Overview:
Angela Allyn, the Community Arts Program Coordinator within Evanston's Parks and Recreation department, created the The Old Lady Project because "I was tired of older women being underrepresented in Chicago-area theater."
Angela Allyn, the Community Arts Program coordinator within Evanston’s Parks and Recreation Department, created the The Old Lady Project because “I was tired of older women being underrepresented in Chicago-area theater.”
Instead of bemoaning the situation, she figured out one way to fix it.
Allyn is part of a trend. We are in a renaissance period of creativity and self-expression from older women.
Three examples: Netflix’s Grace and Frankie deals with older women navigating life socially and sexually after their marriages end; the podcast Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus features Louis-Dreyfus, 63, interviewing iconic older women like Carol Burnett; and the podcast Sisters In Law showcases attorneys Jill Wine Banks, 80, Joyce Vance, 63, Barb McQuade, 63, and Kimberly Atkins Stohr, 48, discussing and analyzing legal, political and cultural issues.
Research shows roles for older women are scarce
During this interview, Allyn referenced the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Its report, Women Over 50: The Right to be Seen on Screen, reviewed popular television and movies between 2010 and 2020 and determined “just 1 in 4 characters who are 50+ are women” and “50+ women who are on-screen are commonly cast in supporting and minor roles and are less likely to be developed as characters in interesting ways.”
Now in its second year, The Old Lady Project is an opportunity for playwrights and screenwriters to develop dramatic and musical works for female identifying characters over the age of 55. “Priority will be given to scripts and screenplays with multiple roles for Old Ladies and for new work with no production history in its current form,” reads the submission guidelines.
This year the program received 170 submissions, down from last year’s more than 600 submissions, but the overall quality was better, Allyn said.
“Last year, there was no reading fee, so a lot of playwrights were not as intentional with their submissions. This year, we added a $5 reading fee which helps support the program,” she said.
The process
Allyn explained how it works. Writers upload their scripts to FilmFreeway, an online submission platform, during a roughly six-week submission period. A national panel of directors and producers reads the submissions and selects the plays. The result is a staged reading by professional actors at the Piven Theatre, located within the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St. in Evanston.
Monday, April 15, at 7 p.m. is showtime on the Piven Theatre stage. This is a one-time only event. Joan Mazzonelli, a well-known director and theater executive, directs both plays. She also directed the four plays selected and read last year.
“I’m so grateful Angela started this program,” Mazzonelli said. “I love reading works that are unfamiliar to me and these two plays are terrific. We only have time for two rehearsals so there isn’t any time for developmental work. Both plays have well developed characters, realistic dialogue and good roles for the women … and for the men, too. And they are really funny.”
Mazzonelli wrote in an email, “While the authors aren’t present at rehearsal, we do take notes about character and language and the flow of the play and email back and forth with the authors. Angela also arranges for a livestream of the performance so the authors can tune in.”
Two comedies
The first play, Intrepid 3000, by Sharon Goldner, is a story about two widows in their 70s, one of whom purchases “a state-of-the-art vibrator to achieve a bucket list goal.”
The second play, The Bare Truth, is by Howard Brown. It is about a retired couple living in south Florida. Their adult children are hounding them with “check-ins” when all the couple wants is some alone time. Friends advise the couple to lie to the kids and tell them they’ve become nudists. Pandemonium ensues.
Both plays reference sex. Some may be uncomfortable. Tickets are $10 and available to purchase online. The Old Lady Project is supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council and the City of Evanston. The next submission process will be in the fall.
Bravo for your courage to platform and empower older womens in the Evanston community. We have come a long way in our a struggle that’s for sure. However, next time be more sensitive and inclusive. Your piece was quite glaring in its lack of representation of BIPOC and non-binary persons of color from backgrounds different than yours. As a cis woman it is your obligation to foster inclusivity for women who happen to not look or necessarily think like you.