About
the Book:
A groundbreaking collection of
monologues based on the advocacy work of The Kilroys, a
theater collective formed to encourage more stage productions of work
by women.
The Kilroys List, Volume
One contains
97
monologues for both male and female actors, all from a list of plays
based on The Kilroys'
national survey of hundreds
of professional artistic directors, literary managers, professors,
producers, directors, and dramaturgs. Members of The
Kilroys act as facilitators
throughout the process but do not recommend plays for "The
List", which
serves as a resource for producers and theatres
committed to gender parity.
Not your typical book of
monologues, this collection embodies the mission of The
Kilroys, an advocacy group
founded in Los Angeles in 2013 by women theatre producers and
playwrights, dedicated to taking action in the face of gender
disparity in American Theatre. The Kilroys'
motto is "We Make Trouble and Plays"
In 2014, The Kilroys released
their first annual List survey in response to systemic gender bias in
theatre programming. The vetted collection of industry-recommended
works was designed to bring worthy plays by women, trans, and
non-binary playwrights to the forefront of the American theater
conversation.
The collection The
Kilroys List,
Volume One: 97
Monologues and Scenes by Female and Trans Playwrights includes
monologues and scenes from ALL plays selected for The List in 2014
and 2015:
• The book features a foreword by Paula Vogel,
winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play How I
Learned to Drive
•
The
List 2014-2015, from which the monologues are taken, includes such
award-winning, talented, and recognizable contemporary female
playwrights as Lynn Nottage,
Mona Mansour, Hansol
Jung, and Clare
Barron
• An essential reference guide for women's theatrical
organizations, feminist reading groups, theatrical studies, and
contemporary theatre students and organizations
What people say:
"And
at last there are The Kilroys.
A group of kick-ass theatre artists who declare there is no excuse,
in the twenty-first century, for producers and artistic directors to
insist they cannot find women or women of color in the field. The
incredible Kilroys List
makes visible proof that there are infinite playworlds of which our
current pipelines can only dream. The Kilroys
have amassed writers aplenty to fill hundreds of pipelines."
— Paula Vogel,
from her Foreword
"The
superheroines of the theater are back--and better and bolder than
ever." — Backstage
"These
plays have been developed and vetted for artistic excellence; they
just happen to possess the added bonus of representing a voice that's
currently being underproduced. It's part of a larger movement to say:
There's an embarrassment of riches here."
— Sheila
Callaghan
for
The Kilroys
"The Kilroys are
not only taking action to flip the script for women in theater and
achieve parity – or better – on America's storied stages, but
also celebrating the voices of women who just need a venue to be
heard." — Ms. Magazine
About the Author:
The Kilroys are a collective
of playwrights and producers in Los Angeles who advocate for the
visibility of women playwrights in theatre. Founded in 2013, The
Kilroys are named after the iconic graffiti tag "Kilroy Was
Here" that was first left by WWII soldiers in unexpected places,
a playfully subversive way of making their presence known. The
members include Zakiyyah Alexander, Bekah Brunstetter,
Sheila Callaghan, Carla Ching, Annah Feinberg,
Sarah Gubbins, Laura Jacqmin, Joy Meads, Kelly
Miller, Meg Miroshnik, Daria Polatin, Tanya
Saracho, and Marisa Wegrzyn.