, visit the League of Professional Theatre Women website.

 
Diane Paulus (left) won the Best Director of a Musical for the circus act-themed Pippin, which has wowed critics across the board since it opened. Pam MacKinnon (below), who was nominated last year for Best Director of a Play for Clybourne Park, was given the trophy for her staging of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Both women are alums of Women’s Project Theater, whose lab develops women playwrights, directors and producers.
 

 
And kudos to Cicely Tyson, Andrea Martin, Patina Miller and Judith Light for winning in the acting categories.

If you were lucky enough to catch Lauren Roth‘s scene-stealing performance in Billie Carver and the Children in Mind, you know what a riot she is. Later this week, she portrays multiple characters in the latest play by award-winning playwright Timothy Nolan. What’s In A Name explores how far you can fun away from your past, and the production introduces one of New York’s newest theatre venues, the Chain Theatre in Long Island City.

Lauren spoke to Works By Women about What’s In A Name, how Billie Carver and the Children in Mind came together and who inspires her.

WORKS BY WOMEN: What can audiences expect from What’s In A Name? 

LAUREN ROTH: Audience should expect a really jarring, interesting, and thought provoking experience with What’s in a Name.  The play is inspired by a 1994 article in the New York Times about a woman named Katherine Ann Power who turned herself in to the FBI for a bank robbery in Boston in 1971 after living under an assumed identity for over 20 years.  The article talked about how she would have dreams nearly every night in which she would slip up and reveal her true identity. In our play, What’s in a Name, we follow the central character as she grapples with the meaning of “identity”, guilt, fear, and what happens when you don’t get a good night’s sleep for nearly 20 years!

WBW: What drew you to the script?  

LR: I loved the idea of getting to explore playing several different characters.  The play starts off in 2003, but much of it takes place in flashbacks to moments in the central character’s story and I  play several different people that appear during these glimpses into the past .  At last count, I portray 8 different characters!  I liked the challenge of finding separate qualities and quirks to delineate the differences between each character and was happy for the opportunity to work on such a non-linear piece.

WBW: The play deals with a woman reconciling her past. How difficult would that be today given all the technology and the way life is captured 24/7?

LR: I would say that in this day in age it is difficult to keep what you just ate for lunch under wraps, let alone any sort of juicy past indiscretions! Folks splatter their whole lives onto social media outlets and if they aren’t so inclined to do so, anyone else has the power to.  It’s damn hard to keep anything sacred these days.

WBW: You were nominated for a New York Innovative Theater Award for Billy Carver and the Children in Mind. What a crazy role. What was that experience like?  

LR: I was nominated for playing P.M.S. (the character “Priscilla Margot Saunders”, that is) and it was a HOOT being able to bring that kooky, boozy lady from the page to the stage.  I auditioned for and was cast in a COMPLETELY different play that the producers were ultimately not able to secure the rights to, so our director locked himself in his apartment for a few days to write a new play for the actors he had cast and that’s how Billy Carver and the Children in Mind was born.  I got to work with some really smart and dynamic folks and together we shaped something pretty great out of thin air.  It was a totally wonderful experience and the nomination was just the cherry on a deliciously creative sundae.   Also, Greg Cicchino (director of What’s in a Name) happened to see that play, we met and kept up since, and that’s how I came to know Variations Theater Group and the exciting work they are doing over at the Chain Theatre in LIC!

WBW: What’s next for you?  

LR: I am a regular performer/writer/show runner at OUR BAR, an ensemble that uses a theme each month to build ten scenes that could legitimately happen in that bar, that night.  With no “fourth wall,” OUR BAR is often described as a month’s worth of bar antics artfully shoved into one hour, and like any great night out on the town, each show is unique.  The material you see at each OUR BAR lives and dies before your eyes.  We put on a brand new show on the first Wednesday of every month at Failte Irish Whiskey Bar in Murray Hill and our next show will be on May 1 at 7pm and 9pm (ourbarnyc.com).  This month, I am also finishing up an extended run of a show I co-created with some old school chums based on Craig’s List’s popular “Missed Connections” section called Missed Connections: An Exploration into the On-Line Postings of Desperate Romantics at the Laurie Beechman Theater where we have two more performances on April 15 at 10pm and April 20 at 4pm (www.missedconnectionsshow.com).

