Capital Stage Awarded Grant for Women In Theatre Project

Capital Stage Company has just been awarded a two-year, $50,000 grant from the prestigious James Irvine Foundation to support a program that will focus on the development and celebration of new dramatic work by and about women. The Foundation's Creative Connections Fund supports creativity and the expansion of diverse, relevant cultural offerings in local communities across California and primarily outside San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The Fund targets small and midsize arts organizations and offers project grants of up to $50,000, over a maximum of 24 months, through an open, competitive review process.

"The support from the Irvine Foundation will play a key role in our efforts to address the need for creating greater opportunities for the participation of women in our industry," said Capital Stage Company's Producing Artistic Director, Stephanie Gularte, "Stories by and about women continue to be widely underrepresented on American stages. We are thrilled that the Irvine Foundation has deemed this issue a vital one and is making it possible for Captial Stage to allocate significant resources to address it."

The Women In Theatre (WIT) Project will be a two-year program dedicated to promoting the work of women in theatre. The project will consist of three central components:
Create New Plays by Northern California Women Playwrights Through a Workshop Process: This element of Women In Theatre will include the development of two new plays through a workshop process with Capital Stage comprised of a two-week rehearsal process with the playwright in residence working with Capital Stage's artistic director, and with a professional director and professional actors, developing the new script. The conclusion will include four live performances in Sacramento. Audiences will be invited to take part in post-show discussions with the playwright, cast and director with a view to improving the script and exploring its potential for future production.

Sacramento author Jayne Williams has been selected as one of the writers to be included with her popular book SLOW FAT TRIATHLETE being workshopped and developed into a one-woman show.
Fully Produce Two Premieres by Women Playwrights featuring strong female roles:
The second component of Women In Theatre will consist of two fully produced premieres of dramatic work by and about women, which will be part of Capital Stage's 2010-2011 season. The season will consist of one regional premiere and one world premiere production in each penned by a woman playwright, featuring strong female roles.

Organize the Women In Theatre Annual Northern California Symposium:
This organized gathering of professional women in theatre will be the first of its kind in our region. Diverse women working in all aspects of theatre throughout Northern California will be invited to participate, both as guest speakers and as active attendees. The goal of the symposium will be to promote a dialogue among women theatre artists about the current and future role of women in theatre. Participants will have the opportunity to network with one another and to develop viable goals for supporting and developing the work of women in theatre.

This grant marks the second award to Capital Stage from the Irvine Foundation. In 2007, the company received a $40,000 grant to develop the Playwrights' Revolution, a program dedicated to the development of new work for the theatre. "The program has been very successful and resulted in our company's first world premiere production, ERRATICA, AN ACADEMIC FARCE, last summer," said Gularte. While the funding period for this project has ended, the Playwrights' Revolution will continue. "The number of new play submissions that we receive each year continues to grow, and we look forward to continuing to discover and help develop new work through this program. In fact, the Women In Theatre project will be a natural extension of the Playwrights' Revolution," said Gularte.

About Capital Stage Company
Founded in July 2005, Capital Stage Company's mission is to be a dynamic leader in the evolution of the contemporary live theatre landscape in the Capital region and to passionately engage audiences in the art of live storytelling with bold, innovative plays performed by professional artists, in an intimate, up close setting. With a strong commitment to exploring new works and expanding the base of working artists in the greater Sacramento region, we shall develop a company of actors, directors, writers, designers, and technical staff who are dedicated to bringing bold, lively productions of contemporary and classic plays to our community.

To post a comment, you must register and login.