Women Making Theatre in New York City

Show business is a risky business, as every performer, manager, director, and playwright knows. Women have had to be especially creative and flexible to succeed, quick to take advantage of the profound political, legal, and technological changes that transformed their lives—and American theatre—in the 19th and 20th centuries.​​

This installation features posters, photographs, costumes, and ephemera, and is divided into two parts. 

The first, Show Business, presents five case studies of women actors, designers, librettists, and managers whose long and successful careers largely took place before women had even won the right to vote. From there, Mise-en-scène jumps to the 1960s and the rise of New York's downtown theatre scene, examining the overlapping networks, new organizations, intimate partnerships, and creative collaborations formed by women, many of which are still active today. 

Credit: Overview from museum website