In the Nashville Improv Company we are lucky enough to have a large amount of talented women. 6 out of our 16 members are ladies, but that runs counter to the trend in most improv circles. Most groups, in Nashville and elsewhere, feature
maybe two women in a cast of eight or so. Women are pretty strongly represented in the Music, Theatre and Dance worlds, so it's not that they're not interested in performing. In a world where women are just as capable improvisers as men are, why are there so few female improvisers?
I find that, moreso than men, women are forced into subordinate roles in scenes incredibly often. Not only that, but if they try to resist they find themselves berated by their male counterparts. Heck, sometimes they accept the offer and still get berated for their troubles. Quite a few professional improvisers (including
Susan Messing and
Nikki Pierce) believe that it's not that huge of a hurdle. They basically claim that all the ladies dealing with these issues should suck it up and
improv harder.
It's kind of easy for people with as much experience and training as Susan Messing to suggest that most female improvisers are only limiting themselves. Strong and specific initiations don't come easily and quickly for every performer. Being labeled as a weak, worthless character over and over again when you are just learning how to improvise
is a huge hurdle to have to leap over. When improv loses its spontaneity and fun, why would you even want to continue? If you get crushed on every rep before you have a chance to learn, I don't blame you for wanting to quit.
I'd want to quit.
Improv-ladies, do you feel like comedy and improvisation are biased against you? How have you dealt with misogyny in scenes? Was overcoming the issues just a function of stronger, more specific initiations or was it finding a group of non-jerks? Was it a combination of both? Let me know your experiences, cause I super feel like I don't know what I'm talking about.
