Celebrating Gender Parity on Five Continents for our 5th Anniversary!

The International Centre for Women Playwrights (ICWP) is thrilled to report that a record-breaking number of recipients will receive the 2016 50/50 Applause Awards, which recognizes theatres that produced 50% or more women playwrights in their 2015/16 season of shows. ICWP defines 50/50 by the number of qualifying performances in a theatre’s season. This allows a concrete measurement of the resources being devoted to women playwrights.

For the awards’ 5th anniversary, ICWP recognized 107 recipients in ten countries on five continents. The list includes theatres in Australia, Canada, England, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, Scotland, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States. Approximately 32% of the theatres are repeat recipients, demonstrating gender parity in two or more seasons. Recipients range from community and college theatres to internationally renowned theatres. Meet some of the theatres in the ICWP celebration video. http://www.womenplaywrights.org/50-50-awards-video-2016

For several years, the international performing arts industry has been scrutinized for its underrepresentation of women playwrights as well as women in leadership positions in theatre. According to the League of Professional Theatre Women’s (LPTW) 2015 study “Women Count: Women Hired Off-Broadway 2010-2015”, women playwrights were produced 28%-36% of the time. Among ten Australian theatres, 39% of original and adapted works were by women (The National Voice 2106, Australian Writers Guild). The UK’s Purple Seven study “Gender in Theatre” of 2012-2015 seasons reported 28% of playwrights were female.

Though these numbers are higher than they have been in the past, women playwrights are still not receiving their due, and there are many potential reasons. The LPTW study points out that new works by women are more likely to be produced today than those by women in the past, although there are many classic women playwrights. The AWG cites that commissioned adaptations are where women are making the least amount of headway.

A full list of the qualifying seasons by our 50/50 recipients can be found on our website. http://womenplaywrights.org/50-50-awards-2016
In addition, theatres researching plays by contemporary female playwrights can look at the Kilroys List, the 49 List, the New Play Exchange, and Treepress.com.

The history of gender disparity in theater

In recent years, discussions within the global theatre community and the media have prompted both academic research and discussions to explain why the work of women playwrights is underrepresented in staged theatrical productions. In 2009, Emily

Glassberg Sands released a study called “Opening the Curtain on Playwright Gender” which showed that only 18% of the productions done in the United States in 2008 were by female playwrights. She also found that “only 11% of shows on Broadway over the past decade [1999-2009] were written exclusively by women”.

Other research from countries with developed economies has demonstrated similar imbalances. In 2011, Lyn Gardner of the UK’s stated “…of the 57 productions on in the West End and the fringe that might be considered plays (rather than musicals or physical work), only six are written by women”.

The Australian Council for Arts 2012 “Women in Theatre” report cited that 21% of the productions between 2001-2011 were written by women. In 2014, there were no new plays or musicals written by women produced on Broadway or the West End although the League of Professional Women in Theater reported that 28% of off-Broadway playwrights were women in the same year.

Making an Equal Place for Women

When ICWP decided to create the 50/50 Applause Award, it was out of the sincere desire to recognize and thank the mainstream theater companies that were making an equal place for the work of women playwrights on their stages.

We have been pleased with the growth this award has enjoyed in just a few short years. In our first year, there were only five recipients, all based in the United States. Our second year, there were twenty-nine recipients in five countries. In 2014, we opened the nominations to the public and had sixty seven recipients in nine countries.

ABOUT ICWP

ICWP started in 1988 with a mission to support women playwrights worldwide and bring attention to their work. The ICWP 50/50 Applause Awards were founded in 2012 to increase awareness and applaud theatres that produced a season with an equal or greater number of plays written by female playwrights. More information about the award can be found at: http://www.womenplaywrights.org/award

Congratulations to the Recipients of the 2016 ICWP 50/50 Applause Awards! 

