Kaitlyn Hart
Life Editor
For the first time ever, the Idaho State University Theater Department is producing a year full of plays, all written by female playwrights. In a leap towards greater diversity and representation, Vanessa Ballam, the head of the Acting Program, Joel Shura, the Assistant Professor of Directing, Tara Young, the Chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance and Professor of Theatre and Costume Design, and the rest of the Theater Department faculty, decided to come together to produce and direct four separate plays throughout the academic year to showcase the brilliant women playwrights that often get overlooked.
“Unfortunately, the trend seems to be that the percentage of female playwrights is very low on Broadway,” said Theater Department Chair, Tara Young. “We want to bring diversity of women to Idaho State.”
Unfortunately, Young is alarmingly correct. According to ProductionPro, a tech company that aims to help theater and film productions, only 19% of directors, 18% of choreographers and 16% of writers, were women.
This year, the ISU Theater Department is producing four plays, the first of which will open on September 27th, and is called, “Last Train to Nibroc”, written by playwright, Arlene Hutton. Originally published in 2000, the play is set in rural Kentucky with a cast of only two actors.
Second, the Theater Department will be putting on a children’s production, “Best Christmas Pageant Ever”, written by playwright, Jahnna Beecham. This play is a musical and will open in early November.
Next, in March, the department will put on a production of a Bluegrass Musical, “Brightstar”, written by playwright, Edie Brickell and actor, Steve Martin. The Tony-nominated piece takes place in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina during the 1920’s and ‘40s.
Lastly, the ISU Theater Department will be producing a play in April called, “The Wolves”, written by playwright, Sarah DeLappe. Even more, the cast consists of all female actors, and will be directed by Idaho State’s own female director and head of the acting program, Vanessa Ballam.
The Bechdel Test, a measure of the representation of women who are portrayed in entertainment media, is something that the Theater Department kept in mind while choosing the plays for this upcoming academic year. In order to pass the Bechdel Test, the piece must meet at least two of the following criteria; (1) it has to have at least two women in it, (2) who talk to each other, (3) about something besides a man.
“The Wolves certainly accomplishes this in spades,” says Ballam. “We want to start this new trend of representation so that when students come to the theater, they identify with the stories and the individuals.”
For example, ‘The Wolves’ details the story of a female soccer team as they go through trials and tribulations together to discover who they are individually and as a team.
“When you meet the girls, there is no exposition. You don’t get introduced to them by name, they just start talking, often there’s multiple conversations happening at the same time and you don’t actually learn their names until the end of the play,” says Ballam. “And the playwright, when asked why that was the decision, said she wanted to showcase the idea that these girls are a pack. They’re trying desperately to find their individuality within the ensemble and also trying desperately to fit in. They’re not being defined in any way, shape or form by the male gaze.”
Being that this is the first time that the Theater Department has chosen a theme for their season so inclusive and wrapped around diversity, it encompasses a huge sense of pride around not only the Theater Department, but around the entirety of Idaho State University.
Both Young and Ballam are excited and proud to be a part of such a moving and important piece of the university’s, and hopefully society’s, leap toward furthering the diversity on stage and behind the curtain.
“We like to think, “What is the meaning behind creating art? What is our purpose?” says Young.
Too often are female actors, playwrights, and technicians pushed aside for male counterparts, and that is something that the department is looking to equalize in terms of gender equity.
“One of my jobs as the head of the acting program here at ISU, is to help each student that comes through my door, to find their voice, to define that sense of self and be proud and unabashed about who they are.” says Ballam. “It seems like it shouldn’t be a big deal, but for some of these students, and it’s not just female-identifying, but male-identifying as well, it’s important to empower them, to say, “You know what? We’re gonna give you the tools to shout from the rooftops who you are.”
