International Womens' Day -- Women in Theatre and Art

This morning, The Public asked on its Twitter feed: "On this International Womens' Day, a big shout out to all the amazing women in theatre. Which have inspired you?" Even in the very few months that MFb has been around, we've had the opportunity to work with some amazing women theatre artists, both on and off the stage: designers Kate Freer, Jesca Prudencio, Katherine Ramos, and Emily Peterson; composer Stephanie Johnstone; directors Jaclyn Backhaus and Zoe Farmingdale; dramaturg Tracy Cameron-Francis; choreographer Ani Niemann; stage hands and board ops Laura Merforth and Lauren Kennedy; publicist Jenn de la Vega; graphic designer Kei Kreutler; future-super-producer Maggie Baker; writer Janani Sreenivasan; and actors Corrie Pond, Carmen King, Catherine Mueller, Heather Paradise, Erin Patricia Wagner, Jari Majewski, Liz Alderfer, Ellie Famutimi, Sanaz Ghajarrahimi, Claire Rothrock, Jessie Barr, Kate Weber, Jo Lampert, Saffron Wayman, Jennifer Luong, Antonia Lema, Heather Christian, Kate Weber, Molly McAdoo, Lea Tolub, Kara Durrett, Kristen Connolly, and Liz Wisan. PHEW! That's a LOT of really talented women-- and so many of them are multi-talented, writers and directors, designers and actors, dancers and musicians. 

And then there's a lot of women we haven't worked with but admire a great deal. The women of theatre company Half Straddle, who are pioneering what they call a new feminist form of theatre. Maxine Doyle, Livi Vaughan, and Bea Minns who are changing the definitions of theatre and interactive art with Punchdrunk. Director Rachel Chavkin who brought us the utterly sublime 3 Pianos and who isn't afraid to take on projects that stretch the definitions of traditional theatre. Heather Knight, social-roboticist. Book of Grace actor Elizabeth Marvel and prolific playwright Suzan Lori-Parks. Costume designers Marina Draghici and Theoni Aldredge (RIP). I could go on and on and on. 

But in all of this celebration, I can't help but feel a little bit of sadness, because a year ago, I'd have responded immediately with a single name to The Public's inquiry: Julie Taymor. For over a decade, her work was a singular inspiration to me, especially as a woman at a very conservative state university who wanted to be a theatre director. Julie Taymor, to me, was on the same level as the biggest of the big boys: like Peter Brook, she took on Shakespeare and opera and brought something new, exciting, and experimental to the conversation, and she took a completely unexpected approach to, of all super-commercial things, a Disney musical, and didn't just succeed in convincing the producers it was a good idea, she succeeded in convincing middle-American Broadway tourists that is was, as well. 

There's been a lot in the news (and I mean a LOT) about Taymor's fall from grace, and while I'd heard before the whole Spider-Man debacle became a constant source of content for the New York Times Arts Beat blog that she was a nightmare to work with, it really saddens me to see someone who had made such incredible work and had been such an icon to me (and I'm sure many, many thousands of female theatre artists) be brought down by her own hubris. I absolutely believe that an artist should be allowed to fail; what I don't believe is that an artist should feel her or himself entitled to wasting extravagant resources and endangering the lives of others in pursuit of that failure. The thought of what so many of the women I'd listed above could do with a thousandth or even a ten thousandth of what has been spent on Taymor's Spider-Man makes me very, very sad at her repugnant wastefulness, but also incredibly hopeful and excited to know that there are so many, many women who are taking her place as a role-model and touchstone for women in the arts. I no longer need Julie Taymor to be my paragon of creative and successful artist who-just-happens-to-be-a-woman: I have so, so many now for whom I am endlessly thankful. 

- Suzan Eraslan

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