Check out these organizations and initiatives who, like Works by Women, work towards gender parity in theatre.


50/50 in 20/20

Working proactively for parity for professional women theater artists!

Our objective is to achieve parity for professional women theater artists by 2020. Even today, women playwrights, directors, and designers receive fewer than 20% of the professional production opportunities nationwide. 

Visit 50/50 on Facebook!
Age and Gender Equity in the Arts

Age and Gender Equity in the Arts is a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit organization created to empower and promote the visibility of women across the life span in the performing arts, effecting a paradigm shift in the culture.

AGE in the Arts will award and recognize professional theatre entities in Portland that promote and demonstrate age and gender equity.
ATHENA PROJECT

Athena Project is a professional group of artists dedicated to supporting and expanding women's artistic contributions to the Denver stage and the wider community. Athena Project envisions a world in which women's voices are powerfully expressed and fully integrated into the creative life of every community. Athena Project's mission is to empower women and strengthen the Denver community through developing and showcasing women's and girls' artistic contributions, while inviting new audiences into the creative process.
 BUY WOMEN

​BuyWomen is on a mission to bring more female writers' and directors' work to  the world. By creating a database of work written or directed by women, we'll  give voices to more female creatives and we'll all benefit from a more diverse cinematic experience in film. Invest in women by buying their work and everyone wins. The more lucrative female projects are, the bigger the budgets become and the more female projects that get produced.
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DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS WOMEN'S VOICES FUND

The Women's Voices Fund enables our Theatre Company to commission, workshop and produce new plays by women and is now a national model for female-centric theatre fundraising, as well as one of the largest at $800,000 and counting.
FILM FATALES

The group was founded in 2013 in New York City and has since expanded to include over two dozen local chapters around the world. Members meet in small groups hosted inside the homes different filmmakers each month, to share a meal, update each other on their projects, and engage in a moderated discussion about relevant topics in film.

In an industry where less than 5% of the top grossing Hollywood films and less than 15% of independent features are directed by women, Film Fatales provides a space for female filmmakers to support each other, share resources, and help get their films made. In addition to the monthly meetings, Film Fatales supports a number of other collaborative programs including: writing groups, master classes, panel discussions, film festival programming, educational workshops, theatrical field trips, and numerous other special events.
Guerrilla Girls

We’re feminist masked avengers in the tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and Batman. How do we expose sexism, racism and corruption in politics, art, film and pop culture? With facts, humor and outrageous visuals. We reveal the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, and the downright unfair. 
International Centre for Women Playwrights

The International Centre for Women Playwrights is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting women playwrights around the world.           
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S ARTIST SALON

The International Women Artists' Salon is a cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural organization of women making art in the world today. Our aim is to bring art by women to the fore of the art world and local communities through exhibitions and events, exchanges, regular salon style gatherings, and an online forum for members and interested parties.

Our shared vision is to create a community of individuals and organizations with the resources and passion to gain critical visibility in the art world for women artists of all backgrounds and stages of career. Every member helps achieve our goal of building connections among artists, arts organizations, and the public. With your participation, there are unlimited possibilities!
History Matters/Back to the Future

History Matters/Back to the Future promotes the study and production of women’s plays of the past in colleges and universities and theatres throughout the country and encourages responses to those plays from contemporary women playwrights.
THE KILROYS

The Kilroys are a gang of playwrights and producers in LA who are done talking about gender parity and are ready to act. We are mobilizing others in our field and leveraging our own power to support one another. 

Founded in 2013, The Kilroys are named after the iconic graffiti "Kilroy Was Here" that was first left by WWII soldiers in unexpected places, a playfully subversive way of making their presence known. 
League of Professional Theatre Women

An advocacy organization with a mission to reinforce the positive image of, promote the visibility of, and increase opportunities for women in the arts and entertainment industries, more particularly professional theatre, with a goal to enrich and infuse our culture.  Also serves as a support system for women in theatre, in which they serve as resources for each other by mutual sharing of experiences, insights and work.
The Lilly Awards

The Lilly Awards were started in the Spring of 2010 as a way to honor the work of women in the American Theater. The founders of The Lilly Awards, or The Lillys as we affectionately refer to them, are Julia Jordan, Marsha Norman and Theresa Rebeck. The awards are named for Lillian Hellman, a pioneering American playwright who famously said “You need to write like the devil and act like one when necessary.” The awards continue in the tradition of her spirit and annually honor the work of women in the American Theater.
Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative

The Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative is an LA-based movement working to ensure that women playwrights are fairly represented on local stages, and beyond…We encourage the involvement of theatermakers and theatergoers who support our goals. We also aim to connect female playwrights living in Los Angeles to other women theater artists, organizations, and the theater community here in LA.
The Magdalena Project

An advocacy organization with a mission to reinforce the positive image of, promote the visibility of, and increase opportunities for women in the arts and entertainment industries, more particularly professional theatre, with a goal to enrich and infuse our culture.  Also serves as a support system for women in theatre, in which they serve as resources for each other by mutual sharing of experiences, insights and work.
The Make It Fair Project

