Women are underrepresented in many areas of the arts. In Australian theatre, the pattern is perhaps most obvious when it comes to directors.
In 2012, the Australia Council for the Arts released their Women in Theatre report. It found that between 2001 and 2011 only 25% of productions at the eight major theatre companies in Australia were directed by women. Only 21% were written by women.
Since then, companies have more enthusiastically embraced women directors. More women are being included in mainstage seasons and many companies have recently appointed female artistic directors and resident directors. Despite those improvements, women are still underrepresented in many theatre company’s seasons.
Melbourne Theatre Company was one of the companies that copped a lot of flack back in 2009 when its season featured only one female director. The company has attempted to redress this and fix a bit of an image problem with their Women Directors Program, which is designed to develop a greater relationship between female directors. They last week announced the 13 directors who would be taking part.
Women’s Agenda sister publication Daily Review spoke to MTC associate director Leticia Caceres who led the development of the program.
MTC Artistic Director Brett Sheehy was very keen to address the under-presentation of women on Australian stages. Joining the Company in 2013 as its first female Associate Director in eight years, I developed this programme for women directors to start the process of bridging this gap, an issue that the industry as a whole faces.
Where are the participants in the program from? What kind of experience do they have?
The participants are a mix of emerging and mid-career directors creating exciting, diverse work across Australia. The work these 13 talented artists create vary from text-based to non-verbal work, from devised performance and puppetry, to musical theatre.
For example, Kate Sulan who runs Rawcus creates devised work with actors with disabilities. Petra Kalive who recently directed Beached for MTC Education has a passion for new Australian writing, and Nadja Kostich has a very strong, high energy, movement driven aesthetic, creating acclaimed work such as Bear Witness which toured nationally in 2012.
What exactly does the program entail?
We’re really trying to empower and promote these artists by facilitating closer relationships between them and MTC.
The directors will gain an up close and personal insight into how a mainstage company works. They’ll be attending production briefings, selected white card and design briefings and get exposure to a range of creative artists – directors, designers and actors. They’ll get regular mentoring on all aspects of a mainstage theatre company – from marketing to programming – and have the opportunity to attend exclusive events and other networking opportunities. At the end of the year they’ll have a chance to pitch a potential work for an upcoming MTC season to our Artistic Director Brett Sheehy.
What resources is MTC putting into the program?
The Company’s fully supportive of this program and has secured some funding to enable the directors’ participation. We’re bringing in a business leader to undertake a day’s coaching in leadership and personal authority to build on their leadership potential. And our staff and artistic team will provide regular mentoring support and facilitate monthly salons specifically tailored to the group, addressing issues of self promotion, networking and leadership.
Being a successful female director yourself, you probably understand the experiences of a lot of the directors in the program. Have you had experiences in your own career with sexism (either direct or indirect)?
Unfortunately in my career I have experienced sexism to greater and lesser extents, from being fully aware of direct pay discrepancies between myself and my male co-workers, to being spoken over the top of or through in rehearsals or production meetings. This is a very unpleasant reality that happens from time to time, and it’s indicative of the fact that we still live in an unequal society and that Feminism has, to some extent lost ground. This is why programs like the MTC’s are so important; because they give women an opportunity to validate our experiences and provide a kind of playing field that directly caters to our needs, our strength and our weaknesses. Because of my experience, I was keen for the program to provide training in leadership styles, authority and self-promotion. By building knowledge and strength in these areas, I hope my colleagues and I will be better equipped to manage sexism, should it ever rear its ugly head.
I suppose the challenge, but essential step is that the directors are able to find opportunities to have more of their work presented on main stages. Do you believe this will happen?
This is a challenge for the whole industry but we are certainly seeing change. Increasingly we are seeing women directors appointed to theatre companies such as Belvoir’s new resident directors, Adena Jacobs and Anne-Louise Sarks. Marion Potts, Kate Cherry and Lee Lewis are each running mainstage companies. STC, like MTC, have appointed two female resident directors and QTC is looking to implement a program similar to ours in the near future. The outlook is bright. But it’s imperative that women remain active and vigilant, so that we don’t find ourselves overlooked in the future.
Women are also underrepresented as playwrights, although things are shifting a little more quickly in that area. Does MTC have plans to do something in this area?
MTC has already begun to move in this area with a range of commissions for women playwrights (in fact, so far, they outnumber the men), plus there is the CYBEC Electric series of plays, with three of the five having been written by women: Jane Harrison, Kylie Trounson and Sue Smith. Some of MTC’s repertoire will always be written by playwrights from overseas, alive and dead – meaning our ability to nurture and develop them is somewhat limited – but our audiences love home-grown talent and local tales, and women playwrights here most definitely have the skill, vision and the stories, to really wow them. It’s exciting stuff.