WBW:  What are the challenges facing women in American theater?  

LR: I think there are so many talented and well educated woman who are eager to work in this industry and there are simply not enough opportunities afforded to them.  Women artists are generally excluded from positions of power and visibility in the American theater industry.  More women have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in recent years but very few women ever win the Tony Award for playwriting or directing.  As in most cases, even on the creative front, the proverbial glass ceiling is still firmly in place.

WBW: What gives you hope for women in American theater?

LR: Artists like playwrights Annie Baker, Lynn Nottage, and director Diane Paulus are pretty darn daring, and they seem to be pushing the lines in an uncomfortable way (see the recent dust up surrounding Baker’s The Flick  at Playwrights Horizons.) I am thinking that them along with some of their female contemporaries might just be setting new boundaries for women in this industry with their uncompromising and strong statements within their work.  Also, I am seeing more and more plays centered around female characters dealing with extraordinary situations and it is really exciting to see some of the actresses I have long admired in supporting roles given the chance to take center stage and really getting to use their chops.  For instance, this season’s The Testament of Mary with Fiona Shaw and The Other Place with Laurie Metcalf allowed these actresses to carry the weight of the play squarely on their backs and give tour de force performances while doing so. Even our play, What’s in a Name, centers around a fascinating female character and has a “lady heavy” cast breakdown (3F, 1M).  It seems that on all levels of theater, more and more women are making it known in a big way that they have innovation to lend both on and off stage.

You can catch What’s In A Name at the Chain Theatre April 12 – 27, 2013. For more information, visit .http://www.variationstheatregroup.com/.

Works by Women interviewed Kathleen Amshoff about this happening — with performances by music maker Xenia Rubinos, downtown doyenne Eliza Bent, Southern gothic playwright Jason Williamson, Haitian-American comedy writer France-Luce Benson, choreographer Eija Ranta, vocalist Antwayn Hopper, composer Michael Kooman and experimental video artist Peter Burr –  and her plans for it.

WORKS BY WOMEN: What was the genesis of Hi-Lo?

KATHLEEN AMSHOFF: The work I make as a director often falls under ‘experimental’, but I went to grad school at Carnegie Mellon, which has a traditional focus on musical theater, TV and other commercial forms. I’ve always had my feet in both worlds and there’s astounding virtuosity in each of them. NYC theater often feels so insular, and then within the city we end up in these little aesthetic pods because of the needs of marketing, audience development and venues. The idea of HI-LO is to unghettoize both artists and audiences in an environment that feels playful, open and curious. I asked musical theater writer Chris Dimond to co-host and curate with me so that we could have a balance…and because we really enjoy mocking each other’s taste.

WBW:  What is a ‘performance party’ and how does it differ from other events? Or what is your desire for it?

KATHLEEN: It’s a party! People watch work and drink and socialize. HI-LO is a friendly atmosphere for both viewer and performer. When I first started working with Big Art Group, we developed material for a show through parties at Glasslands. I found the parties so fun and useful. And I’ve always loved the community-building at CATCH. Framing HI-LO as party allows us to watch genres and styles smack up against each other in an inclusive, celebratory format. It’s loose. And we’ve got a really incredible band rounding us out this time — Xenia Rubinos — whose album Magic Trix is coming out on Ba Da Bing this spring.

WBW: Hi-Lo is at JACK in Clinton Hill in Brooklyn. What excites you about holding Hi-Lo in Brooklyn at JACK?

KATHLEEN: JACK is a new venue and it’s beautiful! Most of us have worked in some pretty crusty spaces and JACK is well cared for by a committed crew headed by Alec Duffy. This crew is programming really eclectic, interesting stuff. If you go every night for a week you can see a new production, a reading of a French play, experimental jazz, horror drag, more. JACK is the NYC venue that excites me the most right now. And Clinton Hill — sigh — who doesn’t love this neighborhood?

WBW: What are your plans for future Hi-Lo events?

