Brainstorming
In case you missed yesterday's SW email (or you have opted out of it)... November 16, 2010 Yesterday, our friends at FEMINISTING blogged about the increasing controversy surrounding the 2010 Wasserstein Prize, created to support emerging women playwrights with a potentially career-changing $25,000 prize. The headline from Feministing says it all: "Emerging female playwrights told that none are deserving of Wasserstein Award"
Later in the day yesterday, in response to the growing firestorm over the decision, the administrator of the prize announced "that the selection process would be refined and done over in hopes of finding a winner," according to the New York Times Arts Beat Blog. Well, ok. So now it's all resolved? Um, no! This is not over just because the Wasserstein Prize is suddenly trying to do PR damage-control. Because when a prize named after Wendy Wasserstein says it couldn't find ONE SINGLE YOUNG FEMALE PLAYWRIGHT in the entire United States of America good enough for their $25,000 check, it is not because there wasn't one. It is because THEY DIDN'T LOOK HARD ENOUGH. Please, Wasserstein Prize, in the name of Wendy Wasserstein, don't blame all the young female playwrights. Take some responsibility and figure out a way to run your process so it works.
So now what? SIGN THE PETITION PROTESTING THIS B.S. The petition begun in protest of the decision is still live, and KAMY WICOFF just made herself feel a teeny bit better by signing it, because REVERSING the decision does not mean we don't get to protest the fact it was made in the first place. Oh no oh great anonymous Wasserstein Prize judges, you do not get off that easy. The founders of the petition asked for 5000 signatures. Right now they have 1,133. Can we get 'em 5000? I think so. And MANY MANY MORE.
So go sign it now, and alert every woman you know who might want to sign her name to the petition, too. It's a moment to take a little action, ladies, and in this email-Facebook-Twitter-world you can do it NOW. Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. -- Wendy Wasserstein Yours in the writerly sisterhood, She Writes For the love of writing, don't keep She Writes.com all to yourself!
Invite a friend to join today.
TEXT FROM THE LETTER PROTESTING THE DECISION OF THE PRIZE COMMITTEE: Dear TDF and 2010 Wasserstein Prize Committee, Please reconsider your decision regarding the 2010 Wasserstein Prize and select a recipient, or recipients, to receive the award. Your claim that "none of the plays were truly outstanding in their current incarnation" sends a discouraging message to early career theatre artists at a time when these artists need more support than ever. The prize is not to support a production of the play, but the promise of the writer. We must nurture the next generation of women playwrights. In these times, when theatres are closing and cutting back on new play development, and when still only 20% of plays produced by American theatres annually are written by women, recognition by the Wasserstein Prize has the power to change the life of the recipient.
As members of the American theatre community, we ask you to reconsider your decision and do something remarkable for a young woman playwright.
I think I understand your points Kamy. I was not aware that women were cut out of Broadway and other major productions.... but no surprise, I guess. And their message was highly condensing and insulting. Still, I have to wonder about the quality of the submissions. True, a small literary magazine doesn't have the draw this contest has, or the advertising budget, but as to this contest having an increased obligation, I'm not sure I agree. They might have extended the deadline, sure, but in the end, what more responsibility does the contest holder have? I think one of their biggest problems was the insulting message they sent out announcing there was no winner. Very unprofessional, at the very least.
Lastly, because I'm not a playwright I didn't follow the contest and don't know who the judges were, but one always wonders about the qualifications of judges to run any literary venture, let alone a contest. And with the way they've handled this contest, one wonders how many submissions they'll get next time. I sure wouldn't waste my time!
That makes sense S.J., and I have been in that boat when I was editing a small literary magazine. I do think, however, that if you have $25K in prize money to give away, making your prize one of the most important in the country to young women playwrights, you have an increased obligation to find a worthy winner. The message sent by saying, "no woman playwright in the US was good enough for this" does not reinforce the prize's commitment to quality, instead it understands it's whole mission of helping women playwrights, who are cut out of Broadway productions and other major productions at a truly alarming rate.
I'm sorry to hear this, but having run a contest for short fiction where we actually did not receive any stories that deserved to win, I am wondering if in fact it is NOT the process that's at fault, but the entries. Not sure anyway how a "process" could be at fault.