Making it in the Theater World

 “As a woman, you must follow your action and keep moving forward.  It is up to the rest of the world to adjust to us. That is how I see it.”  Virginia Wall Gruenert – Artistic Director of Off The Wall Theater
In a recent interview with Laurie Smith of Point Park News Service, Virginia Wall discusses the gender inequalities that exist not only in the world of theater, but also in the world at large.  She makes it a point to note that promoting women does not mean excluding the guys.  In fact, according to Virginia, there is no room for the weak in the theater world— whether you are a man or a woman. Read the full article here.

Interested in learning more about gender inequality in the theater industry, read our prior blog Gender Bias in Theater.

Our 2013-2014 Playwright Lineup - by and about women:
Madeleine George, Lisa Kron, Sarah Treem, and Rinne Groff
Off The Wall Theater - a Pittsburgh theater that promotes women. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Women Count at at off the WALL

WOMEN COUNT In case you missed the theatre industry’s gender parity movement, here’s a recap: women have been writing plays for millennia and landing productions for centuries.   Over time, they’ve also come to play key roles onstage and backstage.   But female theatre artists of all kinds still find themselves bonking their heads on a glass ceiling known as the “glass curtain.”   Even today, female playwrights, directors, and designers are atypical.   Shakespearian gender-swapping has been mooted as a partial solution; however, such theatrical “novelty” only serves to distract from the main issue – the absence of contemporary dramas reflecting the complexity of women’s lives.   Cross-gender casting fails to question the over-representation of dead and living male playwrights.   It does not address the fact that half our contemporary creative world is missing. In an essay in howlround.com, Jenny Lyn Bader writes: “We live in a world dominated by...
Read more

GHOSTS: A SET IN THE MAKING (PART 1)

Image
In this two-part blog, I’m going to focus not on the play itself, but on the set. Why? Because quite simply the set is astonishing! If you’ve been keeping up with our blogs, you already know that our current production Ghosts is set in the early 1880’s, that it was written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Isben and that though it is a revered classic today, it was considered absolutely scandalous in its time. The exposed secrets and immoralities conflicted with society’s moral taboos. If you’d like to learn more about the history of the play, the storyline, the characters or director, please peruse our recent posts. Scenic Design: Rich Preffer In the meantime, let’s take a look at the set. The set design, by Rich Preffer, captures the essence of the play. The mood. The character. The unsaid meanings and implications. The set itself includes a cage like structure, including a canopy structure, which encompasses the entire set. Looking at the set, you at once feel both the sense of h...
Read more

Celebrating family and friends in 2019

Image
Thank you for making 2018 so special As 2019 starts to gear up, we’re left remembering the many moments we’ve shared with you in 2018. It was a great year and we hope to make 2019 even better! We sincerely offer our most heartful ‘thank you’ to our creative partners, patrons, employees, and collaborators – Carnegie Stage and off the WALL surely wouldn’t be the same without every single one of you who make up our humble little community. From the bottom of our hearts, we’re happy to have you as part of our family. Erika Cuenca - Virginia Wall Gruenert Byhalia, Mississippi, May 2018 If you’d like to join the Carnegie Stage/off the WALL family, consider donating – no amount it too big or too small… and every little bit helps! With your help we are able to pay EVERY single person who works for us – there are no volunteers; only paid employees. We believe all working artists deserve to make a living doing what they love. To help support our cause, consider donating monthly or a...
Read more