Mom and Charlotte

Written by Tony Adams Tuesday, 26 January 2010 11:21

There are many reasons for the fest and our work on gender equality in theater. Data and stats abound showing the need. But for me there's a deeper reason, as I've said before. The thought of doing some small part to link my mom's dream and my daughters potential. Jenn showed me the new pics on our computer she moved over from the camera last night and I saw this picture of Mom and Charley from Christmas.

Mom told us on Friday that the tumors in her lungs are growing again, there's new lesions and it has spread to her brain. With each new round of bad news it gets harder to hope. I still have hope, but in the back of my mind that hope is colliding with the knowledge that when my Granny battled cancer, that was the point of no return, when it spread to her brain. Medicine has come a long way since Granny passed, and Mom is in the running for some new trials that have a lot of promise. Hope is an incredible thing, but some days it's pretty fucking hard to have.

I haven't been writing as much lately, partly due to schedule, mostly due to not being up to it. When I read someone like Thomas Garvey and his blatant misogyny, gleefully bashing women, I have to get over my initial reaction and desire - to hop a flight to Boston and knock his teeth in. Acting out doesn't help. Anger doesn't create change. It can be a driving force if channeled correctly, but unchecked it does more harm than good. It does more harm than doing nothing would. So I waited until my head was more clear before writing more.

But if you're reading Thom, I ask again: Can you (or anyone) show me any facts outside of the flaws in Sands' undergraduate senior thesis that disproves the existence of gender bias in the American (or Canadian or English) Theatre? Any actual facts and data that disproves gender bias? Anyone? I would love to see them.

If not, can we move past acting like it doesn't exist the second people start getting paid, and just work on fixing it?

As for whether it exists at the storefront level, that discussion has started, and I just got access to a ton of data that will be a good starting point at sussing out whether it is as omnipresent at smaller theatres that exist on donated time.

I should probably put a plug in here somewhere, but it's pretty hard to put the producer cap on today.

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