Gender Parity in American Theatre: New Research on Women in Artistic Leadership

A new research project from Lafayette College reveals that women hold only 38.13 percent of artistic leadership positions across 1,441 American theatre productions.

The study, which analyzed data from the 2024 and 2025 seasons, shows a persistent gap in gender representation for playwrights, directors, and designers in national theatre.

The research was conducted by theatre professional and director whose own experience with the play The Roommate served as a catalyst for the investigation.

After learning that the Broadway production of the female-centered play was led by a male director and an almost entirely male design team, she partnered with Lafayette College student researcher Brooke Suzman in August 2024 to collect industry data. Lexi Handelman joined the project in January 2026 to help finalize the analysis.

The study examined gender identities across 70 Broadway productions, 175 Off-Broadway productions, 416 LORT (League of Resident Theatres) productions, and 780 regional theatre productions. The findings indicate that while progress has been made since studies conducted between 2010 and 2017, equity remains elusive. On Broadway, women held 28.33 percent of playwright, director, and design roles, while Off-Broadway productions saw women in 33.33 percent of those positions.

LORT theatres reported that women occupied 45.18 percent of artistic leadership roles, with 32.18 percent of those theatres led by female artistic directors. Regional theatres showed 36.26 percent female representation in leadership roles and 39.49 percent in artistic director positions. These figures suggest that while the industry has moved beyond the historical benchmarks where women held fewer than 30 percent of these roles, the distribution remains uneven.

“This research has opened my eyes to the urgency of creating more equitable staffing opportunities in theatres across the country, said Brooke Suzman, a student researcher at Lafayette College.”

Much of the study focused on who is responsible for shaping narratives on stage. Among 245 Broadway and Off-Broadway productions surveyed, 74 centered on a woman character. However, only 29 of those productions were directed by women. This indicates that stories specifically about women are frequently interpreted through a male directorial perspective, despite women comprising approximately 69 percent of the average theatregoing audience.

“Working on this research has revealed to me that the lack of female perspective in theatre storytelling is painting an unbalanced picture of the human experience, further reinforcing a male-dominated culture, said Lexi Handelman, a student researcher who joined the project in January 2026.”

The researchers emphasize that representation is not merely an employment statistic but a fundamental question of authorship and perspective. As the industry moves forward, the focus is shifting from simple headcount metrics to the qualitative impact of who is permitted to shape the human experience on stage.

The data from this study provides a snapshot of the current state of artistic leadership. The data shows that the conversation regarding gender parity, which was prominent in 2018 and 2019, continues as theatres recover from the pandemic. The findings show the industry is still struggling to close the gap between measurable progress and true equity in storytelling.

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