There are days when I think the National Endowment for the Arts should issue a quota system for the production of plays by women - especially when you realize women buy 70 percent of all theater tickets.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the underrepresentation of women in theater despite their significant audience presence.
Marsha Norman's statement points out a disparity in the theater industry, emphasizing that while women make up a large portion of the ticket-buying audience, their contributions as playwrights and creators are not reflected in the production of plays. This raises questions about gender equality and the necessity of encouraging female voices in the arts.
In practice
During a panel discussion on gender equality in the arts, using this quote can emphasize the need for increased representation.
If someone wants to say 'I love you' in a straight play, they say it, and then it's the other person's turn to talk. But in a song, you can sing about it for another three minutes. The musical form has that unique opportunity to express at length what joy really feels like.
I need scarcely observe that a poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul. The value of the poem is in the ratio of this elevating excitement.
You could make the most beautiful film, and that weekend it's raining too hard on the East Coast, and no one goes out. Artists should have a chance to do it again. That's the challenge: Women artists don't get a second chance. People-of-color artists don't get a second chance. You're put in director's jail, and that's a wrap.
The art of drawing which is of more real importance to the human race than that of writing...should be taught to every child just as writing is.
To be a writer you have to be out in the world, you have to risk yourself in the world, you have to be immersed in the world, you have to go out looking for it. This becomes harder as you get older because there's less energy, the days are shorter for older people and it's not so easy to go out and immerse oneself in the world outside.
Style is wearing an evening dress to McDonald's, wearing heels to play football. It is personality, confidence and seduction.
The artist uses his reason to discover an answering reason in everything he sees.
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