#makeitfair is a call for gender equality in the stories we tell, the wages we earn, and the future we shape.  The goal is vast and so, as artists, we decided to do what we do best: create.  Our first video involves a cast and crew of more than 70 women, underscoring the wealth of female talent that often goes untapped.  As we move forward, we will continue to raise awareness, ask tough questions, celebrate female talent, connect female artists to opportunities, laugh, create, and broaden the scope of the stories being told. We encourage you to use the hashtag #makeitfair to ask questions and spark conversations within your own networks. Please feel free to contact us with any ideas you might have for moving forward towards these goals. 
THE MARBURY PROJECT | THE CLYDE FITCH REPORT

Covering women in the arts and curated by the CFR’s Laura Axelrod, this column goes beyond proving bias against women. Instead, it delves into solutions, generating investigations, information and advocacy for artists and arts administrators who are women, male-to-female transgender and non-binary gender of all races and class backgrounds. It also provides a place for these artists and arts administrators to speak out about their experiences in the arts, along with their roles within it. It may also be used for multi-media presentations, marrying journalism with creative expression.
Necessary Exposure:  The Female Playwright Project

This is what a playwright looks like. I want you see them. When you seek plays to program, scripts to buy, curriculum to teach I want you to remember.

Necessary Exposure: The Female Playwright Project is a portrait and sound installation which seeks to bring visibilty to playwrights who identify as female. Through portraits and podcasts we bring awareness to what remains to be widely seen and heard.

Photography and concept by Jody Christopherson.  
Sound plays recorded and designed by Natalie Johnsonius Neubert
NEW YORK WOMEN'S AGENDA

NEW YORK WOMEN'S AGENDA (NYWA) is a powerful coalition of diverse women’s organizations which was founded in 1992 by the late NYC icon Elinor Guggenheimer. NYWA’s purpose is to bring together women’s organizations under one umbrella, to speak in one voice, to raise awareness in political, economic and cultural circles, and to improve the lives of women and their families.
On Her Shoulders

Total plays by women produced in commercial and regional theatres in the U.S. have remained below 20% for most of the 20th Century and now into the 21st. Yet many of these plays have been the most successful of their time, earning greater awards and box office income than their male counterparts.

The goal of ON HER SHOULDERS is to remedy this situation. By presenting staged readings of plays from across the spectrum of time and place, with contemporary dramaturges adapting them for modern audiences, we are making it impossible to deny or ignore the great tradition and value of women's contribution to the theatrical canon.
SANDI KLEIN'S CONVERSATIONS WITH CREATIVE WOMEN

Conversations with Creative Women captures the fire and energy, humor, heart, soul and impact of the female creative experience. It’s been a long time coming, but women FINALLY comprise a large and important part of the creative landscape. They are powerful forces in theater, film, television - as performers, writers, directors - as musicians, composers, painters, sculptors, curators, fashion designers, as chef and restaurant owners, as businesswomen, scientists, educators, investors and on, and on, and on.
Shakespeare's Sister Company

Formed in 2008, the Shakespeare's Sister Companyis a New York City headquartered organization.  We have stepped out into our community-at-large as a nonprofit dedicated to empowering children through theater education and young adults in professional development workshops in disadvantaged communities.
The Statera Foundation

Statera Foundation, deriving its name from the Latin word for balance, endeavors to serve women in the theatre by expanding employment options, improving salary, and removing barriers to growth and achievement through mentorship, internship, research, outreach, networking, and support to empower them to reach their full potential by bridging the gap between passion, preparation, and opportunity.
WOMEN IN THEATRE PROGRAM

The Women and Theatre Program is a self-incorporated division of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). Founded in 1974, our mission is to bring theater professionals together with academics and activists.  In the years since our inception, WTP has sponsored panels and activities at ATHE’s annual conference. 
WE EXIST

Are you a playwright? A company or director searching for a new work? Check out We Exist. We support this initiative, and encourage dramatists to include their names and share with others. 
Women Arts: Create. Connect.  Change the world

WomenArts works to empower an international community of women artists and allies by sharing news about inspiring arts projects and opportunities, and by facilitating the annual world-wide Support Women Artists Now (SWAN) celebrations in March and April.
WOMEN IN THE ARTS & MEDIA COALITION

The Women in the Arts & Media Coalition brings together unions, guilds, and organizations to address issues of concern to women in the arts, media, and new media. We are committed to being the link between our member organizations as we collaborate to impact the various topics that affect women in our industry through advocacy, networking, and events.
WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP PROJECT

American Conservatory Theater’s (A.C.T.) leadership has partnered with the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) to initiate a research study into the gender equity of leadership opportunities in the nonprofit American theater field.
Women Stage the World

Women Stage the World is a new initiative from the Advocacy Committee of the League of Professional Theater Women(LPTW)targeting ticket-buyers and theatre decision-makers, to support and create awareness of gender equity for theatre women.
If you know a theatrical Women's advocacy group that should be here, please let us know!  We are still learning, and are open to suggestions!

Check out this great list of NYC Women's and Social Justice Organizations!