VIDEO: FUN HOME's Jeanine Tesori Recalls Speaking Up About A Sexist Comment Directed To Her

From light entertainments like THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE and SHREK, to inventive musical dramas like CAROLINE, OR CHANGE and VIOLET, and her current hit, the groundbreaking Fun Home, Jeanine Tesori is unquestionably the most versatile and successful Broadway composer thus far in the 21st Century.

But there was a time, early in her career, when she hesitated to call a man out on his sexist remark to her for fear of being blackballed.

She told the story at a master class she conducted on February 20th, as part of the 6th Annual Athena Film Festival at Barnard College, a weekend of feature films, documentaries and shorts that highlight women's leadership in real life and the fictional world.

"I asked what we were going to be paid as a pianist," she explains. I was so young... He said, 'Oh, like what a New York prostitute makes, $50 an hour.' That's how long ago it was that it was fifty an hour and I remember thinking, 'Fifty an hour! That's a lot of money!'... and I thought, 'Well, wait a minute... So you're telling me it's like hooking?... You don't even know what you said.'"

"I stayed up all night and in the morning I called him. I said, 'You know, I've stayed up all night because I'm so afraid to end my career right here, but I can't be spoken to like that. I won't be spoken to like that. And I am really afraid that you will blackball me, but so be it.'"

"And he, to his great credit, said, 'You know, I've been talking pig for so long that I didn't even know what I said until you put it back on me. It will never happen again. And if I ever slip, you call me on it.'"

"It was a defining moment for me," she says, and helped her to not hesitant to respond when a very famous composer inappropriately touched her.

The entire master class can be enjoyed in this video, with the two above stories beginning at 20:30.

Visit athenafilmfestival.com

Based on Alison Bechdel's best-selling graphic memoir of the same name, Fun Home, the 2015 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, features music by Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, and direction by Sam Gold, all of whom won 2015 Tony Awards for their work on this production. Fun Home began previews March 27, 2015 and opened to rave reviews at the Circle in the Square Theatre (235 West 50th Street) on Sunday, April 19, 2015.

Featuring a cast led by 2015 Tony Award-winner Michael Cerveris, as well as 2015 Tony Award nominees Judy Kuhn, Beth Malone and Emily Skeggs, Fun Home also features Roberta Colindrez, Zell Steele Morrow, Joel Perez,Oscar Williams, Lauren Patten, Gabriella Pizzolo, Marrick Smith, Jim Stanek, and Nicole Van Giesen. Fun Home introduces us to Alison at three different ages, revealing memories of her uniquely dysfunctional family- her mother, brothers and volatile, brilliant, enigmatic father- that connect with her in surprising new ways. This intimate and emotional theatrical experience is performed entirely in the round, bringing audiences closer to Alison's story than ever before. Hailed as "the best musical of the season" by both The New York Times and New York Magazine, Fun Home "demonstrates how much our world has changed and reflects just how far we've come" (The Wall Street Journal). Fun Home is a refreshingly honest, wholly original musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes. Fun Home was also nominated for 2015 Tony Awards for Best Scenic Design of Musical (David Zinn), Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Ben Stanton) and Best Orchestrations (John Clancy). The creative team also includes Danny Mefford (Choreography), Kai Harada (Sound Design), and Chris Fenwick (Music Direction).