League of Professional Theatre Women to Present THE LEGACY PROJECT, 5/14

On Monday May 14, 2012, the League of Professional Theatre Women presents The Legacy Project, a celebration of Pioneering Women Producers, at the Martin E. Segal Theatre, The Graduate Center at the City University of New York (365 Fifth Avenue). Scheduled for the day after Mother's Day, this event will be an all-day tribute to the foremothers of the American stage.

The Legacy Project considers the legacy of 20th century producers -- many also actresses, playwrights and directors -- who envisioned and created alternatives to the commercial theatre, laying the foundation for what we know as the Off Broadway, non-profit and regional theatre. Where are they in our histories? Curated by Susan Jonas, co-founder of 50/50 in 2020, and produced by Ludovica Villar-Hauser of the League of Professional Theatre Women.

"The League of Professional Theatre Women is integral because they advocate for women in theatre-- in alliance with the mission of 50/50 in 2020, a grassroots movement to achieve parity by the hundredth anniversary of suffrage. LPTW and 50/50 in 2020 seek to restore the legacy of women to the canon and to our history," proudly states Jonas, a board member of LPT and co-founder of 50/50 in 2020. "This year, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the League of Professional Theatre Women, we are curating three events considering the contribution of women producers and theatre artists. (The other two will honor the women who helped forge Off and Off Off Broadway, from Edna St. Vincent Millay to Judith Malina, from Georgia Douglas Johnson to Ellen Stewart.) Women have been creating for the theatre for eleven centuries. It's about time we stop treating them like new comers."

The program will offer a day of symposia on titanic figures such as Eva Le Gallienne, who created The Civic Repertory Theatre; Margo Jones, who pioneered theatre-in-the-round and was a harbinger of the regional theatre movement; Susan Glaspell, who, with her husband, raised the Little Theatre Movement to new heights with The Provincetown Players; Lucille Lortel, leader in the Off' Broadway movement, who premiered Ionesco, Genet, O'Casey and Fugard; Cheryl Crawford, whose producing credits ranged from The Group Theatre to Brigadoon; Margaret Webster, who joined with Le Gallienne and Crawford to form American Repertory, and Hallie Flanagan, head of the Federal Theatre Project which reached 25 million people in 40 of 48 states-- a quarter of the nation's population at the time.

Speakers will include historians Susan Quinn ("Furious Improvisation") and Wendy Smith ("The Group Theatre"), biographers Helen Sheehy ("Eva Le Gallienne: A Biography", "Margo: The Life and Theatre of Margo Jones") and Alexis Greene ("Lucille Lortel: Queen of Off Broadway""), and scholars J. Ellen Gainor ("Susan Glaspell in Context", and "The Complete Plays of Susan Glaspell") and Wendy Ann Vierow ("American Stage Directors of the Twentieth Century").

Lest we forget, today's theatre artists-women and men-stand on the shoulders of giants.

The Legacy Project is on Monday, May 14th 2012
The schedule for the program is as follows:
2:30PM
Documentary: SWEET TORNADO: Margo Jones and The American Theater
Q&A to follow screening with:
Judith Ivey and Richard Thomas

4:30PM
Panel followed by a Q&A
Moderator: Susan Jonas
Wendy Smith on Cheryl Crawford
Helen Sheehy on Margo Jones
Alexis Greene on Lucille Lortel

6:30PM
Panel followed by a Q&A
Moderator: Susan Jonas
Helen Sheehy on Eva La Gallienne
Wendy Anne Vierow on Margaret Webster
J. Ellen Gainor on Susan Glaspell
Susan Quinn on Hallie Flanagan

8:00PM
Reception

Tickets are FREE
Website: www.theatrewomen.org.