Creative Artists Agency hosted its inaugural Women on Broadway dinner May 21, celebrating the contributions of the powerful women who worked on the 2023-2024 Broadway season. The dinner was presented in collaboration with Joe Machota, No Guarantees, Broadway Women’s Fund, Ambassador Theatre Group, and Lia Vollack.
Special guests included Maria Friedman, Lila Neugebauer, Christine Schwarzman, Whitney White, Kristin Caskey, Bee Carrozzini, Schele Williams, CAA’s Head of Theatre Machota, and more.
See photos from the event in the gallery below.
Whitney White and Ally Shuster
Maria Friedman and Sammi Cannold
Leigh Silverman and Lila Neugebauer
Lawryn Lacroix, Whitney White, and Camille Brown
Joe Machota Christine Schwarzman and Megan O'Keefe
Joe Machota and Camille A. Brown
Jennifer Costello and Schele Williams
Bee Carrozzini and Ally Shuster
Ally Shuster, Whitney White, and Bee Carrozzini
Alice Whitley, Di Glazer, Whitney White, and Kennedy Woodard
The 2023-24 season was a record-breaking year for female artists on Broadway. Of the season's productions, 16 were directed by women, which is the highest amount of female directors in Broadway history. The year also featured the most new musicals by women since the 1949-50 season, and more milestones.
REPORT: The 2023-24 Broadway Season Has the Most Female Directors Ever
Women are also well-represented in this year's Tony Award nominations—for the first time, both directing categories feature more female directors than male amongst the nominees. In the Best Direction of a Musical category, four of the five nominees are women: Friedman for Merrily We Roll Along, Leigh Silverman for Suffs, Jessica Stone for Water for Elephants,and Danya Taymor for The Outsiders. In the Best Direction of a Play category, three of the five nominees are women: Anne Kauffman for Mary Jane, Neugebauer for Appropriate, and White for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.
To hear from some of the season's female artists, check out Playbill's roundtable featuring Camille A. Brown, Heidi Schreck, Amber Iman, and Jessica Stone.
