Artistic Director's Note

I am delighted to be a part of the Woman's Will family. Woman's Will is a unique company that brings women artist together to produce exciting and high quality theater.  In the past, a small band of women were the essence of the company. Today we are growing.  Actors, directors, musicians, designers, technicians and writers are now the power behind Woman's Will. While it is important to continue the tradition of producing all-female Shakespeare productions, we will  now include in our mission the development of new plays by women. I recently read an article entitled "Rethinking gender bias in theater" by Patricia Cohen. For me it was a call to arms.  Woman's Will second play of the season will be a new or classic play written by a woman. This year it was Sarah Ruhl's 'The Clean House'. Next year we are considering Caridad Svitch's 'The Alchemy of Desire: Dead Man's Blues'.

Another change is that Playfest which currently consists of 7 plays written, directed and acted by women in 24 hours  will evolve into Playfest 2.0.  a playwriting competition open to women writers. The writers will be given two months to write a short play on a specific topic.  We hope to discover short, well constructed, thought provoking plays. The winning plays will be rehearsed and produced at our annual fundraiser in late March 2009.

It is an exciting time and it is my hope that those of you who have been loyal fans of the company will continue with us on our new journey. To those new to Woman's Will a hearty welcome!