QUESTION:
What’s the overall picture? How much work is there for women and men in San Francisco/Bay Area theatre?
FINDING:
In the 500 shows counted, women had fewer jobs than men in every category.
Women were best represented as non-union actors, followed by directors and union actors, with playwrights trailing behind at only 27%. Not every show had one playwright and one director. Some plays were co-written and/or co-directed. Some shows were an evening of short plays that had more than one playwright and/or more than one director. For musicals, the musical director is counted in the director category, and all writers (book, lyrics, composer) are counted in the playwright category.
TABLE 1 – Women Had Fewer Jobs Than Men Overall
Women | Men | |
Playwrights | 27% 179 artists |
73% 485 artists |
Directors | 42% 246 artists |
58% 339 artists |
Union Actors | 40% 575 artists |
60% 860 artists |
Non-Union Actors | 46% 1147 artists |
54% 1338 artists |