June 30, 2008

Women stage directors still struggle for steady work, recognition

Despite advances in other areas, women still struggle to find steady work and recognition as stage directors, says Anne Fliotsos, a Purdue University associate professor of theater.

And Broadway, which brings the most money and the brightest spotlight, is even tougher, says Fliotsos, co-author of the new book "American Women Stage Directors of the Twentieth Century."

"At the Broadway level, women directors haven't been trusted with the big budgets and big productions," she says.

In fact, Shapiro's was one of only 30 nominations of women for a Tony for direction since the awards were established in 1947. No women directors were nominated at all until 1961, and no woman won the directing Tony until 1998, a landmark year when women won for both direction of a play and direction of a musical.

In the book, Fliotsos and co-author Wendy Vierow profile 50 women directors of Broadway, regional and stock theater going back to the beginning of the 20th century. The women profiled include Antoinette Perry, for whom the Tony Awards are named, and Julie Taymor, who won the Tony in 1998 for directing the musical "The Lion King."

In her Broadway debut, Shapiro directed the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "August: Osage County." It was developed at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company before moving to Broadway.

Fliotsos says women directors often get their first chance on Broadway through a regional production.

"Mary Zimmerman also came out of Chicago and won a Tony in 2002 for 'Metamorphoses.'" she says. Zimmerman is one of the directors profiled in the book.

Fliotsos says one of the primary problems women directors face in growing their careers is that they are women.

"First of all, it's gender bias," she says. "The director is THE authoritative figure in the theater. Therefore, directors have historically been men."

Women have run into problems because they communicate differently and because a strong woman who can give orders may be treated differently than a man who does the same thing, Fliotsos says.

She admits that some of the women directors profiled questioned whether a book that focused on gender was needed.

"Some of them asked, 'Are we still talking about this?' Well, yes we are still talking about it," she says.

"The future will be better for women as directors, but it's not changing as quickly as we think. The percentage of women directing on Broadway is many times fewer than men. And Tony wins like Shapiro's can give a false impression that it's getting better faster than it actually is."

"American Women Stage Directors" ($60) is published by University of Illinois Press.

Fliotsos' research was supported by grants from the Purdue College of Liberal Arts, Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue Libraries.

Writer: Judith Barra Austin, (765) 494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu

Source: Anne Fliotsos, (765) 494-3075, fliotsos@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: Fliotsos' name is pronounced Flea-OATS-us

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