Airmid Theatre Company, Inc

Results: 2014 is a National Endowment for the Arts award. Over the years, Airmid has presented over 40 plays in full productions, readings, commissions and engagement programs that are entertaining and thought-provoking for both theatre lovers and scholars alike. Other awards include grants from: Target; the Open Meadows Foundation; technical support from ART/NY; Bethpage Federal Credit Union; JP Morgan Chase; NYSCA Decentralization Fund; various State Senators and Assemblymen; Suffolk County Office of Film and Culture; Town of Smithtown among others.

Target demographics: recover, collect and produce classic plays by women and to give voice to women's issues today and throughout history.

Direct beneficiaries per year: 3500+

Geographic areas served: New York City

Programs: Full Productions, along with out reach programs that include: All She Wrote Reading and Discussion Series Used as part of a vetting process to determine future productions, this series of concert-style performances is designed to investigate works by women of various periods, which are currently available in English. Although popular in their time, they are rarely performed in the U.S. and abroad. All She Wrote is designed to unearth these long forgotten classical plays and explore them in relation to contemporary society. Translation Workshop Airmid’s commitment to recovering and exploring world literature by women is embodied in its translation program. Through this project, Airmid recovers the best texts written by female playwrights from all nations and ages for translation by contemporary women playwrights to be produced in English, and when possible, bilingually. This cycle of translations and workshops will ultimately enable Airmid to present a world premiere production on a regular basis. Research Library In the spring of 2008, Airmid became the recipient of a major collection of rarely seen plays by women, translations of plays by women, plays by men about women, correspondence and diaries of women theatre artists and managers, anthologies, biographies, lecture notes on feminist subjects, feminist theatre criticism, and general reference materials. Through productions, symposiums, lectures and educational outreach, Airmid will foster a greater understanding and appreciation of these works. Ultimately, in Airmid’s own permanent home, this valuable collection will be accessible to scholars for enhanced research. This gift, from retired Pennsylvania State theatre professor, Dr. John Franceschina, encompasses 20 years of his extensive scholarship and is serving as the foundation for the Airmid Research Library, modeled after the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. The Ruth Murray Franceschina Collection, named for this mother, is the first component in this collection. Franceschina’s gift is integral to the development of Airmid’s growing research and production base, and will help strengthen the company’s mandate to gather, preserve, and enhance the works of women playwrights worldwide. She Said / He Said Over the years, critics, producers, publishers, and often even audiences have said, “men just write better than women.” Airmid’s lecture/performance series examines the similarities and differences in translations of the theatrical canon, by translators of different genders, such as Hedda Gabler under the hand of Eva LeGalliene versus the better known, more often taught as well as produced translation by Harvey Granville-Barker. This program seeks to dispel the belief that women are not as capable as men artistically, while illuminating the differences between the female and male “voice” and point of view in theatrical works. PROGRAMS IN DEVELOPMENT Humanities Lecture Series This series expands the advocacy for plays by women and the issues related to them. Lectures, designed for practitioners and non-practitioners, explore various topics and are given in connection with full productions, All She Wrote, and as part of the overall commitment to research and restore these plays to the canon, and the stage.