This ‘Othello’ Is Powered by Women

NEW YORK — If it were not for four women, Iago would be standing on a dark, empty stage at the Delacorte Theater this summer, swatting away mosquitoes, with his voice drowned out by distant honks and dog howls.

Instead, thanks to the handiwork of lighting designer Jane Cox, scenic designer Rachel Hauck, costume designer Toni-Leslie James and sound designer Jessica Paz, Iago — the devilish mastermind who drives the plot of Shakespeare’s “Othello” — is clad in leather and strikingly illuminated as he struts through stone archways and growls his soliloquies.

There’s a touch of poetic justice in the fact that a play about a man who refuses to believe his wife has so many female technicians commanding authority. In the 57 years that Shakespeare in the Park has played at the Delacorte, “Othello” is the first production with four core design roles filled by women — a fact its director, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, didn’t notice until someone brought it to his attention.

“The primary reason I wanted to work with them was their excellence,” Santiago-Hudson said of the team, adding that his female associate director, Awoye Timpo, is equally deserving of praise. “I was selfishly trying to protect what I wanted to be a beautiful production.”

That such a significant moment could come so naturally is a sign that things are finally changing for theater crews.

While the push to promote plays by and about women and people of color has been steady for years, the drive for gender parity on crews has only recently begun to gain traction. Explanations for the shift vary, with some citing the #MeToo movement and others pointing to studies like the Woman Count by for the League of Professional Theater Women, which found that, from 2010 to 2017, women accounted for 29 percent of set designers, 14 percent of lighting designers and 18 percent of sound designers for off-Broadway productions.

“I do feel like the conversation is changing,” Cox said at a recent round-table discussion with her three colleagues. “For the vast majority of my career, you didn’t talk about your identity as a woman or as a person of color.”

Paz echoed this idea, recalling her first Broadway show in 2009. “Every single person on my crew was a 40-year-old man,” she said. “Even in that moment, it still didn’t occur to me that I was a woman in this very male-driven industry. I just went in and did my job.”

Even with increased awareness, men still dominate. Of the 34 plays and musicals currently running on Broadway, not one employs a female sound designer, while only five have female set designers and nine have female lighting designers. Parity is better among costume designers, with 17 Broadway shows employing women, including James whose work for “Come From Away” was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. As she put it, costume design has long been looked upon as “something that the producer’s sister, granddaughter, you know, anyone can do,” which is to say, “women’s work.”

The gender imbalance is not for a lack of interest or skill among women. According to the Department of Education, nearly half of all undergraduates pursuing bachelors degrees in theater design and technology nationwide are women, as are 62 percent of master’s degree candidates. Among the theater design tracks at the City University of New York, for example, female undergraduates outnumber their male counterparts.

During the round-table talk, the designers debated the sources of gender disparity in professional theaters, agreeing that it was partially an unfortunate result of what propels hiring in theater: connections.

“The teams are put together by the directors,” James said. If a male director finds a team of male designers, and they prove to be compatible, capable leaders, that director won’t be eager to take a chance on someone new, especially when money — and reputation — is on the line.

“Directors have long relationships with collaborators,” Hauck said. “They’re deep and they’re rich, and it’s not for nothing that they go back to their team.”

“There’s a trust there,” James said — especially for an outdoor production like “Othello,” which has to withstand rainfall and airplanes overhead. “I trust that Jane is going to do fantastic light. I trust that Jessica is going to do the sound. I trust that Rachel is going to give me a rough-ass floor.”

“Did you see those boys fight in the rain last night?” Hauck said over the women’s laughter. “They did not slip.”

James continued: “There’s a language there so you can do your job, and you don’t have to worry about checking on them every five minutes.”

Still, from her own experience, Cox said she sensed there was actual bias against women at play, not just a pattern of using buddies.

A few years ago, she said, multiple openings were available for lighting designers on Broadway, and producers were looking beyond their usual cohort to fill the roles. She hoped that this would mark the next step in her career.

“My male peers, who were five, 10 years younger than me, who had half the experience I did in regional not-for-profit theater and half the positive relationships, were being asked to do cold interviews for big shows,” she said, “and I never once was asked to do a cold interview.”

The moment prompted her to think that perhaps gender discrimination was the cause. “I was like, ‘Wait a minute. What’s happening here?'” she said. “I know what kind of track record I have both in the theater and in the community.”

James has heard similar stories and, to be proactive, recently begun contacting directors directly to express an interest in collaborating with them. But even the act of cold-calling comes with a barrier. “You don’t want to come off as being a pushy woman,” she said.

In the theater-tech industry, mentorship is critical. And these women are very aware of how to use their successes to make way for new people in their fields.

“Theater design is one of the few professional apprenticeships still out there,” Hauck said, “so who you bring with you as your associate, as your assistant, as your intern — those are all people that you’re getting into the room.”

She added: “If those opportunities aren’t going to women and people of color, then they aren’t ready to take the next step.”