An Introduction to The Maggie Tree
Promoting Women in Theatre
Suite 101’s Edmonton theatre enthusiast and participant, Andrea Beça, recently interviewed actress, playwright, and dramaturge extraordinaire Kristi Hansen about The Maggie Tree, a theatre group in Alberta geared directly towards developing work by female artists.
Suite 101: When and why did The Maggie Tree come into being?
Kristi Hansen: I treasure all my friends and colleagues in the thriving Edmonton arts community. Among those artists is a group of amazing women whom I have had the pleasure to get to know over the past 7 years. Vanessa Sabourin and I wanted to celebrate the women in our community. Thus The Maggie tree was born.
The Maggie Tree is a developing network which encourages the growth of projects initiated and driven by women, for a sustaining interest and visibility towards women in the arts. Ultimately, we are seeking to support the development, collaboration and continuation of work initiated by women, as well as to create a support network for the ladies involved in this important work.
The Maggie Tree is a grassroots organization that came into fruition in December of 2007 at Edmonton hot spot, The ARTerty. After throwing an inaugural celebration, our first project was a theatre performance of Kit Brennan’s play, Hunger Striking, in January of 2008. Since then, we have collaborated with other female artists (i.e. Defiance Theatre in Edmonton, and Don’t Make Fun of Jesus out of New York City) in support of their fundraising endeavours.
Suite 101: What is your main role in the organization?
Kristi Hansen: Vanessa Sabourin and I are co-founders of The Maggie Tree and share the administrative duties in developing the company. I worked as an actor in Hunger Striking, and am dramaturging and stage-managing our up-coming production, A Life in the Day, written by Beth Graham. Vanessa directed Hunger Striking and will direct A Life in the Day.
Suite101: Why do you think that it is important to draw attention to women in theatre? Do you feel that there is a prominent gender bias in the field?
Kristi Hansen: According to Adding it Up: The Status of Women in Canadian Theatre (A Report on the Phase One Findings of Equity in Canadian Theatre by Rebecca Burton, 2006), there are a lot of women involved in theatre. Unfortunately, we tend to take on the supporting roles, rather than the leadership roles.
There is a shortage of females in artistic director roles, as working directors, and as produced playwrights. Instead, they tend to dominate in the TYA (Theatre for Young Audience) world, as stage managers and as administrators. And for female actors, there is more competition for fewer roles. On top of all this, our pay scale is significantly lower. I don’t just feel there is a prominent gender bias; I know there is.
The Maggie Tree is a vessel for women to develop and learn to tell their stories, and take the initiative to do so. We don’t want to be gender exclusive. We are not ‘anti-male’. Men are welcome. We want people to hear female voices and perspectives as being universal, not gender specific. We would like to produce work by women for people, not just for women, though that is a worthy cause too. When our stories are no longer labelled as “Women’s stories” only, but referred to as “Human stories”, I think we will have made progress.
Check out part two of our interview to find out how people are responding to The Maggie Tree, what they are working on next, and how you can become involved! And check out their Facebook Group for more information.
The Maggie Tree
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Actresses Kristi Hansen and Amber Borotsik
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