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Maybe it’s the quarantine getting to me, or maybe it’s the fact that two of my quarantine cellmates are six and eleven years old, but for this month’s blog, I decided to go a little Dr. Seuss on you! I’ve given you the name of a woman of theatre you should definitely know of for (almost) every letter of the alphabet. I’ll give you just a taste of the genius that each and every one of these women were and are, but if I were you, I’d take these names straight to the googles to soak up every bit of info you can after you read this blog. Enjoy!
A is for Aphra Behn to start this off right. She was a seventeenth-century woman playwright. It seems she was a leader in feminism too and wrote on hot topics, arranged marriage, to boot.
B is for Bradley, Lillian Trimble’s last name. Being America’s first woman director is what gave her fame. She loved Melodrama. To her, it was the best. She broke into the scene with her play, The Woman On The Index.
C is for Cheryl (and her last name) Crawford, too. She was a producer when for women, it was new. She founded Group Theater and Actors Studio when she moved to New York from Akron, Ohio.
D is for Dianne, her last name is Glancy. She’s a Native American Playwright, specifically, Cherokee. She’s published over ten plays and written even more. She also writes literature and poetry galore.
E is for Eugenia Rosenthal, she went by Jean, for short. She pioneered a path of the technical sort. Born in 1912, she was always a climber, she paved the way for women lighting designers.
F is for Frances Goodrich, you want to know her. She’s a 1956 Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner. She and her husband, and this takes the cake, won those two prizes for their Diary of Anne Frank.
G is for Georgia, in this case, Georgia Stitt. She’s an American composer, and she’s the real sh*%!
H is for Hrotsvitha, a very FIRST first. To leave her unmentioned would be just the worst. She’s probably the very first woman playwright, a tenth-century nun, her art was a sight.
J Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron are the first women writing team to win the best score for Fun Home. Another first definitely not to be missed, this musical featured the first lesbian protagonist.
K is for Kitty Clive, a diva of her era, she was one of the first to play the lead in The Beggar’s Opera.
L is for Lorraine Hansberry and remember this one. The first black woman produced play on Broadway was hers: Raisin in the Sun.
M is for Micki Grant, she helped pave the way. She’s one of the first women composers of Broadway.
N is for Nell Gwynne, 1650 English born. At 14 she hit the stage, acting, of course.
P is for Peg, Peg Woffington of England. She pioneered “breeches” roles, cross-dressing women.
R is for Rebecca. Can you say Lenkiewicz? Have you heard of her 2008 play, Naked Skin? It was produced at National Theatre on the Mainstage, a first for a woman playwright during that day and age.
S is for Sara Bareilles, we all love this queen. She led the all-women creative team for Waitress in 2016.
T is for Tony (Antoniette) Perry. You’ve heard of the Tony Awards, right? Same Person. That’s scary.
V is for Vinette Carroll, she directed on Broadway. The first black woman to do so, by the way.
Z is for Zelda Fichandler. In 1950, she founded Arena Stage in Washington DC. Arena Stage won the first regional Tony in 1976 and was the first to move to Broadway a show of their pick.
These women are heroes, bad-ass superstars. Let’s always make history remember who they are. Through pandemic ramblings, or word-press, or pen, keep spreading the word of these powerful women.
Article by SoundGirl: Elisabeth Weidner
Another great article by SoundGirls: Black Music Influenced the Culture & Music of the World
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The mission of SoundGirls.org is to inspire and empower the next generation of women in audio. Our mission is to create a supportive community for women in audio and music production, providing the tools, knowledge, and support to further their careers. SoundGirls.Org was formed in 2013 by veteran live sound engineers Karrie Keyes and Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato and operates under the Fiscal Sponsorship of The California Women’s Music Festival, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. In 2012, Karrie and Michelle participated in the “Women of Professional Concert Sound” panel at the AES Conference in San Francisco. The panel was hosted by the Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) and moderated by WAM founder Terri Winston. Terri brought together five women working in live and broadcast audio. The groundbreaking panel (which also included Jeri Palumbo, Claudia Engelhart and Deanne Franklin), provided young women and men a glimpse into life on the road, tips and advice, and a Q & A with the panelists. More importantly though, was how incredibly powerful the experience was for the panelists. We had all been in the business for 20 years or more, yet most of us had never met before that day and within minutes we bonded like long-lost sisters. We were struck by how similar our experiences, work ethics, and passions were and wondered why our paths had never crossed and how our careers would have been different had we been there to support each other through the years. Each of us are strong on our own, but together we were even stronger and a powerful force. We were empowered. Each of us had been asked hundreds of times in our careers: Are there other women doing sound? How did you get into sound? How would a young woman go about getting into sound? Through creating SoundGirls.Org, we hope to establish a place for women working in professional audio to come for support and advice, to share our success and failures, our joys and frustrations, and for empowerment and inspiration.
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