Press Releases

Mar 23, 2015

DRAMATIC LICENSE PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCES NEW MISSION, NEW STAFF & NEW FOCUS ON PLAYS & MUSICALS BY, FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN

DRAMATIC LICENSE PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCES NEW MISSION, NEW STAFF & NEW FOCUS ON PLAYS & MUSICALS BY, FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN
Non-Profit Theatre Adds Summer Play Reading Series

ST. LOUIS, Mo (Feb. 1, 2015) – Dramatic License Productions’ sixth season of professional theatre and musical performances opens in April with a new focus, new staff and a new mission: theatre and musical presentations by, for and about women. Also revamping its board of directors, the non-profit theatre seeks St. Louis men and women dedicated to supporting gender-specific live theatre and musical experiences. Interested parties can email DramaticLicenseProductions@gmail.com for more information.

The new foray focusing on the feminine gender comes after extensive (informal) research by DLP staff, which found:
• There is currently no St. Louis theatre company producing plays or musicals exclusively by, for and about women.
• The majority of DLP audiences are women (68%) following national theatre audience trends.
• More than half of the artistic directors managing St. Louis amateur and professional theatres are men.
• The number of St. Louis professional and amateur actresses attending auditions at local theatre companies is historically exponentially larger than the number of men attending the same auditions, yet the number of roles available for women is most often exponentially lower.
• Of 10 St. Louis small professional theatre companies sampled, 2013-14 casts were 63% male and 37% female.
National statistics continue to show a bias toward male actors and playwrights although:
o   Women buy 70% of theater tickets sold
o   Women make up 60%-70% of its audience (see here and here)
o   On Broadway, shows written by women (who statistically write more female roles than men) actually draw higher numbers at the box office than plays by men
(*Huffington Post Arts & Culture, 2015)

DLP will continue to present high-quality productions and its annual cabaret series at the 85-seat black box, Dramatic License Theatre in Chesterfield Mall. The company will perform classic and contemporary works by female playwrights (although productions by male playwrights will also be staged) and stories focusing on strong female characters or themes that resonate with women.
New staff joins founder and co-artistic director Kim Furlow including co-artistic director and AEA member, Pamela Reckamp, Managing Director Sara Eaton Hughes and Box Office Manager Sarah Lynn Holt. DLP’s house manager and volunteer coordinator is Pat Smith.
DLP’s sixth season kicks off April 24-May 10 with the light-hearted classic comedy, THE ODD COUPLE (Female Version) by Neil Simon. 

Directed by veteran comedic actor/director, Alan Knoll, THE ODD COUPLE (female version) follows the unlikely duo of Olive Madison, a divorcee and admitted slob and Florence Unger, her recently separated fuss-budget friend, as they unwittingly become roommates causing chaos of the most hilarious order. Upstairs neighbors and boy-toys “the Costazuela Brothers” and several girlfriends join in the antics as the two roomies Olive and Florence either become the best of friends or kill each other.

June 12-14 brings a summer Cabaret Series performance featuring classic and contemporary song and dance from Broadway and beyond performed by local musical theatre professionals and musicians.
DLP will launch a new play-reading series Aug. 7-9 with the staged readings of six plays by, for and about women. Scripts will be selected by a play reading committee. During performance weekend, audiences can select by ballot their choices for a future fully staged production. Tickets are $30 for all six plays or $7 per performance. Reading times will be announced at a later date.

Oct. 30-Nov. 15 Dramatic License presents the St. Louis premiere of Abundance by Beth Henley and directed by Washington University Theatre’s Annamaria Pileggi. The story of two mail-order brides in 1860’s Wyoming who find themselves matched with two men who are more (or is it less?) than what they seem. Themes of love, hope and resilience will keep audiences spellbound in this period piece by one of America’s most prolific female playwrights.   

Rounding out DLP’s sixth season is an annual audience favorite, the Holiday Musical Revue, Dec. 11-13. The festive tribute to the holiday season features local professional vocalists and musicians in a 75-minute song and dance revue of traditional and non-traditional seasonal favorites sprinkled with a few surprises. 

Dramatic License performs on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. with a special $18 Preview Performance the first Thursday of each theatre production (only.) Individual and group tickets ($18-$25) are available online at www.DramaticLicenseProductions.org or at the door with a reservation, 636.821.1746.

Dramatic License Productions is an award winning, 501c3 nonprofit presenting professional theatre, and musical performances by, for and about women at the 85-seat Dramatic License Theatre at Chesterfield Mall. DLP is proud to receive support from the Regional Arts Commission, Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation, Actor’s Equity Association and Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts, as well as generous individuals. For more information, visit www.DramaticLicenseProductions.org or call 636.821.1746.