KATHLEEN: We have a list of directors, writers, composers, performance artists, choreographers and vocalists we want to invite, and we’re interested in submissions too. Ideally we’ll develop a curatorial committee so we can represent the diversity of performance in New York. For now, we hope people will come to the first HI-LO and propose pieces for the second and third. Maybe dissimilar artists will meet here and like each other, even collaborate! And we as viewers can remember that some of that stuff we rejected long ago really can be great.

Doors for Hi-Lo open March 18th at 8:00 pm. Showtime is 8:30 pm. Jack is located at  505 1/2 Waverly Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11238 Between Fulton and Atlantic in Clinton Hill (C or G train to Clinton-Washington).

Admission: Tickets to HI-LO are $10 and can be reserved by emailing hiloshow@gmail.com.

Starting and ending in NYC, a play is currently being written as it travels around the world making 16 stops with playwrights from across the globe. Each playwright will contribute the next one to five pages of text, moving the plot forward from where the previous playwright left off. Then in celebration of World Theatre Day on March 27th the NYC World Theatre Day Coalition will produce a staged reading of the final script of what we are calling The Around-the-World Chain Play at 7:00pm at The Lark Play Development Center (311 West 43^rd Street, 5^th Floor, New York, NY 10036). The play will also be live streamed on #newplayTV.

But what is World Theatre Day you ask. In a city where every day there are hundreds of different theatrical performances, it’s almost counterintuitive to point to a single day and say that a particular day is World Theatre Day. Perhaps this is the reason why World Theatre Day has yet to really catch on in NYC, and why, I’m guessing, many of you are hearing about it for the first time reading this article.

Created in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI),  – an international organization of theater professionals under the umbrella of UNESCO – World Theatre Day is celebrated annually on March 27 by ITI Centres and the international theatre community. Various national and international theatre events are organized to mark this occasion, such as the creation and circulation of the World Theatre Day International Message through which, at the invitation of ITI, a figure of world stature shares his or her reflections on the theme of Theatre and a Culture of Peace. The International Message is translated into more than 20 languages, read for tens of thousands of spectators before performances in theatres throughout the world. For 2013, we are thrilled that renowned Italian playwright Dario Fo will give The International Message.

When I first heard about World Theatre Day in March of 2009, I thought to myself what a wonderful opportunity for the larger NYC theatre community to come together and celebrate. Myself, then General Manager of the Lark Play Development Center – www.larktheatre.org, gathered with The Innovative Theatre Foundation – www.nyitawards.com, and The Internationalists – www.theinternationalists.org, who were already throwing an annual party for their community on World Theatre Day, met up to figure out how to increase awareness about World Theatre Day and find unique ways to celebrate. Our conversation led to the creation of The New York City World Theatre Day Coalition.

Since 2010, The NYC World Theatre Day Coalition has expanded to include over 50 member organizations and each year we produce an event or two such as panels, receptions, and we even did a Flash Mob or two over the years. This year we couldn’t be more thrilled to be producing The Around-the-Globe Chain Play! And we have received such overwhelming response from playwrights who are and wanted to take part that we hope to eventually make this an annual tradition. The playwrights who will be writing for our First Annual Around-the-Globe Chain Play are Dominique Morisseau (USA, NYC), Bekah Brunstetter (USA, Los Angeles), Van Badham (Australia), Mixkaela Villalon (Philippines), Janice Poon (Hong Kong), Abdelrahem Alawji (Lebanon), Jeton Neziraj (Kosovo), John Freedman (Russia), Ulrike Syha (Germany), Enver Husicic (Netherlands), Zainabu Jallo (Nigeria), Beatriz Cabur (Spain), Sarah Grochala (UK), Sigtryggur Magnason (Iceland), Caridad Svich (USA, NYC) and one TBA. We are so thrilled to bring together such a talented and eclectic group of playwrights. We hope audiences will be just as excited to see the staged reading as the playwrights are to write it!

Tickets to attend the Staged Reading are free but reservations must be made in advance, as The Lark is not a large venue. For reservations go http://www.nycwtdchainplay2013.eventbrite.com. The play will also be live streamed #NewPlayTV.

For more information about the NYC World Theatre Day Coalition as well as information on how to join the Coalition go to http://www.nycwtd.com

Janet Bentley

Janet spoke to Works by Women about her process as a dramaturg, her goal to challenge type casting and how Incendiary Agents look at the 1960s is still relevant today.

