FOR decades now women artists have been virtually invisible within the American theater industry. Why and how has their exclusion from positions of power and influence persisted? After all, there are many outstanding women playwrights and directors deserving recognition, including Princeton’s own Emily Mann, whose 20th anniversary as artistic director of McCarter Theatre is currently being celebrated.

   This gender disparity and the reasons behind it will be discussed by leading women in the industry during a daylong public conference, “Women in Theatre: Issues for the 21st Century,” at Princeton University Sept. 26. Conference organizer Jill Dolan, professor of English and theater in the Lewis Center for the Arts of Princeton University, took time to answer some questions for TIMEOFF about the issues and the conference:

   TO: The “exclusion” of women suggests a conscious effort to keep women out of an “old boy network.” Do you think it’s that, or is it unconscious neglect?

   JD: This is an excellent question. The “exclusion” of women can’t be ascribed to any one person or group of people; that is, it’s not the fault of men that women have continually hit the glass ceiling (or the “glass proscenium”) in their work in theater. Instead, the situation is promulgated by social structures that have kept women second-class citizens in most professions... The situation is ideological and political rather than personal, perpetuated by deeply embedded social ideas about women’s “rightful” role in American culture... This conference and others like it over the last six months or so are part of the ongoing, historical effort to help women connect with one another in ways that will help advance their careers, just as men have done throughout history.

   TO: This condition has existed for some time. Why only now is it becoming a conference? How did the idea get started?

   JD: (Actually), these intermittent conferences and other events that call attention to women’s work have been happening for decades in the U.S. and around the world, prompted in part by the women’s political movement, and in part by other movements for equal political representation and equal pay. I was a panelist at a 1996 or 1997 conference organized by Julia Miles, who founded The Women’s Project and Productions at American Place Theatre in New York City in the ‘70s, which addressed many of the themes our conference at Princeton will continue to highlight. Why are women artistic directors still a relatively rare phenomenon in regional theaters around the country? Emily Mann’s 20-year tenure at the helm of the McCarter Theatre Center deserves celebrating in part because she has so few peers in similar positions... Part of the intent of this conference at Princeton is to establish a series of debates and panels that will keep the issues in view on an ongoing basis. My hope is that an annual speakers’ series and regular public meetings will allow us to deepen our discussion, and help provide new language through which to discuss women’s work... But for all women in theater, I’d propose, the goal is to get their work seen and discussed by the largest and most diverse audiences possible.

   TO: What has to happen for the situation to change?

   JD: (Certainly) a shift in public awareness and attitudes... I believe that those of us who teach in colleges and universities are in a unique position to introduce students to work that’s ignored by mainstream theaters. My hope has always been that I can excite students about work by women playwrights and directors, so that they can go on to produce it and champion it in their own careers in the theater. I also believe that as professors, we teach new generations of theater audiences. If our students come to enjoy and appreciate work by women playwrights, they’ll agitate for the theaters they attend to produce it, or they, too, will become critics who call attention to its absence in the wider cultural landscape.

   TO: Who do you think should be better known, more recognized?

   JD: A host of talented women who work in theater as playwrights, directors, dramaturges, and designers deserve to have their work seen and heard regularly by large audiences. Many of the women speaking at the Princeton conference have achieved a certain level of visibility. Paula Vogel, for example, who will speak on the summary session, received a Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play How I Learned to Drive. She now heads the playwriting program at Yale University. Theresa Rebeck’s play Mauritius was produced on Broadway, and her work is regularly seen in regional theaters around the country as a result. But many of the other women speaking are just beginning to gain the notice that means they can make a living in theater. Danai Gurira won an Obie Award for her play In the Continuum, and her play Eclipsed has been produced at the McCarter Theatre Center and at Wooly Mammoth in DC. She’s also an actor, who starred in the acclaimed film The Visitor with Richard Jenkins. Alice Tuan has been writing plays for years, but has lead a rather itinerant life as an artist, moving around the country to hold residencies at colleges and universities where many women in theater piece together a livelihood. She just became the head of writing for performance at the California Institute for the Arts.

   TO: What do you hope people attending this conference will come away with?

   JD: My hope is that... attendees will meet and hear playwrights and directors and critics they haven’t heard of before, and will want to read, see, follow, and champion their work; (and that) attendees will join the debates about how to address the issue, and add their voices and ideas to the public dialogue. I hope the event will allow attendees and participants to network with one another, forming connections that will extend well beyond the day and become lasting and enabling. I hope we’ll all have a day that inspires us to support the work of women in theater, seeking it out as spectators, as readers, and as cultural aficionados.

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  Women in Theatre: Issues for the 21st Century will be held in the James M. Stewart ‘32 Theatre at the Lewis Center for the Arts, 185 Nassau St., Princeton, Sept. 26, 9:30 a.m.- 6 p.m. The conference is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To learn more and to register online visit www.princeton.edu/arts/wit