What Marsha Norman said

So I just wanted to put this out there for people to read and think about and hopefully discuss. I know this is from last month but I still think it should be up here, as it's an incredibly important topic right now for all artists, not only women and not only writers.

This statement particularly hits me hard:

"A theatre that is missing the work of women is missing half the story, half the canon, half the life of our time. That is the situation we have now." -Norman, TCG

To put it simply, I agree with her. To me, it's all about breaking out of the funk we're in when it comes to women's writing and expectations. To paraphrase what she said, people expect that women's plays are going to be soft. Well, the fact that some people really feel that way is unfortunately true and really, really sad. And what if some plays are soft? And some men's plays are hard? And vice versa!

As a female playwright I've only recently pulled myself out of this state of writing women with male voices. It's a realization I came to pretty quickly one day while talking to a very intelligent friend and dramaturge. I have a few ideas as to why I started out writing this way, but to put it simply, I think it's partially environmental. I grew up exposed to few strong female role models. I used to dress up as Indiana Jones, never as Snow White or Cinderella. I guess it's really to each her own, but the point I'm trying to make is that I think for women like me, it starts with finding your feminine voice. Be it tough, clever, fun, sensual and (god forbid!) soft, gentle and maternal, it doesn't matter. It could vary from character to character, play to play, and that's okay. What does matter is finding it, trusting it and going with it. Don't get intimidated and think everyone needs to talk like a Mamet character in order to be producible.

Not that there's anything wrong with Mamet, he's pretty amazing. But I'm not him. And you probably aren't either.

What do you think?