It’s no secret inside the world of theater that the voices of Women Playwrights get little play on the theatrical stage of creative expression. One small professional Equity Theater steps up big time with a call out to Women Playwrights nationwide.

The response?

Hundreds of entries.

The result?

A Collaboration featuring Four One Act Plays from Four Fabulous Women Playwrights, and—Four Directors!

InsideThePassion.com meets with one Director who passionately believes that it’s a privilege, honor, and duty to help one of these Women Playwrights bring her story to life—From the page to the stage! Together, we share the celebration of process.

 

Let’s listen to what he has to say about his role in the Ivoryton Playhouse Women’s Playwrights Initiative:

Introducing…

Theatrical Director Sasha Brätt

First of all, what I’ve found here at the Ivoryton Playhouse is a theatrical, art producing family. From backstage to producing the talent they bring into the theater. Working with them has been one of the best experiences that I’ve ever had.

We were discussing main stage work. But I also have done a lot of work in new play development, and working with playwrights at different stages of development. So, when Ivoryton Playhouse announced that they were going to do this Women’s Playwright Initiative…

This news that the theater was going down the path of new works, when they work on musicals and other known quantities… To see them investing in that part of the process was very exciting to me!

And, while there are so many talented female playwrights, it is a known fact that there is a disproportionate amount of male playwrights produced on Broadway and off-Broadway. These opportunities coming up to hear women’s voices as playwrights, and the stories that they’re telling, are golden.

It was a nationwide call. Laura Copeland, who recently took over as the Director of New Works and New Play Initiatives at Ivoryton Playhouse, set up the structure. The call goes out. The submissions were read.

I believe that Laura and Jacqui Hubbard, the Artistic Director, went through the finalists to select the four plays to be produced in a Reading Production Workshop environment. This week the playwrights have arrived from inside and outside Connecticut for the workshop.

Four One Acts by Four Fabulous Women Playwrights

The other three directors and I auditioned and cast the one act plays a few weeks ago. This week the playwrights will enjoy seeing their pieces of work come to life. Speaking of casting, for all of the actors out there, I’d like to offer a few things to keep to mind before going into an audition:

One: Authenticity

Being your authentic self in the two-five minutes that you have with someone means a lot. Authenticity is huge, at least for me. Because I do care about who you are. I can see on a resume, places you’ve been and people you’ve worked with…

But when I know that I’m going to be asking so much of someone, and I’m going to ask them to trust me, I try to create an audition room that mirrors that trust. Warm and inviting. And that’s what I want to see because that is the team that I’m trying to put together.

 

Two: Present Yourself From Beginning to End

Present the best version of yourself from the moment you enter the door to sign in until the moment that you have walked back through that same door. Don’t give up mid-stream because you feel that you will not get the job.

 

Three: Be Nice and Human to People

You are not just auditioning for the Director. You are auditioning for every individual that is a part of t...