Providence, RI - Brown Theatre this week announced Kira Hawkridge, founding Artistic Director for Providence-based OUT LOUD Theatre, as the guest director for , to be produced next spring as part of the Brown Theatre 2015-16 performance season. With the addition of Hawkridge, the season now boasts an all-women roster of directors.
Hawkridge, who holds a BFA from University of Rhode Island, recently directed the highly praised feminist play, Fefu & Her Friends with an all-women artistic team. Hawkridge’s theatre career includes directing plays such as Rhinoceros and Jane Eyre. Broadway World Rhode Island Critics’ Picks awarded Hawkridge “Best Director” for her 2014 sold-out run of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses.
“It’s such an exciting opportunity to be a part of Brown Theatre,” Hawkridge said. “Brown’s Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies is making important strides in closing the gender gap by increasing the visibility of women and promoting opportunities for women in all aspects of the professional theater. It is incredibly rare to find a roster of directors composed entirely of women and I look forward to seeing the vision of these female voices come to life onstage.”
Dr. Patricia Ybarra is Chair of the Brown University Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies (TAPS) and President of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). Dr. Ybarra commented:
As the Chair of TAPS, I am very proud to support so many talented women directors. I hope to provide a model of inclusion and equity for women directors which, sadly, is often lacking in the professional theatre. As the conditions are often more challenging for women of color, I am especially happy to present the work of Kym Moore and Nikteha Salazar ‘16, who are both directing this season. I am also delighted that we are able to present two plays by women playwrights: The Red Paint by Brown undergraduate Nikteha Salazar ’16, and Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play by Anne Washburn.
In an article by Theatre Communications Group, a 2014 study performed by the League of Professional Theatre Women showed that women made up only 30 percent of playwrights and 30 percent of directors.
Last month, Brown Theatre finished its performance of Anton Chekhov’s classic, The Seagull, directed by Laura Rikard. The season continues in early November with The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry by award-winning playwright and Assistant Professor Marcus Gardley, directed by Associate Professor Kym Moore (November 5-8 & 12-15, Stuart Theatre). The season continues with The Red Paint (December 3-6, Leeds Theatre), written and directed by Nikteha Salazar ’16. In the spring, Hawkridge directs Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (March 3-6 & 10-13, Stuart Theatre). This is followed by Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play (April 7-10, 13-14, 17-18, Leeds Theatre), written by Anne Washburn and directed by Connie Crawford. The season also includes the upcoming Fall Dance Concert (November 19-22, Ashamu Dance Studio) and closes with the annual Festival of Dance (May 5-8, Stuart Theatre), both produced by Julie Adams Strandberg.
Brown Theatre’s 2015-16 performance season is produced by the Brown University Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies and by Sock & Buskin, the student-staff-faculty board that selects and runs the mainstage theatre season at Brown University. For more information visit brown.edu/theatre. To book tickets, call (401) 863-2838, or visit the Box Office in the Leeds Theatre Lobby (83 Waterman St, Providence), Tuesday - Friday from 12pm - 4pm during semester, or email boxoffice@brown.edu. To book online, visit: brown.edu/tickets.
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