Playbill: Women Stage the World March for Equality

Women Stage the World March For Equality in Theatre June 11
By Carey Purcell
11 Jun 2013 

Women Stage the World, an advocacy project from The League of Professional Theatre Women, lead a suffragette-inspired parade and march on Broadway June 11 at 6 PM.

The event is an equality march to get the same number of women working in the theatre as men.

"The parade will be a celebration of our accomplishments and a chance to engage the public in a conversation about the future,"  Mahayana Landowne, who co-chairs the Advocacy Committee, said in an earlier statement. “Given the public interest in Governor Cuomo’s Women's Equality Act and Sheryl Sandberg's 'Lean In,' the timing could not be better for this conversation. We see it as an inflection point and we are seizing the moment to raise awareness and change up the status quo."

"Women buy two-thirds of the tickets and represent 65 percent of the audience," playwright Deborah Savadge, one of the co-chairs of the Advocacy Committee, added. "The irony is that 80 percent of the time, the storytelling on stage is shaped by men's voices, not women's."

Women Stage the World is designed to educate the public about the role women play in creating theatre, and the gender barriers they face as men continue to outnumber women by 4 to 1 as playwright, director and designer.

The League of Professional Theatre Women is a not-for-profit organization with a membership of almost 500 women that presents numerous events each year as part of its mission to promote visibility and increase opportunities for women in the field.

More information about the march can be obtained by visitingtheatrewomen.org.