Press

The Three Sisters Theatre Company combats the male-dominated theatre industry with its February production of the Daniel MacIvor play Marion Bridge at The Gladstone theatre.

Since 2009, the company has made it a mission to produce plays rich with female talent. Instead of pitting female actresses against each other all vying for the same scarce roles, Three Sisters has allowed Ottawa-area actresses to work together in a creative environment.

With the mantra, “making sure Ottawa theatre can pass the Bechdel test,” Three Sisters strives to produce female-focused theatre, full of dynamic and realistic female characters.

The Bechdel test, which was created in 1985 by American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, has become a popular method of determining the complexity and impact of female characters in a production. According to the Bechdel test website, in order to pass the test the production must contain two or more female characters who talk with one another about something other than a man.

With a cast and crew consisting predominantly of women, Three Sisters Theatre Company is making sure Marion Bridge does not fall into that category.

The play Marion Bridge is a story about three disconnected sisters who return home to Cape Breton to be with their dying mother. It follows the relationship between the women as they reconnect and unearth old questions and resentments on their way to finding sisterhood again.

Robin Guy, the artistic director of Three Sisters and one of the leads in Marion Bridge, says that in the process of picking productions for the theatre season, the role of the man tends to outweigh the role of the woman.

“When the plays are getting picked by guys, the guys pick plays that have really great guy parts in them. Unfortunately in most of the plays that have really awesome guy parts, the girls are not good roles.”

For more than 20 years, Guy has been part of the Ottawa theatre scene and says she has experienced the difficulty women tend to face when trying to pursue theatre careers.

“The other problem with plays locally is that there aren’t very many women in the plays – even  if you get the part, you may be the only girl in the green room.”

Due to the largely female cast and crew, with just one male lighting designer among the group, Guy says Marion Bridge has given her a chance to work alongside women she’s longed to collaborate with.

Bronwyn Steinberg, director of Marion Bridge, is the daughter of a high school theatre teacher and she says she’s been involved since her childhood.

“I really admire the team; it’s a whole bunch of strong talented women getting together,” says Steinberg.

Marion Bridge is set to run Feb. 11 to Feb. 21 at The Gladstone. 

*******************

From the Ottawa Citizen:

Three Sisters Theatre: Company bridging the gender gap on stage

The cast of Marion Bridge: Cindy Beaton, Shawna Pasini and Robin Guy.
The cast of Marion Bridge: Cindy Beaton, Shawna Pasini and Robin Guy.Jennifer Scrivens / Resonate Photography 

When Daniel MacIvor’s Marion Bridge opens Feb. 11 at The Gladstone, producer/actor Robin Guy is hoping the production will not only be well-received but also help address the gender imbalance that many say afflicts professional theatre in Ottawa and elsewhere.

MacIvor’s comedic drama, turned into an award-winning Canadian film in 2002, is about three grown sisters who after years apart gather in the kitchen of their childhood Cape Breton home to confront a family crisis.

With its all-female cast (Guy, Shawna Pasini and Cindy Beaton), director (Bronwyn Steinberg), and stage manager (Hilary Nichol) the production fulfills the mandate of Three Sisters Theatre: to produce shows with strong female roles and in which women collaborate. The company was launched by Guy in 2009 with a production of Birth but has since been on hiatus.

Guy says the company is now forging ahead because female roles, let alone meaty ones, are too rare in local productions. “I think the problem in Ottawa is that most of the production companies are run by guys so they’re picking shows they want to be in. That’s my impression.”

As examples — and Guy stresses that she’s accusing no one of misogyny — she points to testosterone-heavy productions like last season’s Glengarry Glen Ross and Ethan Claymore, both at The Gladstone.

With so many independent theatre companies coming and going in Ottawa, it’s hard to know if Guy is right about why females aren’t getting enough work here. One thing for sure, though: gender inequality is a big problem in Canadian theatre generally.

For instance, a 2006 study by the Playwrights Guild of Canada and others found that in Canadian theatre women accounted for an average of just 31 per cent of artistic directors, show directors and produced playwrights.

Men also got 57 per cent of the acting jobs while women predominated in administrative and other mostly behind-the-scenes roles.

