AURORA | The Athena Project Festival is a place where local female artists don’t have to worry about big-city connections or double standards.
That’s according to Executive Producer Angela Astle, who designed the 2-week showcase as a way to feature the work of local female artists. Astle, who also works as the literary director at the Aurora Fox, said the festival running at the Aurora Fox theater until March 31 is meant to showcase the work of artists who don’t always find a place in the spotlight.
“It’s very frustrating to me that as a local artist, I have a better chance of being hired here if I move to New York,” Astle said. “Women make up over 60 percent of the theater audience, but their voices are not necessarily represented on stage … We’re looking for voices and stories that wouldn’t have otherwise been told.”
That’s where the Athena Project Festival comes in. The two-week showcase of female playwrights, painters, designers and other artists is in its first year, and Astle said she started it as a way to feature a wide array creative work in a single venue. It’s a system where female artists of all specialties can debut new work and have it judged on merit, Astle said. It’s a venue where local playwrights, dancers, painters and designers don’t have to worry about having big-city connections on their resumes.
“The vision has always been to incorporate different disciplines,” said Astle, who came up with the concept after moving back to Denver from New York in 2010. “There’s a different energy that comes when everyone is gathered under this one, big umbrella.”
That much is clear from the ambitious lineup for the inaugural festival. The Athena Project showcase includes the world premiere of “Tell Martha Not to Moan,” a new play by Clinnesha D. Sibley. It also includes ongoing workshop productions of new plays by four different female playwrights at the Fox, a gallery show at the neighboring Collection space on East Colfax Avenue, a showcase for songwriters and a fashion show.
“We made a commitment to support local artists. We were really looking at our backyard and what wasn’t happening,” Astle said. “It was important to us not to lose that local piece.”
And even though Sibley submitted a new play from out of state, her inclusion in the festival came after plenty of local input. Sibley’s play was one of six new works featured during a Plays In Progress series held last summer as a precursor to the full festival. “Tell Martha Not to Moan,” a bittersweet drama about an aging Detroit couple dealing with loss and mortality, was the top choice of audience members and Athena Festival judges.
“What was important to me was that new plays didn’t get stuck in stage-reading land. We committed to doing a full production,” Astle said. “By the time that (Sibley) submitted the play to us, it was in really great shape. She knows exactly what she wants these characters to say, and she’s got a very tight story.”
Sibley’s play made it into the festival based on artistic merit, Astle said. That kind of system is still lacking on the wider national arts scene, she said, pointing to the low number of female playwrights being professionally produced in the United States as an example.
But even the biggest changes start with the smallest efforts, she added.
“There’s one organization dedicated to making a change,” Astle said.
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707