WORKS BY WOMEN: How have you researched the time period of Incendiary Agents?

JANET BENTLEY: My research always begins with these questions:  Why does this character do this? What motivates him/her? What leads this character to this moment and what are the implications? What are their stakes? I always clear my mind of context as much as possible before I sit down and read a play for the first time.  That way I can receive the play on its own terms and from that experience, the questions arise naturally to compel and drive my search for context. After reading Incendiary Agents, I was bowled over by the concept of Father Patrick:  a priest who boldly takes action by using napalm to burn draft records as a symbolic response to the burning of children in Vietnam. My first thought was:  Do such Catholics exist? I recently dramaturged Doubt by John Patrick Shanley, which was set in 1964 and it was the perfect prelude to Incendiary Agents (1969). When I read the play, it was as if I was seeing a later incarnation of Father Flynn from Doubt. I could easily see Father Patrick as a part of the post-Vatican II, next generation of young priests set free to conceive of their own methods of worship. I then located the stories of Daniel and Philip Berrigan of the Catonsville Nine and found my answer:  Yes, this kind of faith can fuel a political movement. I picked up Philip Berrigan’s autobiography called Fighting the Lamb’s War: Skirmishes With the American Empire and this book became central to our understanding of Father Patrick’s approach to faith and politics. Not being religious, but being quite political and spiritual, I’ve always loathed hypocrisy and my exposure to Christianity in many of its incarnations has not been characterized by huge displays of honesty and truth. But in my journey to conceive of a Catholic priest, a figure so often synonymous with deadened bureaucracy, as a true revolutionary whose radicalism is fueled by a firm adherence to the Christian ideal of mercy and non-violence (an ideal so often rationalized away by “rules” and “exceptions”), I did find living evidence in the story of the Berrigans.

Once my bedazzlement with the Berrigans went from illuminating motivations for Father Patrick and Sister Nancy to obscuring my vision of the play as a whole (namely the destructive result of the entire action), I realized that I needed to balance the scales. So I turned to this question:  When does a global injustice become so inescapably horrific and urgent that the individual must use violence, the boldest language of protest there is, in order to get the message out to the powers that be? This is when I found the documentary called “The Weather Underground” and located the inspiration to seek out Laura Whitehorn as a panelist for our talk-back event on March 5^th at 7:00pm.

WORKS BY WOMEN: What is something that surprised you in your research?

JANET: As I watched “The Weather Underground”, filled with my searching questions about how planting bombs in buildings could possibly be a good idea, I was struck by Mark Rudd’s comments about how the war impacted nearly every moment of his existence between 1965 and 1975:  “Our country was murdering millions of people…actually somewhere between three and five million people. This revelation was more…than we could handle. We didn’t know what to do with it. It was too great…a fact. Every second of my life from 1965 and 1975, I was always aware that our country was attacking Vietnam. I could be in the mountains. I’d be thinking about the war in Vietnam. I could be taking an acid trip. And I’d be thinking about the war in Vietnam. It was this knowledge that we couldn’t handle. It was just too big. In a way, I still don’t know what to do with this knowledge.”

This acute awareness of a war happening across the world – this sense that it was inescapable – struck me because I don’t often see evidence of this level of awareness in our current culture. I don’t see it in myself and I feel guilty about it. And then, naturally, I question this guilt by saying to myself, “Why is it so easy to live with these endless horrors?” And this naturally leads back to media’s role in the theatre of war. Vietnam was the first televised war and though I knew that the reporting was boldly honest, I didn’t realize how much access war reporters had to actual military operations and how much was televised. This research has rekindled my deep resentment of the current media, especially when I hear archived interviews like this one between a corporal and a journalist:

CORPORAL
We have certain areas in here that we have blocked off where we know there are friendly civilians and we aren’t going to take them under fire.

REPORTER
And the others?

CORPORAL
The others?  If there’s somebody in there right now…they’re Charlie as far as we are concerned.

When would we ever hear such reporting from Iraq?

WORKS BY WOMEN: Did you find any similarities to the 60s and today?