More bad news: women’s representation in key creative roles like acting is still below 35 per cent and appears to be regressing among playwrights according to a 2014 press release announcing the formation of Equity in Theatre, an organization led in part by the guild.

This, despite the fact that women far outnumber men in professional theatre training programs and account for 59 per cent of theatre audiences in Canada.

The situation in the United States appears little better according to recent studies there.

“Theatre is stuck in old production models,” says the guild’s Rebecca Burton. She was lead researcher for the 2006 study.

She cites multiple reasons for the systemic inequality, from lack of money to encourage innovation to the fact that women continue to be the principal care givers for children and aging parents – tricky when it comes to long hours in rehearsal followed by nightly performances.

The Great Canadian Theatre Company’s artistic director Eric Coates says resolving gender inequity in the theatre has always been one of his primary goals.

In the three seasons he’s programmed since joining GCTC in 2012, and including the still-unannounced 2015-16 season, Coates has been running close to 50/50 on the total number of male and female playwrights, directors and actors.

In fact, GCTC has seen a gradual shift to gender equity, at least among playwrights and directors, since the mid-2000s.

“That’s when the Playwrights Guild really started to bring the issue forward and asking the professional theatres to do something,” says Coates.

In his own case, play selection is “always about the art first,” he says. “But I make sure that every play I look at is through the lens of gender equity. If I do a show with a cast of two men, I make sure the next one has more women. Sometimes the balance is struck over the course of a season.”

He also mentions that while recent numbers show a slide in female playwrights being produced, the fact that Shakespeare and Canadian playwright Norm Foster alone account for many productions each year needs to be factored in – although “that’s not an excuse.”

NAC English Theatre artistic director Jillian Keiley says in an email that her director and playwright choices are based on excellence. The current season, for example, has more male playwrights and directors whereas next season females predominate in both camps. I don’t have a quota system or anything like it,” she writes.

Plosive Productions’ co-founder David Whiteley says the company’s goal is gender equality. However, that can sometimes be difficult to square with the need to attract audiences with a repertoire that includes classic pieces like Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac where men are in the spotlight (Guy describes her role as Roxane in the 2012 Plosive production of Cyrano as “standing around mooning over some guy. Stab me now!”).

Steinberg, who in addition to gigs like directing Marion Bridge, runs the independent theatre series TACTICS, says that one reason gender inequality continues is that in a town like Ottawa there simply isn’t enough theatre work to go around. It’s hard to break old patterns of behaviour when opportunities overall are limited.

If you’re a woman, she says, “you need to be willing to produce (your own shows) and take on the financial risk. You’re going to have to be an entrepreneur.”

MARION BRIDGE

When: Feb. 11-21

Where: The Gladstone

Tickets: 613- 233-4523, thegladstone.ca

****************************

For Immediate Release – February 6, 2015

Three Sisters opens the first of three MacIvor plays in Ottawa

Ottawa: Three Sisters opens the first of three MacIvor plays in Ottawa with Marion Bridge, February 11-21 2015

 MacIvor fans can start a three-show binge with Three Sisters’ Marion Bridge, opening Wednesday at The Gladstone. With Marion Bridge in February, The Best Brothers at GCTC in March, and Too Much Sugar Productions’ In on It at the Ottawa Fringe, MacIvor lovers can satisfy their need for quirky humour, well developed characters and the distinct writing style that has garnered multiple awards for renowned Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor.

The first of these plays, Marion Bridge, is the launch of Three Sisters Theatre Company’s Ottawa presence. Portrayed by local actors and real-life best friends Robin Guy, Shawna Pasini, and Cindy Beaton, and directed by Bronwyn Steinberg, the MacKeigan sisters find themselves together in their childhood kitchen for the first time in years, holding darkly comic vigil through the passing of their mother. An assertively comedic drama about making the best out of life, Marion Bridge follows the three sisters as they laugh, cry, fight, and ultimately forge forward.

Not only is there a great play to see, but The Gladstone’s lobby is housing an art show featuring the work of local artists Laura Duncan and Graham Mastersmith, and Halifax artist Marilyn Lohnes. “The play is so distinctly set in Nova Scotia that a maritime-themed art show seemed an obvious pairing for the event,” says Robin Guy, Producing Artistic Director for Three Sisters Theatre Company.

