The 2014 International Centre forWomen Playwrights 50/50 Applause Awards: Thunderous “Applause” to international theatre companies producing women playwrights!
The International Centre for Women Playwrights (ICWP) is thrilled to report the extraordinary level of international support that is represented by the recipients for this year’s 50/50 Applause Awards is thrilled to report the extraordinary level of international support that is represented by the recipients for this year’s 50/50 Applause Awards, which sets out to recognize theatres that produced 50% or more women playwrights in their season of shows. In the spring, for the first time in the history of the awards, ICWP invited the public to nominate theatres that had produced the work of women playwrights throughout the world.
To our great delight, we are proud to announce 67 recipients from nine countries for the 2014 awards. The list includes theatres in Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States. There are fourteen repeat recipients who have demonstrated gender parity in more than one season. Meet some of the theaters in our multi-lingual video. http://www.womenplaywrights.org/award-video
Despite this encouraging news, ICWP recognizes there is a long way to go to 50/50 status. The Australian Council for Arts 2012 “Women in Theatre” report cites 21% of the productions between 2001-2011 were written by women. Playwright Lynn Nottage wrote, “…not a single new Broadway play this season was written by a woman or person of color, and of the 47 bookwriters/composers and lyricists represented on Broadway, only six of them were women” (“Women AreMissing From TONY’s and Broadway”, New York Times, 6/6/14). Likewise, there were no new plays or musicals written by women produced on London’sWest End in the 2013-2014 season. The Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative (LAFPI) reports that 16% of the 2013-2014 shows produced in Southern California were by women playwrights.
ICWP President Karen Jeynes of South Africa says “It is a sad truth that often women are not as easily able to access platforms as men are, and there are so many stories which go untold. This award is a fantastic way to acknowledge those who are producing women’s work, and encourage those who aren’t to think about whether there aremore ways to include women writers in their line up.”
ICWP started in 1988 with a mission to support women playwrights worldwide and bring attention to their work. The 50/50 Applause Awards are now an annual event for ICWP with nominations being stringently checked by a strong volunteer committee. More information about the awards can be found at http://www.womenplaywrights.org/award
Contacts: Elana Gartner and Kris Bauske, co-chairs ICWP 50/50 Applause Awards
Contact email address awards@womenplaywrights.org
Congratulations to the Recipients of the 2014 ICWP 50/50 Applause Awards:
16th Street Theater (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Los Angeles Theatre Center/Latino Theater Company (Los Angeles, California, USA)
Tennessee Women’s Theater Project (Nashville, Tennessee, USA)
AlterTheater (San Rafael, California, USA)
Melting Pot KC (Kansas City, Missouri, USA)
The Bush Theatre (London, England)
Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company (Boulder, Colorado, USA)
Mildred’s Umbrella Theater (Dallas, Texas, USA)
The English Theatre of Rome (Rome, Italy)
Cabrini Repertory Theater (New York, New York, USA)
Native Voices at the Autry (Los Angeles, California, USA)
The Great Canadian Theatre Company (West Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
Café de la Gare (Paris, France)
Obsidian Theatre Company (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
The Pittsburgh Playhouse (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA)
Cherry Lane Theatre (New York, New York, USA)
Off the Wall Productions (Carnegie, Pennsylvania, USA)
The Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (New York, New York, USA)
Cleveland Public Theatre (Cleveland, Ohio, USA)
Papyrus Cultural Artistic Organization (Kabul, Afghanistan)
The Red Brick Road theatre company (North Hollywood, California, USA)
Company One (Boston, Massachusetts, USA)
Paul Robeson Theater (Buffalo, New York, USA)
The Theatre @ Boston Court (Boston, Massachusetts, USA)
Crowded Fire Theater (San Francisco, California, USA)
Penumbra Theatre Company (St. Paul, Missouri, USA)
The Wilma Theater (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)
Dargaville Little Theatre (Dargaville, New Zealand)
PlayGround (San Francisco, California,
USA) THEATRE MONTPARNASSE
(Paris, France) Detroit Repertory Theatre
(Detroit, Michigan, USA) Playwrights Horizons
(New York, New York, USA) Theatre Passe Muraille
(Toronto, Ontario, Canada) Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre
(Summit, New Jersey, USA) Poetic Justice Project
(Santa Maria, California, USA) TheatreFIRST
(Berkeley, California, USA) Factory Theatre
(Toronto, Ontario, Canada) Port City Playhouse
(Alexandria, Virginia, USA) Touchstone Theatre
(Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Factory Space Theatre Company (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia)
Prairie Theatre Exchange (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
Tristate Actors Theater (Newton, New Jersey, USA)
Forum Theatre (Silver Springs, Maryland, USA)
Prologue Theatre Company (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Tucson Alliance of Dramatic Artists (TADA!) (Tucson, Arizona, USA)
Furious Theatre Company (Pasadena/Los Angeles, California, USA)
Salvage Vanguard Theater (Austin, Texas, USA)
UC Santa Barbara, LaunchPad (Santa Barbara, California, USA)
Genesis Theatrical Productions (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Sarasvati Productions (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
Univ. of Nebraska at Omaha Theatre Dpt. (Omaha, Nebraska, USA)
Golden Thread Productions (San Francisco, California, USA)
Seattle Public Theater (Seattle, Washington, USA)
Workhaus Collective (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)
HERE Arts Center (New York, New York, USA)
Shameless Hussy (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Zwiefachen (Berlin, Germany)
Hollins University (Roanoke, Virginia, USA)
Simorgh Film Association of Culture & Art (Herat, Afghanistan)
Horizon Theatre Company (Atlanta, Georgia, USA)
State Theatre Company of South Australia (Adelaide, South Australia, Australia)
Jewish Repertory Theatre (Getzville, New York, USA)
Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Kumu Kahua Theatre (Honolulu, Hawaii, USA) Storycrafter Studio (Miami Beach, Florida, USA)
Looking for Lilith (Louisville, Kentucky, USA)
Synchronicity Theatre (Atlanta, Georgia)
