Plays written by and for women flourish in Idlewild

Juliana Kiyan Senior Editor

Formed as a “safe haven” for female artists on campus, the new Idlewild Theatre Ensemble seeks to create more opportunities for women in theater.

Sophomores Jasmine Brown, Estefania Fadul and Belen Ferrer are the founding members of Idlewild. They formed Idlewild as a collaborative theater group—female students can audition and remain a member for as long as they are at Vassar. “It’s not like one person has the overall say,” said Brown. “We’ll all voice our opinions and express what we want to do for a particular performance or season together.”

Fadul said members would be able to try their hand at any theater discipline. “Everyone gets to try different aspects of theater. So if you’re normally an actor, you can specialize in something else for a season and learn from other members in the group,” said Fadul.

The name of the organization alludes to the book Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. In the book, Idlewild is an imaginary place where Anne and her friend Diana escape to dream and put on performances, far away from their familial obligations and the societal expectations of young women. Likewise, “[the group] is a safe place and a safe haven for females to create their own form of theater,” said Brown.

Student theater organizations such as Philaletheis and Unbound offered plays dominated by male roles last year, according to Brown. “It’s really hard for females to get roles here. There’s so much talent but nowhere for them to express that,” she said.

And the challenges facing female actresses are not limited to theater at Vassar. “In the theater world in general, there is always a lack of female roles because there are more females who are involved in it by nature,” said Fadul. “At the same time—and this totally reflects on the Vassar campus as well— there is a lot of male-dominated theater because of the playwrights, but also because a lot of the main roles are for men.”

The group was inspired by the Weekend of Women Writers, a workshop produced by Rachel Lee ’08 and Elizabeth London ’10 last spring. The workshop included two staged readings of works by feminist playwrights with all-female casts, and culminated in a panel discussion of gender in contemporary playwrighting.

Lee, who is the Executive Director of Philaletheis, organized the workshop after she realized how few plays written by women were produced on campus. “At a college with such a strong legacy of women’s education, particularly in theater, I was frustrated by the huge, gendered imbalance in acting opportunities,” said Lee.

Following the workshop, Brown saw the need for an all-female theater group and, together with Ferrer and Fadul, began organizing a group in April. They drafted a constitution and submitted it to the Vassar Student Association Council for recognition, and Idlewild was certified at the Sept. 23 meeting.

Brown, Fadul and Ferrer are looking for any female students with an interest in theater to join. This semester, they are soliciting submissions from student writers to stage readings of their works. To generate publicity among students, they are keeping the organization open to anyone who wants to participate in the readings. At the beginning of the spring semester, they plan to hold auditions for permanent members.

Once the organization has more members, they hope to produce plays that spotlight women’s voices. “Ideally, we’d like to produce works by female playwrights with all-female casts,” said Fadul, adding that they are also open to producing plays written by men featuring strong female roles, and plays that involve gender-bending.

Brown also hopes Idlewild to compel audiences to think about ongoing social and political issues. “We want to bring things like race, feminism and people being silenced to the table and have people leave [the plays] talking about or with us,” she said.

Lee said, “I think the creation of Idlewild is making an important statement: These three women are taking matters into their own hands rather than waiting around for others to propose the plays they want to do.”

Fadul said they have received positive feedback from other students regarding Idlewild and its mission on campus.

“I just think the history of Vassar calls for an all-female theater ensemble,” said Brown. “I mean, theater started out here as all-female.”