The general concensus of authors is that more males act than females so they write mostly male rolls..... well

Question

in our cast, we have about 3 male actors that are dedicated.. thats it. the rest of the entire drama club is females.. i think, in teh actualy drama club, we have 5 experienced male actors and *does math in head*...13 experienced female actresses. and as far as newbies we have 2 newbie guys and about 8 newbie girls.... and after you get through the spring sports... our available cast is 2 experienced actors and 2 inexperienced and then 10 experienced girls and 7 new girls... and its nearly impossible to find a play that includes all of us interested... especally when the stats are 4 males and 17 females... we finally found one that we can do, but some of the new girls are getting bumped off (and a few experienced ones) because it calls for 4 guys and 9 girls.

Why can't playwrights do plays for female orriented casts? i know its possible! i could do it if i had the time!

Answer 1

You're not alone. Most amateur drama groups have more female actors than males.

Renaissance writers like Shakespeare and Marlowe did in fact write more male roles than female roles, because men had to play all of the roles and few of them could play women convincingly.

But I disagree that modern playwrights write primarily for men. Off the top of my head, Proof and Closer (two recent popular plays) both feature female characters. Often these plays are roughly balanced between men and women, especially when there are large casts.

Unfortunately, you're not looking for balance. You're looking for female-heavy plays.

If you're picking a modern text, just search for one with the right number of roles. Dramatists (http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/search.asp) lets you search by number of male and female roles.

If you're doing a Renaissance text, adapt the plays to have female characters. Just because Shakespeare could have Mercutio or Horatio as a woman doesn't mean you can't do it. A little editing of the pronouns lets you put on a really powerful play.

Or you can even turn Shakespeare's tables on him. Right now I'm putting on Much Ado About Nothing with an all-female cast, with the women playing men's roles. So the male actors in my troupe are sitting this one out! You can do the same with a modern play like Waiting for Godot as well.

One final suggestion: take a look at Lysistrata, an ancient Greek play. It calls almost exclusively for women with a few men.

Answer 2

use a website like mti (Musical Theatre International www.mtishows.com) they have a "show locator" that helps you go through cast size and roles it is quite helpful