JANET: Under the surface of every time, you will find the revolutionaries and I have found that these are usually represented by those who can’t turn a blind eye to injustice. It was there then and it does exist now. We just face more challenges now that we are systematically distanced by the dizzying nature of 21^st century existence.

WORKS BY WOMEN: What has it been like working with playwright Jack Karp?

JANET: Jack is very present and generous as a collaborator. He has shared insights, research, and support for all aspects of the production while also allowing an open flow of creativity for all collaborators involved. I have worked with many playwrights and have seen a wide range of approaches and personalities:  from the highly micromanaging to the extremely flexible. I can honestly say that Jack has a solid balance between fighting for what he wants and openly considering different views/approaches. A smart craftsman as well as an intuitive theatre artist, Jack always values what serves the play, even if he finds that one of his own choices isn’t working. He is open to trying new things and always willing to discard what doesn’t work.  There was one speech that he brought in to fill out Patrick’s character and it was pure poetry. Some strictly structure-oriented writers would have doubts as to whether such a speech had a place. Was it too indulgent? This was something that Jack wondered at first. But instead of giving in to doubt, he worked on the speech in subtle ways that shaped and integrated the new text into the fabric of the play as a whole and now I can’t imagine the play without it.

WORKS BY WOMEN: Post-show talkbacks are planned. Tell me about them.

JANET: I am so excited to have Laura Whitehorn of the Weather Underground and Joanne Sheehan of the East Coast Conspiracy to Save Lives with us for the March 5^th event, “Incendiary Symbols: From Vietnam to Occupy”. Since Incendiary Agents evokes both the story of the Berrigan brothers as well as the more militant side of the antiwar movement in the 60s and 70s, this collection of panelists that consists of Laura Whitehorn, Joanne Sheehan, Jack Karp, and Alexei Bondar (actor playing Father Patrick) should generate deeply insightful commentary on the nature of protest, what it was like then, and what we’re up against now.

Here are their bios from our Facebook press release:

As a member of the Weather Underground in the 1960s Laura Whitehorn promoted and employed the use of violence towards political ends; later her membership in the May 19th Coalition resulted in her serving 14 years in Federal prison for her role in a series of bombings that targeted the United States Senate and military installations. She has devoted her subsequent life to social activism on behalf of causes ranging from AIDS to feminism and radical   education. She was an organizer for Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Weathermen, and organized or took part in many protest actions throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Joanne Sheehan was a member of the East Coast Conspiracy to Save Lives and other groups like the Catholic Peace Fellowship devoted to the legal defense of people who destroyed draft records and “occupied” draft boards in the 1960s and 70s. She was heavily involved in the Catonsville 9 legal case, in which Catholic priests Phil and Dan Berrigan, and others, were tried   for the draft board raid they carried out in 1968.

WORKS BY WOMEN: What are the challenges facing women in American theatre?

JANET: The challenges that face women in American theatre seem to mirror the challenges women face in the world in general:  Internalized hierarchical power-structures, binary thinking, objectification. The residue of the past still seems to linger in that most directors are assumed to be male and just like movies and advertising:  “sex sells.” There is always a call to question the status quo from within the art form itself.  That is where the hope lies. However, since an innately revolutionary art form as theatre exists within a product-oriented culture bound by the dictates of the market, this questioning process is often on a small scale. So while we think ahead to a world of fairness and equality, we must still slog through the slow and murky development of everyday life.

That’s the macrocosmic view. On a more personal level:  I started out as an actor and found that I was limited by my height. I was too tall to be appropriately matched with a “leading man”. My bone structure was too commanding for the love interest and this led to getting roles that far exceeded my actual age. When I was Juliet’s age, I could never play her except for an audio Shakespeare series. So now my goal as a director and dramaturg is to cast against type – to give a tall girl a break – to portray a short man with a tall woman and not have it be a zany comedy. But I guess all political awareness is somehow rooted in personal suffering. Hopefully I can use this to help advance things for females as well as males working within the theatre.

WORKS BY WOMEN: What gives you hope for women in American theatre?

