NEWS: Stage 773 Announces 'Funny Women's Festival'

This is a very exciting development. The creation of the festival (dates TBD) itself just awesome, but it also speaks volumes about the progressive nature of contemporary Chicago theatre-goers & smart insight of the theatre professionals behind this project. Chicago is not the only city to take advantage of the current spotlight on the female comedienne. From March 21-25, Boston will host the 4th Annual Women In Comedy Festival. Austin, TX has also hosts the 5th Annual Ladies Are Funny Festival! to be held May 5-7. There used to be a Pacific Northwest Women's Comedy Festival, but that expired in 2010. I am inclined to think Funny Women's Festival will provide the highest quality of performance since Chicago is known & loved for it’s strong comedic roots; Chicago (specifically Second City) has also served as the launching pad & soap box for most of our most beloved female comediennes.

I recently reviewed Bachelorette at Profiles Theatre & addressed the presence of the funny female erupting on-screen & the positive trickle-down effects this trend has had on live-theatre. Equally exciting is the recent emergence of female stand-up comediennes because these women present a new Power TriFecta: The Writer, Actress, Comedienne. The art of humor is an intimidating & difficult arena of performance to conquer; being a talented actress does not necessarily indicate the ability to stand at a microphone in front of a crowd of strangers who are expect lots of laughs, clever insight, & a certain flavor of charismatic charm. My favorite part of this trend is that it allows comediennes like Tina Fey, Chelsea Handler, and Mindy Kaling (whose blog rules) to take their writing to the next level by publishing books. And the more ladies we can get on the NY Times Best Sellers List, the better. Julie Gillis, Producer of Ladies Are Funny Festival!, hit the nail on the head when she blogged:

Women’s stories are important & there needs to be a space for them. People who have stories focused on being women, wanting to be women, what does it mean to be a woman...I have a need for these stories. I’m going to keep making a space for them to be told.  Cause I think it makes the world a more interesting place, frankly.