Three Sisters Theatre Company’s mandate is to produce shows that not only have strong female roles, but offer opportunities for the considerable female talent in the Ottawa theatre community to collaborate with one another.

Marion Bridge opens at The Gladstone Theatre, 910 Gladstone Avenue, on February 11 and runs evenings at 7:30 (Sunday & Monday nights dark) and 2:30 on Saturdays & Sundays, until February 21.

Tickets are available from The Gladstone box office at www.thegladstone.ca or 613.233.4523.

 For preview, review or interview requests or general media inquiries, please contact Robin Guy   
(
E)info@threesisterstheatre.ca
Hi-res images are available on request

*******************

For Immediate Release – January 29, 2015

Opening February 11 at The Gladstone: Marion Bridge by Daniel MacIvor

 

Ottawa: Three Sisters Theatre Company presents Marion Bridge by Daniel MacIvor, February 11-21 2015

 Three Sisters Theatre Company is launching its Ottawa presence with a play about – what else? – three sisters. The MacKeigan sisters, to be precise, the family central to Daniel MacIvor’s luminous, poignant, and entertaining play Marion Bridge.

Portrayed by local actors and real-life best friends Robin Guy, Shawna Pasini, and Cindy Beaton, and directed by Bronwyn Steinberg, the MacKeigan sisters find themselves together in their childhood kitchen for the first time in years, holding darkly comic vigil through the passing of their mother. An assertively comedic drama about making the best out of life, Marion Bridge follows the three sisters as they laugh, cry, fight, and ultimately forge forward.

Three Sisters Theatre Company’s mandate is to produce shows that not only have strong female roles, but offer opportunities for the considerable female talent in the Ottawa theatre community to collaborate with one another: the perfect formula for passing the Bechdel Test. What is now known as the Bechdel test was introduced in a comic strip by Alison Bechdel. To pass the test, the story must meet three requirements: 1. there must be least two women in it; 2. who talk to each other; 3. about something other than a man.

Marion Bridge opens at The Gladstone Theatre, 910 Gladstone Avenue, on February 11 and runs evenings at 7:30 (Sunday & Monday nights dark) and 2:30 on Saturdays & Sundays, until February 21.

Tickets are available from The Gladstone box office at www.thegladstone.ca or 613.233.4523.

 ***********************

For Immediate Release – January 9, 2015

New Professional Theatre Company helps Ottawa pass the Bechdel Test

Three Sisters Theatre Company

Artistic Director, Robin Guy

www.threesisterstheatre.ca

Ottawa: There’s a new theatre company in town, and it’s helping Ottawa’s professional theatre scene to pass the Bechdel test. Three Sisters mandate is to produce shows that not only have strong female roles, but offer opportunities for the considerable female talent in the Ottawa theatre community to collaborate with one another: the perfect formula for passing the Bechdel Test.

What is now known as the Bechdel test was introduced in a comic strip by Alison Bechdel. To pass the test, the story must meet three requirements: 1. there must be least two women in it; 2. who talk to each other; 3. about something other than a man. Three Sisters, the brainchild of local actor Robin Guy, sprang from the observation that the male performers in town were working considerably more often, and had higher quality roles, than their female counterparts.

“All the brilliant women actors in this town, and last year for example we saw Glengarry Glenross, Ethan Claymore, and an all-male cast of Taming of the Shrew. All fabulous plays, with very strong, all-male or nearly all-male casts,” says Guy. “Even when there are female roles, there tend to be one or maybe two in the play, and they aren’t good, meaty, parts like the male parts but tend to be objectified or shallow. I realized that the reason for this is because the production companies are mostly led by the guys, so of course they pick shows that have good male parts. So if the women want to work, and to have parts that are more interesting than the sweet little ingénue or the love interest of the male lead, then we’re going to have to produce those shows.”

Three Sisters’ first production is Marion Bridge by award-winning Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor. Tickets are now on sale at The Gladstone Theatre for the production opening February 11 and running until February 21, 2015.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Three Sisters Theatre Company