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Zona Gale was the first female playwright to win a Pulitzer Prize. The prize was awarded for the play "Miss Lulu Bett" in 1920. -
There was a lapse in time when strides were felt for women both in the theatre and in the world. This was due to the fact that most of the world was in wars durning this time. So as sad as it may the focus on women was pushed towards the back.
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The fight for women's rights was felt in the theatre as well. This is when women seen a rise and some great plays, musicals, and dances came from women. Also in today's theatre this has laid the foundation for many playwrights to explore plays that allow a window to see what the suffrage movement looked like and how it changed the world. Such as Ann Timmins plays, "It’s My Party!" that was apart of "A Night of Suffrage Theater" (Siegel 1). -
In the 1970's many feminist focused theatres were started, these include; The Looking Glass, Voice & Vision, Woman Seeking..., Horizons Theatre in Arlington, and so many more. -
Beth Henley is a playwright that produced a number of plays and won a pulitzer prize in 1981 for "Crimes of the Heart". Henley is still producing plays with her most recent being in 2012. (Brockett 249) "Crimes of the Heart" was moved to Broadway’s John Gold Theatre and it had a run of an outstanding 500 plays, as well as being nominated for a Tony Award. (Unknown, Abundance&BethHenley) -
Marsha Norman a playwright who produced a number of great plays also wrote the play "Getting Out", and is most well known for "Night Mother" which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983. (Brockett 249) Norman went on to be the co-director of Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program until the end of the 2020 school year (Editors 1). With this her successes was not just in her own plays but also the talent that she nurtured and helped discover over the years. -
This was a play by Wendy Wasserstein in 1989. This play ended up winning the Pulitzer Prize and also became the first woman written play to win a Tony Award. (Brockett page 249) -
Women made strides and greatness has came from women in theatre yet is it really equal? Is it just a crumb while men get the whole cookie jar? This question is still asked by many in theatre. Proof is in the pudding as the 2013-2014 Broadway season there was not one new play that was by a woman. While also saying that 24 percent of plays for the 2015 season were wrote by women and of that 24 percent only 2 plays wrote by women made the top 10 to watch. (Evans 1)
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"Fun Home" made history as the first musical that was entirely written by women to win a Tony Award in 2015. (Young 1) -
The League of Professional Theatre Women have pushed for 50:50, meaning a one for one when pertaining to all things involved in theatre, down to carpenders.This push for equality fell short in 2019 as they failed to have 50:50 in 5 catagories. (Miller 1)