Men dominated the acting scene during Shakespeare's time, playing male and female roles. The reverse is now true at Seattle Public Theater (SPT) at the Bathhouse, where female students are often cast as male characters.
Originally founded as a "socially conscious theater," SPT is a combination of professional productions and educational programming. It offers drama programs for both middle- and high school students, and its high school female students are calling for stronger female roles.
PUSHING GENDER BOUNDARIES
Miranda Sieg, 16, is one of the students who have pushed for the request. Although she enjoys playing a male character (or even a stinging insect), "I'd much rather play [the part of] a woman," she said.
Sieg will play a prominent female in literature: Elizabeth Bennet of Jane Austin's "Pride and Prejudice." She said that it is important for her to feel a connection to the character she's cast in: Bennet is a spirited heroine who defied society's definition of a woman's place.
"Guys get the best parts, and I want to be able to stretch myself, to test myself," said Sieg, who has also requested that the theater stage "Little Women."
Kathryn Van Buren, 15, is happy that she will play the part of Lydia Bennet in "Pride and Prejudice."
"The [female roles] need to be more modern, showing that [women] can fend for themselves," Van Buren said.
Sieg also noted that many plays contained sexist characters. She recently played the role of a male reporter in "The Front Page," where the reporters referred to females in the play as "whores" and "tarts."
Van Buren said that SPT does not have many male students; therefore, the female students have to fill the male roles. She also said that when there are female roles, they tend to be small.
Rose O'Kane, 17, said she did not have a preference as to which gender she was cast into, but she agreed that there were few female lead roles that students could choose from.
O'Kane added that however small the female roles were, she felt the "characters were pretty awesome." She suggested that wanting more stage time might be the motivation for the requests from students.
A 'MIND-OPENING' EXPERIENCE
There may be a shortage of female roles, but there is not a shortage of enthusiasm and loyalty for SPT from its female students.
"I have a personal relationship with [SPT]. We are a community in a sense, a family," Sieg said.
"I am really happy to have [SPT] because it is a lot more interesting and supportive than my regular friends," Van Buren said.
Van Buren said she used to be really shy, but that acting and SPT had helped her overcome her shyness. She noted that acting had enhanced her performance as a guitarist in her mostly female garage-band group, The Untitled Royals.
"I've been made aware of time periods and social times," O'Kane said of her experience with acting at SPT. "It has been mind-opening."
The female students said they were unsure if the male students at SPT had an opinion on the push for stronger female roles since there were so few males, but they felt, for the most part, that SPT was accommodating the female students' requests.
"It's good that we're expanding," Sieg said. She said that as the current senior class leaves the youth program, it would be up to the next class of actresses to continue the push.
Seattle Public Theater will stage "Pride and Prejudice" on May 4 at 7 p.m., May 5 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and May 6 at 2 p.m. at its theater, 7312 W. Green Lake Drive. N. Admission is free. More information can be found at www. seattlepublictheater.org.
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