THE ART OF EQUALITY

SkirtsAfire focuses on creative efforts of women

Several years back, the Playwrights Guild of Canada’s Equity in Theatre umbrella organization released survey results that were probably already well known by many in performance arts, but, nonetheless, were pretty dismal reading from a gender-imbalance standpoint.

Despite more women attending theatre performance than men, and despite the fact that women make up more than half of all theatre school student enrolments, the number of women who have become “creative leaders” is astonishingly low when compared to men.

In fact, the survey found that, “As artistic directors, directors and playwrights, women in Canada’s professional theatre industry have not yet surpassed the 35 per cent employment marker.”

Edmonton’s Skirts A fire Her Arts Festival was already in existence when the survey results were released, but it reaffirmed to festival organizer Annette Loiselle that the annual multidisciplinary arts celebration was here for the right reasons.

“It’s kind of staggering,” Loiselle says of the survey results.

“There’s no blame, it’s just the way it’s been for so many years. They are the kinds of statistics we are trying to change.”

With an all-women’s theatre company already in existence in Edmonton, Loiselle and some friends, over wine and popcorn, discussed how they could turn their idea into reality five years ago.

“Edmonton is crazy for festivals,” Loiselle says.

“The big goal for us was this wasn’t just about presenting an artist’s work, it’s about giving them an audience for the artist’s work because there is a lot of great work being done by independent companies in Edmonton. But it’s tough to get an audience for those indie productions.

“So being multidisciplinary in many ways opened up an audience in of itself because each of those disciplines brings its own community of audience with it.”

The key now for festival organizers is not to grow too big and too fast, but also to listen to the many performers and artists. “Slow growth is good,” she says. “Sometimes I want it to grow faster and quicker but we don’t have the capacity to grow any faster. We have to be patient.”

THE MOMMY MONOLOGUES

While this year’s festival runs from Thursday to March 12, this year’s mainstage production, The Mommy Monologues, started a week earlier for a 10-day run.

Directed by Glenda Stirling and starring Coralie Cairns, Mary Hulbert and Chantelle Han, the production was a monumental undertaking starting way back in June 2015.

“As opposed to an open call, I chose playwrights that I know in Edmonton and have done very well,” Loiselle says. “I put together 10 playwrights to write a play about motherhood but I encouraged them to think outside the box.”

Written by Beth Graham, Andrea House, Katherine Koller, Annette Loiselle, Conni Massing, Nicole Moeller, Mieko Ouchi, Dana Rayment, Glenda Stirling, Michele Vance Hehir and Cat Walsh, the production also features dramaturge by Tracy Carroll, production design by Tessa Stamp and sound design by Paul Morgan Donald.

Loiselle said what the writers came back with was fascinating but “it was not what I envisioned when I thought (of the show)."

“But it’s very much about motherhood, which I love,” she says.

“It’s 10 very different stories about motherhood and presenting us with some hard questions around identity: what is it that defines motherhood? When you do become a mother and (seek an) identity beyond motherhood.

“The writers have delved very deep and I think the audience will be surprised, they’ll feel motherhood in a new way.”

The show runs for two hours including intermission.

“We’ve done so many readings of it that it’s just going to be nice to see it staged,” Loiselle says with a laugh.