JANET: Theatre is, in many ways, an act of living analysis and the more students who branch out and form their own theatres, the more such out-dated power-structures and crises of perception will (hopefully) dissolve. And I believe it comes from what you might call “both sides”: the obvious Brechtian method of re-seeing what is assumed as “everyday” behaviors as well as the deeply exploratory nature of the American Method descended from Stanislavski, which disallows all generalization and falseness. My experience being raised by a Method actress and acting teacher as well as my most recent involvement with the T. Schreiber Studio and Theatre has shown me that if one is to find the truth of their character, she must work to uncover the inner tensions and honestly uncover her identity (physically as well as psychologically). After expensive study of Brecht and some workshops at the Brecht Forum, I have seen another kind of exploration that “interrogates” stereotypes and internalized oppression using very physical and politically-charged performance.  So between these two methods, particularly when these methods merge in various ways (which I have seen and am looking forward to seeing now that I have made the bold move to New York), I am able to feel that there is hope for women in American theatre.

Nylon Fusion Collective presents the world premiere of Incendiary Agents March 1 – 24, 2013 at the New Ohio Theatre in New York City.

The first-ever WiredArtsFest may be the future of theater — live performance on stage in New York, captured by four film cameras, and simultaneously broadcast over the Internet to people everywhere by live streaming technology.

And if this is the future, it’s finally looking good for women. Thirteen performing companies are participating in the WiredArtsFest, running until March 2, 2013.  Of the seven plays, 60 percent of the playwrights and 85 percent of the directors are women. Six of these theater companies have women producers, as does an additional youth program, and women choreographers lead three of the four participating dance companies. One even uses original music from a woman composer, who also plays viola on stage.

I didn’t know this when I signed up to bring Words of Choice, my social-activist theater company about women’s rights and reproductive freedom, to this experimental forum. But I had met the founder, Kathryn Velvel Jones, at events supporting parity for women in theater, and I had a good feeling. I was intrigued by her concept of opening a vibrant presence for theater via live streaming. I also knew that, while Words of Choice had traveled to 20 states, costs were mounting, and it was difficult to reach remote communities where we especially wanted to take positive pro-choice stories. The Internet could go everywhere. We signed up for March 1 at 7 pm and March 2 at 3 pm — an opportunity to kickoff Women’s History Month.

The WiredArtsFest, started by Jones’ VirtualArts.tv, offers a new and revolutionary direction for theater, building on our interconnected electronics, but retaining the richness of a collective audience experience. The shows are all performing live before an audience at The New Media Center of The Secret Theatre in Long Island City, Queens. Broadcasting is accomplished via a special linkup to Ustream.tv, a platform like YouTube but for events in real-time.

In this form, live theater reaches out through the computer screen — this is no talking heads webinar. During the live streaming, electronically-connected audiences may interact by Twitter, instant messaging, photo sharing, and Facebook posting, creating an ongoing conversation on the side of the “stage” on their device screens. People who are watching live at The Secret Theatre are also encouraged to use their Smartphones — in fact, the theater programs are contained on a free App from the WiredArtsFest. (Even the App designer is a woman; oh, and so is the camera director.)

Although Jones, an actor whose day job is in digital media, had previously presented her own work virtually (and she is in and co-produces a piece, Abstract Nude, in the WiredArtsFest), the idea of creating a festival opened the doors to a variety of artists willing to step out of the box. “Think of a fringe festival, but online, where the audience is global, seating is unlimited and viewers can participate in live chat discussions while the performance is happening,” Jones said.

That women are at the forefront of this movement to expand the arts in new directions, and that women are taking the lead in participating, is one of the more hopeful developments in the whole shape of gender parity in the arts.  Join us in New York at the theater, or online at the Wired Arts Fest.  More information: Words of Choice or or WiredArtsFest.

The League of Professional Theatre Women, which celebrated its 30th Anniversary in 2012, has partnered with HowlRound to create content for WITonline, a digital extension of LPTW’s annual magazine Women in Theatre. Check out this interview with Virginia Grise and Ione Lloyd.

Women With Something to Say is Ben Brantley’s article about women occupying Broadway this spring. The New York Times continues its focus on women in theatre. This time, Mr. Brantley covers Emilia Clarke, Ann Holland, Fiona Shaw and Bette Middler as well as the four young actresses playing Matilda. Read all about them here.

And check out this 2AMt interview with dramaturg Hannah Daniel.