great plays by women written in the, 60's and 70's

[Leadingplayer]

This is for a class: I need to compare women's voices on stage (American only not British) over the less 5 decades.....I'm having trouble finding stuff for the 60's and 70's. I'm going thru Tony nominations and there is not much to choose from. Help!

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

I really enjoyed Wendy Wasserstein's "Uncommon Women and Others" which was written in the 70s.

[After Eight]

Lorraine Hansberrry wrote The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window in the 60's, and her play Les Blancs was presented on Broadway in 1970. Jean Kerr wrote three plays during that period: Mary, Mary, Poor Richard, and Finishing Touches. Muriel Resnik had the hit Any Wednesay. Jay Allen had the hit The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and adapted another hit, Forty Carats. Lillian Hellman's My Mother, My Father and Me appeared in 1962. It was not hit. Other plays that were interesting but commercial failures were Katherine Morrill's A Distant Bell, chosen as a best play in John Chapman's yearbook, and Alice Cannon's Great Day in the Morning. I also liked Jane Trahey's 1972 comedy, Ring Round the Bathtub, but it too was not a success.

Hope this may be of help.

[henrikegerman]

Maria Irene Fornes was perhaps the most prolific woman writing for the stage in the 60s and 70s. In the commercial theater, these decades were rather dry for female playwrights, compared to earlier and later periods. In addition to After Eight's and Son o' Gun's llists, Hellman also had Toys in the Attic (1960), Patti Smith (and Sam Shpard) had Cowboy Mouth (1971) (not to imply that was commercial) and Enid Bagnold had A Matter of Gravity (1967).

[OtherDaryl2]

Pam Gems - PIAF
Ntozake Shange - For Colored Girls . . .
Marsha Norman - Getting Out
Elizabeth Swados - Runaways

[CurtainPullDowner]

Elaine May was writing plays in the 60's (and still does).
You can find her one-acts quite easily.

[round2]

Caryl Churchill - Cloud Nine

[Gothampc]

Many women of this time period were getting their work produced off-Broadway.

If you want to stretch into musicals, check out Gretchen Cryer (Jon Cryer's mom).

[jnb9872]

Caryl Churchill would be English.

I haven't gotten anyone else to add besides the ones mentioned, but Lily Tomlin had her first one-woman show on Broadway at the tail end of the '70s. Certainly a strong female voice, hers...