By Emi Gruender
For the vast majority of theatre’s history, women have been relegated to non-participatory roles, despite their countenances regularly being portrayed onstage. But as theatre has entered the modern era, women’s voices have finally found their place onstage, whether as a producer, playwright, or performer. For Women’s History Month, I hope to shed some light on the female voices that have shaped theatre into the art form that it is today.
Aphra Ben was an English playwright in the 17th century, and is largely considered one of the first female playwrights to make a living with her work. The Forc’d Marriage was her first work, and was widely criticized by male scholars at the time for being “scandalous.” In return, however, Ben insisted that if she were a man, her work would not have been considered lewd.
Lucille Ball was a vaudeville performer in the early 20th century, starring in the widely beloved show I Love Lucy. Widely regarded as one of the funniest performers to grace the stage and screen, she helped establish the public image of a more independent woman, in spite of American culture at the time. Her iconic faces—the “spider-face,” for one—are familiar to many, even if the name doesn’t ring a bell.
Lorraine Hansbury was an African-American playwright in the 1950s, her most notable work being A Raisin in the Sun. She made history by being the first Black American playwright to bring her work to the Broadway stage, often writing about the prejudice she and her community faced due to segregation. On top of being a marginalized community by both gender and race, she wrote about her being lesbian, and the oppression gay people faced in America too. At only 29, she won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award—the youngest playwright to be awarded such an honor.
These three women, however, constitute a microscopic part of a much more expansive history of strong theatrically-aligned women. Playwrights like Hrotsvitha, Elizabeth Cary, and Harriet Beecher Stowe paved the way for future female playwrights to follow in their footsteps. Groundbreaking performers from Ethel Merman to Bernadette Peters inspire young girls in the audience to express truthfully through theatre too, despite the very long history of theatre that excluded them. So when March rolls around every year, take a moment before settling into the plush armchairs of your local theater to appreciate the women whose contributions have made modern theatre possible.