Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective
Their Advisory Board included Gloria Steinem, Muriel Rukeyser, Eleanor Perry, Florynce Kennedy, along with Margaret Croyden, Alice Denham, Elizabeth Fisher, Ellen Frankfort, Carol Greitzer, Tania, Alix Kates Shulman, and Anita Steckel.
The plays of the Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective featured such women's issues as religious patriarchy, work-place discrimination, dominance/submission relationships, historical figures, masquerade, and sexual harassment.
Subsequent to their first production, RAPE-IN, the plays transcended the limiting context of agit-prop theatre by discarding the revenge themes current in much feminist writing at the time, and instead strove to accurately reflect the complexity of women’s lives and celebrate their accomplishments.
Christopher Olsen in his book, Off Off Broadway 1968 -1970 The Second Wave (2011),[8] noted the playwrights’ abilities to balance a serious social message about the marginalization of women with a sense of humor and a commitment to good writing.
[10] Kevin Sanders, in his 1973 WABC Eyewitness News review of WICKED WOMEN stated: “Their two earlier highly successful shows, RAPE-IN and UP!–AN UPPITY REVUE!
These included the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Margaret Sanger’s office, and Henrietta Rodman's[20] Feminist Alliance office at McDougal St., the former Café Society location at Sheridan Square where Lena Horne sang, Bessie Hillman's[21] Women's Trade Union League, and a location of Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad.
Incorporated 1972 and dissolved 1976, the WPFC was headquartered at the historic Westbeth Artists' Housing on West Street, Manhattan, and produced plays by feminist authors focused on issues central to the women's movement like sexual harassment and workplace inequality.
The collection includes scripts, publicity material, articles and reviews, some correspondence, ephemera, and photographs of select production scenes and WP members.
Incorporated on 19 October 1972, its founding members included the multi-talented playwrights Helen Duberstein, Hélène Dworzan, Patricia Horan, Gwendolyn Gunn, Christina (a.k.a.
Its Board of Sponsors, a who's who of American feminism of the day, included theater critic Margaret Croyden, activist Florynce Kennedy, poet Muriel Rukeyser, and Ms. magazine co-founder Gloria Steinem.
The plays of the WPFC focused on issues at the core of the women's movement like sexual harassment, workplace inequality, dominance and submission, and the exclusion of female celebrants by the religious patriarchy.
