Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective
The Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective was a group of professional women playwrights in New York active from 1971 to 1975. They wrote and produced feminist plays and were one of the first feminist theatre groups in the United States to do so.[1] The members' individual works had been produced at the Public Theater, La Mama, Joe Chaikin’s Open Theater, Caffe Cino,[2] Circle Repertory Company, Mark Taper Forum, Lincoln Center, and New York Theater Ensemble.
History[edit]
The playwrights' group was one of the first feminist theatre groups in the country.[3] Original members included Helen Duberstein,[4] Helene Dworzan, Patricia Horan, Gwen Gunn, Christina Maile,[5] Sally Ordway,[6] Dolores Deane Walker,[7] and Susan Yankowitz. Megan Terry and Dacia Maraini were among the guest playwrights.
Their Advisory Board included Gloria Steinem, Muriel Rukeyser, Eleanor Perry, Florynce Kennedy, along with Margaret Croyden, Alice Denham, Elizabeth Fisher, Ellen Frankfort, Carol Greitzer, Tania, Alix Kates Shulman, and Anita Steckel.
Job opportunities[edit]
Because it was specifically a women's playwrights’ and producing group, the Collective hired professional actors, and group members did not perform.[17]
While the Collective used both male and female actors - unusual for feminist stage productions in the 1970s[18] – the company offered serious employment opportunities for women stage managers, directors, producers, and lighting designers. Many women currently working in theatre credit the Collective for giving them their first real job experience in theater. All productions featured original songs composed and performed by women musicians. The playwrights strongly believed in collective creation among women and operated a separate theater workshop to explore new works.
The Collective also presented the work of other feminists:
New York Historical Society[edit]
Due to the historic presence of the Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective in the early days of the Women's movement, the New York Historical Society gathered material - photos, correspondence, scripts, and ephemera - of the Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective to add to its collections.
Abstract:
Records of the short-lived but groundbreaking Westbeth Playwrights' Feminist Collective, one of the earliest feminist theater groups in the United States. Incorporated 1972 and dissolved 1976, the WPFC was headquartered at the historic Westbeth Artists' Housing on West Street, Manhattan, and produced plays by feminist authors focused on issues central to the women's movement like sexual harassment and workplace inequality. The collection includes scripts, publicity material, articles and reviews, some correspondence, ephemera, and photographs of select production scenes and WP members.
Quantity: 1.04 Linear Feet (in 3 boxes)
Call Phrase: MS 3056
Historical Note:
The Westbeth Playwrights' Feminist Collective (WPFC) — named for its headquarters in the Westbeth Artists' Housing (in the historic Bell Telephone Laboratories Complex at 445-465 West Street, Manhattan) — was one of the earliest feminist theater groups in the United States. Incorporated on 19 October 1972, its founding members included the multi-talented playwrights Helen Duberstein, Hélène Dworzan, Patricia Horan, Gwendolyn Gunn, Christina (a.k.a. Chryse) Maile, Sally Ordway, Dolores Deane Walker, and Susan Yankowitz. Its Board of Sponsors, a who's who of American feminism of the day, included theater critic Margaret Croyden, activist Florynce Kennedy, poet Muriel Rukeyser, and Ms. magazine co-founder Gloria Steinem.
The plays of the WPFC focused on issues at the core of the women's movement like sexual harassment, workplace inequality, dominance and submission, and the exclusion of female celebrants by the religious patriarchy. Productions were staged in several Manhattan venues, among them the Theater for the New City, Joseph Jefferson Company, and, at Westbeth, the Westbeth Cabaret and Gallery Theater. Titles include "Rape-In" (May 1971), "Up! An Uppity Revue" (February 1972), "Wicked Women Revue" (January 1973), "? ! A Revue" (May 1973), "We Can Feed Everybody Here" (January 1974), "What Time of Night It Is" (May 1974), "Medea" (January 1975), and "Jumpin' Salty" (April 1975). As publicity for "Jumpin' Salty" — which showcased the lives of notable women in American history such as birth control advocate Margaret Sanger and the largely female victims of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire — the WPFC organized a march through Greenwich Village, with stops to hear speakers at sites connected to the women and events.
The WPFC staged a production of the Gertrude Stein-Virgil Thomson opera based on the life of Susan B. Anthony, "The Mother of Us All" (April–May 1976). They also sponsored readings by poets, Judy Grahn and Honor Moore, and hosted screenings of the work of women filmmakers.