This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
Productions at the upcoming 2024 SheATL Theater Festival straddle a unique line. They’re workshop versions of plays and musicals — a step above staged readings but not quite finished products yet, said Kayla Ibarra, one of the company’s co-producers.
“This is often the first, or one of the first, opportunities that our playwrights have to see their work fully embodied,” Ibarra added. “They may have had developmental readings, but this is a workshop production to see it come to life.”
Taking place Sept. 4-9 at 7 Stages Theatre, the Festival, an offspring of SheNYC Arts, is dedicated to uplifting the stories of women, transgender and nonbinary writers. Atlanta was announced as a new location in 2018, but the first Festival was a virtual one in 2020, with a full in-person run a year later at Windmill Arts. Last year, Theatrical Outfit hosted the event.
Credit: Photo courtesy of SheATL
Credit: Photo courtesy of SheATL
“We have hopefully found ourselves in a home here at 7 Stages because we have traveled around a little bit through the city over the years,” said Ibarra.
Along with Ibarra, Abrianna Belvedere is a co-producer of the 2024 SheATL Theater Festival. Ibarra worked at the Los Angeles equivalent before moving to Atlanta four years ago. This is their first year as co-producers, and Ibarra feels the city has dug out its own distinction.
“New York and L.A. might have seemed more obvious choices because we think of those as hubs for the arts, but I think Atlanta is growing, and we have always had amazing artists here,” said Ibarra. “I am glad they are finally getting the attention we deserve. We have community-based artists who are here to serve and engage their community and get out there and tell stories about their community. I think that is unique to here. That is why I love this festival the most.”
Four works comprise the 2024 lineup. “Plan B,” by Emily McClain, opens the festival and is a romantic comedy with a political backdrop. Also in the lineup is Anterior Leverett’s “Yanni Stone & the Honeypot Trap” as well as plays by Gretchen Suárez-Peña and Dalyla Nicole.
Credit: Photo courtesy of SheATL
Credit: Photo courtesy of SheATL
In telling the story of 28-year-old virgin Lena, the playwright wanted to focus on Black joy and the main character’s self acceptance. “Through a trip back to Waynesboro, Georgia, Lena comes into her own and discovers who she is,” said Leverett.
In 2015, at the age of 23, Danielle DeMatteo decided to form SheNYC Arts. Everywhere she had been looking, she saw the same thing — a sea of theater productions dominated by White men — and she decided to do something about it.
DeMatteo had been working as a pianist in the NYC theater circuit and took a job at a Broadway producing company. Lamenting the old boys club mentality that existed, especially in the Broadway community, she got together with a bunch of other young women who were also working in the industry.
“We wanted to do something to try and fix [the situation] that, in a way, was not just a typical theater company but something that pointedly figured out what the problems were here and actively tried to repair those,” said DeMatteo. “We decided to do a festival because we found there was a real lack of opportunities for women, especially to have their work produced in full in front of an audience. There were enough opportunities to do staged readings or a concert version of a musical but not producing it in full. That is how we landed on a festival model, taking open script submissions from anyone without needing fees or agents.”
Los Angeles followed a few years after New York, then Atlanta, with Dallas-Fort Worth new this year. Atlanta was added because of the sheer volume of script submissions from the South, according to DeMatteo. For the 2024 event, 130 submissions came in.
Success with grants and some local funders in each city have kept the companies going. New York’s is a much bigger festival, with eight shows over two weeks, and ticket sales help subsidize other cities as well, DeMatteo said.
Over the decade, representation for women has gotten better — but not by much. “We’ve gone from having one show on Broadway written by women to having three or four every season, and that matters beyond Broadway,” said DeMatteo. “Once a show is on Broadway, it gets licensed out at all the regional theaters across the country. It is important for women to get to that.”
Until there is a shift, DeMatteo wants to fill a gap in the industry. It’s important that SheNYC Arts and the other cities are doing this kind of work.
“I think our biggest inspiration is individual women who have made it to a high point of success,” she DeMatteo said. “We [have been] tracking their career path and seeing how they got lucky — and seeing how we can help other women get lucky.”
THEATER PREVIEW
SheATL Theater Festival
Through Sept. 9 at 7 Stages Theatre. $5-$25; two-show pass, $40. 1105 Euclid Ave. NE, Atlanta. shenycarts.org/she-atl/
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Jim Farmer is the recipient of the 2022 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Theatre Feature and a nominee for Online Journalist of the Year. A member of five national critics’ organizations, he covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has written about the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival, and lives in Avondale Estates with his husband, Craig, and dog, Douglas.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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