Hear Them Roar!

According to Isherwood, this Broadway season has been a tad low on significant roles for women. This got me thinking about how Youngblood treated our female characters during the 2010-2011 season. I think Isherwood would have been pleased with our ladies (until they address the audience).


Unfiltered 2011 gave life to three new plays (Sweet Forgotten Flavor, In Quietness, and The Sluts of Sutton Drive) all of which had hefty leading roles for women. Featuring the talents of Kristin Griffith, Julie Fitzpatrick, and Megan Hill, these women were on the Verge of a Glorious Takedown of all the male characters trying to share the stage with them. These plays also showcased from some phenomenal supporting females (Diana Ruppe, Clare McNulty, Katie Atcheson and Amy F-ing Staats).

As for The Ladies Who Brunch, who could forget Eric Dufault's Defensive Driving with Molly Carden and Cathy Curtin? Or Anna Kerrigan's In Transit with Julie Leedes and Diana Ruppe? Not to mention Mira Gibson's infamous short Skandal Skank with Lucia Brizzi, Jenny Gomez, Allyson Morgan, Amy Staats, and Megan Tusing? Sure, we had the Sloan Brunch which somehow only provided one female character (rock on, Kristen Harlow!), but I swear that was a fluke.



I imagine Asking for Trouble had some good female roles, but that whole weekend is a blur to me, so I'm just going to give a shout out to Kelli Lynn Harrison and Abigail Gampel in Eric March's musical tribute to Arbor Day.

And while Bloodworks ain't over yet, we've already had Erica Saleh's In Memory of Julie Simmons and Alex Borinsky's Unpleasant Men, both boasting all-female casts.

We'll never have enough female characters, so we'll continue to write them. In the meantime, I'm glad to be part of a theatre where the women are strong, the men are above average, and the kids are from 52nd Street.