16th Street Theater * (Berwyn, IL, USA), Actors for Children Theatre * (Flatwoods, KY, USA), Actors Theater of Charlotte (Charlotte, NC, USA), Althea Theatre (London, England, UK), Aurora Theatre Company (Berkeley, CA, USA), b current (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), Babes with Blades Theatre Company (Chicago, IL, USA), Birds of Paradise Theatre Company (Glasgow, Scotland), Black Theatre Workshop (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), Book-It Repertory Theatre (Seattle, WA, USA), Borderlands Theater (Tucson, AZ, USA), Bread & Roses Theatre * (London, UK), Broken Nose Theatre (Chicago, IL, USA), Brooklyn Repertory Theatre (Brooklyn, NY, USA), Bush Theatre * (London, England, UK), Cadence Theatre (in partnership with Virginia Repertory Theatre, Richmond, VA, USA), Cape May Stage (Cape May, NJ, USA), Capital Repertory Theatre (Albany, NY, USA), Castlereigh Theatre Project (Vancouver, BC, Canada), Centaur Theatre * (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), Centenary Stage Company (Hackettstown, NJ, USA), Center Stage (Baltimore, MD, USA), Checkpoint Theatre (Goodman Road, Singapore), Chicago Dramatists * (Chicago, IL, USA), City Theatre Company (Pittsburgh, PA, USA), Cleveland Public Theatre * (Cleveland, OH, USA), Congo Square Theatre Company (Chicago, IL, USA), Crowded Fire Theater * (San Francisco, CA, USA), Curious Theatre Company (Denver, Colorado, USA), Detroit Public Theatre (Detroit, MI, USA), Drew University Department of Theatre and Dance (Madison, NJ, USA), EgoPo Classic (Philadelphia, PA, USA), Factory Space Theatre Company * (Sydney, NSW, Australia), Farmington Valley Stage Company (Canton, CT, USA), Firehall Arts Centre (Vancouver, BC, Canada), Forward Theater (Madison, WI, USA), Frank Theatre (Minneapolis, MN, USA), Genesis Theatrical Productions * (Chicago, IL, USA), Great Canadian Theatre Company * (Ottawa, ON, Canada), Halcyon Theatre (Chicago, IL, USA), HERE Arts Center * (New York, New York, USA), Horizon Theatre Company * (Atlanta, GA, USA), Hothouse (Albury-Wodonga Australia), Imagination Stage (Bethesda, MD, USA), Inis Nua Theatre (Philadelphia, PA, USA), InnerMission Productions (San Diego, CA, USA), InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia, PA, USA), Israeli Stage (Boston, MA, USA), Keen Company (New York, NY, USA), Kitchen Theatre (Ithaca, NY, USA), Know Theatre of Cincinatti (Cincinatti, OH, USA), Larrikin Entertainment (Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada), Latino Theater Company/Los Angeles Theatre Center * (LATC) (Los Angeles, CA, USA), Luna Stage * (West Orange, NJ, USA), Magic Theatre (San Francisco, CA, USA), Manbites Dog Theater * (Durham, NC, USA), McCarter Theatre Center (Princeton, NJ, USA), Milagro (The Miracle Theatre Group, Portland, OR, USA), Mitch and Murray Productions (Vancouver, BC, Canada), National Black Theatre (New York, NY, USA), New Theatre (Miami, FL, USA), New York Theatre Workshop * (New York, NY, USA), NextStop Theatre Company * (Herndon, VA, USA), North Carolina Stage Company (Asheville, NC, USA), Obsidian Theatre Company * (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), Off the Wall Productions * (Carnegie, PA, USA), Orlando Repertory Theatre * (Orlando, FL, USA), Ovalhouse Theatre (London, England, UK), Pacific Theatre (Vancouver, BC, Canada), Pangdemonium Theatre Company (Ubi Road 4, Singapore), Peridot Theatre (Mount Waverley, Victoria, Australia), PETA Philippine Educational Theater Association (Quezon City, Philippines), Plan-B Theatre (Salt Lake City, UT, USA), PlayGround * (San Francisco, CA, USA), Playwrights Realm (New York, NY, USA), Poetic Justice Project * (Santa Maria, CA, USA), Prairie Theatre Exchange * (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), Profile Theatre (Portland, OR, USA), Punctuate! Theatre (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), Ragged Wing Ensemble * (Oakland, CA, USA), Renaissance Theatreworks (Milwaukee, WI, USA), Rep Stage (Columbia, MD, USA), Riot Act, Inc. (Jackson, WY, USA), Round House Theatre * (Silver Spring, MD, USA), Royal Court Theatre (London, England, UK), Salvage Vanguard Theater * (Austin, TX, USA), Second Stage Theatre (New York, NY, USA), Shameless Hussy Productions * (Vancouver, BC, USA), Shelterbelt Theatre * (Omaha, NE, USA), Ship’s Company Theatre (Parrsboro, NS, Canada), Shotgun Players (Berkeley, CA, USA), Synchronicity Theatre * (Atlanta, GA), Tamasha Theatre Company (London, England, UK), Tantai Teatro (Puerto Rico, USA), Teatro Paraguas * (Santa Fe, NM, USA), Tennessee Women’s Theater Project * (Nashville, TN, USA), The English Theatre of Rome * (Rome, Italy), The Road Theatre Company * (North Hollywood, CA, USA), The Theatre Company of Kenya (Nanyuki/Mombasa/ Nairobi/ Nakuru Kenya), Theatre Alliance of Washington DC (Washington DC, USA), Theatre Conspiracy (Fort Myers, FL, USA), Theatre Passe Muraille * (Toronto, ON, Canada), Timeline Theatre (Chicago, IL, USA), Tita8lou (Geneva, Switzerland), Urban Stages (New York, NY, USA), WhoDunnit Murder Mystery Theater (Louisville, KY, USA), and Windy City Playhouse * (Chicago, IL, USA).