Maiden Phoenix Theatre Company Part 1
So it's been a year and a half... But now things are brewing again and I have so many things to say!
For the last several months I have been working on a long standing goal of mine, fleshing out exactly what I am attempting to do and getting the ball rolling on something I think will be very exciting for myself, and the theater community here in Boston.
The whole thing starts, I suppose from a sense of bitterness, let me explain.
I am an actor, and no one ever said it was going to be easy. But I pursue it relentlessly because I have to, and I come up against road blocks to my success regularly, and I work on how to over come them. One of the continuing frustrations of my career choice, for me, has always been lack of opportunity. I found as I went through my training at Baldwin-Wallace, later at Shakespeare & Company: that my opportunities to be onstage were simply not equal to those of my male counterparts. I would work, and groom, and train as hard as I could but at the end of the day I was always left competing with a ridiculously large number of other women for a scant number of female roles, while my male counterparts, of which there was usually one man for every 3 or 4 women, had a huge number of roles to choose from. Often larger ones with a great deal more depth than the female roles. Typically in most plays 75% of all roles are males and 25% are female. with the male roles getting most of the leads. Meanwhile auditioning for these shows are a pool consisting of 75% women and 25% men.
So where does this leave us? Often times with women who are equal or greater than their male counterparts in talent and training, but who don't get cast in show after show because there is so little opportunity. And though I know a great deal of talented and well trained men, there are often times not enough of them willing or available to fill out a mostly male cast with people who are on the same level as the leads and women.
This may sound like I am bashing male actors, I'm not, its simply a numbers game. I have to compete against maybe 50 women in Boston of my type and age range for one role, while a man might have to compete with 5 or 10 other male actors.
And yet show after show, season after season the ratios remain the same. Even though directors have a huge pool of talented women to choose from they still choose to produce shows that are all male, mostly male, or where the female roles are skeletal in comparison to the men's in terms of character development.
But Erin there are all female shows! Yes, there are. So take a minute to think about how often you have seen one, and then how often you have seen an all male one and how good you thought they were. Think about the movies you saw this summer and how many of them starred women or even had women in them playing a named role that wasn't a romantic interest to a man. The only one that comes to mind for me is The Heat. Feel free to correct me.
This is certainly not the case with every show or every company. And I would go so far as to say that companies are becoming more aware of it and starting to make changes. I have been lucky enough in the past two years to be the lead in 2 mostly female shows. But they are still an exception. And they were both new plays. I can see how if a company wants to put on something older there really isn't much they can do about a gender ratio. And to this day only about 12% of playwrights are female and that's where the change REALLY needs to begin.
But Erin aren't you just whining because you haven't been cast much this year? Why yes. Yes I am. It sucks. It's awful to go to shows and know I could have been a part of it if I was a man and had the exact same level of training and talent as I have now. That I trained in Shakespeare for 2 years and can't manage to get cast in one to save my life because they are still largely cast with about 4 women and 15 men. But I flatter myself that this dry spell is less to do with a lack of talent on my part and more to do with a lack of roles. But instead of continuing to whine about it, post angsty things on Facebook, etc... I have decided to to be the change I wish to see in the world. And this is the genisis of my theatre company.
For the last several months I have been working on a long standing goal of mine, fleshing out exactly what I am attempting to do and getting the ball rolling on something I think will be very exciting for myself, and the theater community here in Boston.
The whole thing starts, I suppose from a sense of bitterness, let me explain.
I am an actor, and no one ever said it was going to be easy. But I pursue it relentlessly because I have to, and I come up against road blocks to my success regularly, and I work on how to over come them. One of the continuing frustrations of my career choice, for me, has always been lack of opportunity. I found as I went through my training at Baldwin-Wallace, later at Shakespeare & Company: that my opportunities to be onstage were simply not equal to those of my male counterparts. I would work, and groom, and train as hard as I could but at the end of the day I was always left competing with a ridiculously large number of other women for a scant number of female roles, while my male counterparts, of which there was usually one man for every 3 or 4 women, had a huge number of roles to choose from. Often larger ones with a great deal more depth than the female roles. Typically in most plays 75% of all roles are males and 25% are female. with the male roles getting most of the leads. Meanwhile auditioning for these shows are a pool consisting of 75% women and 25% men.
So where does this leave us? Often times with women who are equal or greater than their male counterparts in talent and training, but who don't get cast in show after show because there is so little opportunity. And though I know a great deal of talented and well trained men, there are often times not enough of them willing or available to fill out a mostly male cast with people who are on the same level as the leads and women.
This may sound like I am bashing male actors, I'm not, its simply a numbers game. I have to compete against maybe 50 women in Boston of my type and age range for one role, while a man might have to compete with 5 or 10 other male actors.
And yet show after show, season after season the ratios remain the same. Even though directors have a huge pool of talented women to choose from they still choose to produce shows that are all male, mostly male, or where the female roles are skeletal in comparison to the men's in terms of character development.
But Erin there are all female shows! Yes, there are. So take a minute to think about how often you have seen one, and then how often you have seen an all male one and how good you thought they were. Think about the movies you saw this summer and how many of them starred women or even had women in them playing a named role that wasn't a romantic interest to a man. The only one that comes to mind for me is The Heat. Feel free to correct me.
This is certainly not the case with every show or every company. And I would go so far as to say that companies are becoming more aware of it and starting to make changes. I have been lucky enough in the past two years to be the lead in 2 mostly female shows. But they are still an exception. And they were both new plays. I can see how if a company wants to put on something older there really isn't much they can do about a gender ratio. And to this day only about 12% of playwrights are female and that's where the change REALLY needs to begin.
But Erin aren't you just whining because you haven't been cast much this year? Why yes. Yes I am. It sucks. It's awful to go to shows and know I could have been a part of it if I was a man and had the exact same level of training and talent as I have now. That I trained in Shakespeare for 2 years and can't manage to get cast in one to save my life because they are still largely cast with about 4 women and 15 men. But I flatter myself that this dry spell is less to do with a lack of talent on my part and more to do with a lack of roles. But instead of continuing to whine about it, post angsty things on Facebook, etc... I have decided to to be the change I wish to see in the world. And this is the genisis of my theatre company.
As a male actor who has benefited from these unbalanced numbers, I completely agree. From elementary school though college and beyond I've often found myself in situations where the simple act of showing up was enough to secure a role. Conversely, my female peers are perpetually competing against a larger field for fewer parts.
ReplyDeleteI'm very excited for your theatre company. I hope to see you succeed and believe you will. The female focus of your group opens some great resources. Because of the large pool of female talent in the area you should be able to put together some killer ensembles. Additionally, as female driven plays are not being frequently produced, you will have a lot of leg room when it comes to branding and marketing.
Surround yourself with some good people and you're sure to succeed!
Dan Grund
Science Fiction Theatre Company