LPTW Women Count 2015 Study Featured in New York Times

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ArtsBeat – New York Times Blog

By MICHAEL PAULSON

Ms. Matthis, center, as Coach in “The Insurgents,” a play written by Lucy Thurber.CreditBenjamin Norman for The New York Times

A new study suggests that beyond Broadway the picture is somewhat less dire. Last season 40 percent of the plays at leading Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway theaters were directed by women, and 29 percent were written by women.

But women’s progress varies widely when a broader range of theater jobs is considered. At the theaters studied women overwhelmingly dominated jobs as stage managers and costume designers. But men held the vast majority of jobs as designers of sets, lighting and sound.

“It’s getting better for women playwrights and directors, but at the same time, there is a real disparity in the background,” said Martha Wade Steketee, a dramaturg and co-author of a study for the League of Professional Theater Women. The study, an annual exercise by the league, was based on a review of credits for 455 productions at 22 Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway theaters over the last five seasons.

The statistics are striking, and consistent over time. Last season, 76 percent of costume designers at the theaters studied were women, as were 66 percent of production stage managers. But women made up only 22 percent of set designers, 17 percent of sound designers and 13 percent of lighting designers

The study found that five female playwrights accounted for 15 percent of the productions of plays by women over the last five seasons at the Off and Off Off Broadway theaters: Lucy Thurber, Amy Herzog, Teresa Deevy, Lisa Kron and Sarah Ruhl. And 14 women made up 45 percent of the female directors — the most active were Leigh Silverman, Anne Kauffman and Pam MacKinnon.

The study will be posted at the League’s website.