The Kilroys Feature Female Writers on The List 2019

The Kilroys, an independent, Los Angeles-based group of female playwrights and producers, have launched their fifth annual edition of The List, a vetted roster of industry-recommended new plays.

The List 2019 features the most recommended unproduced and underproduced plays written by female and trans writers, following a survey of hundreds of professional artistic directors, literary managers, professors, producers, directors, and dramaturgs. The List is organized by the Kilroys, a collective dedicated to taking action in the face of gender disparity in American theater.

In 2014, the Kilroys created The List survey in response to systemic gender bias in theater programming. The vetted collection of industry-recommended works was designed to bring worthy plays by female and trans playwrights to the forefront of the American theater conversation. In its first three years of existence, The List has featured 131 plays, and over 1,000 plays have been nominated by hundreds of industry professionals. Since then, more than 100 productions of plays on The List have been have been mounted or announced.

According to The Count, an ongoing study funded by the Lilly Awards and the Dramatists Guild released in 2015, just 22 percent of productions in regional theaters over the previous three years were written by women. However, only 3.4 percent of the overall plays produced reported by The Count were written by women of color. This year's List addresses this concern in the hopes of inclusive parity.

Members of the Kilroys include Jaclyn Backhaus, Hilary Bettis, Jennifer Chambers, Claudia de Vasco, Emma Goidel, Christina Ham, Jessica Hanna, Monet Hurst-Mendoza, Obehi Janice, Hansol Jung, Chelsea Marcantel, Caroline V. McGraw, Bianca Sams, and Gina Young.

To read The List 2019, click here.