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Boo Killebrew, Chita Rivera, Daryl Roth, Female empowerment, Female Playwrights, Female songwriters, Feminists, Fun Home, Gender Parity, Heidi Schreck, Jim Nicola, Julia Jordan, Lilly Awards, Lisa Kron, Marsha Norman, Parity Raid, Playwrights Horizons, Shakina Nayfack, Stacey Mindich, The Count, The Dramatists Guild, The Family Fund, The Interval, The Kilroys, The Make It Fair Project, Theresa Rebeck
Breaking Glass Curtains; Or What The Lilly Awards Mean To Me
The week between the Drama Desk Awards and the Tony Awards is generally considered to be the height of the theatrical awards season frenzy. As far as I’m concerned, the pinnacle of the 2015 awards events occurred last night, June 1st, at Playwrights Horizons where the Sixth Annual Lilly Awards were held.
The Lilly Awards were founded in 2010 by Julia Jordan, Marsha Norman, and Theresa Rebeck to recognize “extraordinary contributions to the American Theatre made by women”. In the span of only six years, The Lilly Awards have expanded to become a fully fledged nonprofit that has produced reading series and benefit concerts, created mentorship and support programs such as The Family Fund (which helps women theater artists with children participate in developmental residencies, conferences and retreats) and partnered with The Dramatists Guild on The Count — a national survey detailing how many women are produced by American Theater. All of these accomplishments, and many others, were celebrated last night at the 2015 Lillys.
This year’s winners included Chita Rivera (The Legendary Award), Daryl Roth (The Lilly Lifetime Achievement Award), Jim Nicola (The Miss Lilly Award), Boo Killebrew (The Leah Ryan Prize), Shakina Nayfack (The Award for Working Miracles) and Heidi Schreck (The Stacey Mindich Prize). I could go on forever about how wonderful the winners were and how amazing the ceremony was, but instead I’ll let you see for yourself on Howl Round’s live stream of the ceremony: http://howlround.com/livestreaming-the-sixth-annual-lilly-awards-ceremony-hosted-by-tony-award-nominee-lisa-kron-mon-june
On a personal note, I have been working with the Lilly Awards for about six months now. When I first discovered the Lillys, it was at a time in my life when I was feeling very bitter about the theater world. It is easy to become caught up in the rat race of the competition, to start trying to prove oneself at the expense of others. Add in the lack of gender parity and frustration, not to mention disillusionment, can seem inevitable. I’m sure it’s like that in many fields, but we all get into the arts for the love of it, not for the bottom line, which can make the challenging times (and its fairly undisputable that in every artist’s career, there will be challenging times) even more difficult.
The Lillys remind me how in its highest, most ideal form, theater is about creating art, supporting each other’s work, and celebrating our community. It is probably no coincidence that the rolemodels who have made the most significant impact on my life are all women. In fact, two of them (the two who first motivated and encouraged me to become a lyricist) participated in the ceremony last night.
Having attended an all girls school, I was well aware (despite society’s frequent depictions of cattiness at such places) that women can be strong and powerful advocates for one another. I grew up feeling empowered and I was always proud to be outspoken, particularly in intellectual settings.
It wasn’t until graduate school that I realized how comparatively few women there were at the highest level in my chosen field. It wasn’t until I got into the “real world” that I realized many, if not most, girls grow up in environments in which words like “outspoken” and “opinionated” are negative things, insults even. Then I became aware of a particularly painful duel standard, how some people would consider me “bitchy” or “pushy” while praising the guys in the room who behaved exactly as I did.
At age 16 or 21, I often felt fearless when it came to expressing myself as a writer, as a woman, as an intellectual. In contrast, at age 25, I was scared of how I was being labeled and I made the mistake of temporarily allowing it to affect the way I thought of myself as writer. Afraid to face the world and tired of being told I was too intense, too strong, too feminist-minded etc., I was instead drifting into becoming too introverted, too repressed and too weak. Something had to change. Within a few weeks, I gave notice at my soul sucking day job (which did not respect women or anyone else in theater, but that’s another story), bought a plane ticket for a two-week solo trip to Europe (what I call my mini “Eat, Pray Love” experience), and fortuitously discovered The Lilly Awards.
Once I started working with The Lillys, I noticed an incredible confluence of female empowerment initiatives taking shape. Beyonce and Taylor Swift weren’t the only ones busy being #Feminists (though I believe they both deserve a great deal of credit for bringing the term into vogue and into pop culture discourse). 2014-2015 saw the launch of The Interval and The Make It Fair Project as well as increasing recognization for The Kilroys List— all wonderful websites which I wholeheartedly recommend. In addition, FUN HOME has come to Broadway; it is currently the only musical in the 21st century (and the first musical in nearly 25 years) written entirely by women to even be nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award. Its composer Jeanine Tesori is poised to be the first female composer from a musical theater background to win a Tony in the Best Score category without co-sharing the honor with a man. I have come to believe that we are living in an exciting, uplifting time for female artists in the theater, and in the world at large.
All this to say that I am so grateful to have discovered The Lilly Awards when I did. To see the grace and confidence with which all of these talented, strong, wonderful women in the arts comport themselves is truly an inspiration. These women don’t deny the difficulties women face in the theater- or in any industry really- but neither do they permit those obstacles to keep them from pursuing their dreams.
I encourage everyone to support this wonderful organization which has inspired me and countless others.
And then go see a play written, directed, produced or designed by a woman.
Let’s keep this #ParityRaid going!