The Future Is Female Festival Brings Women's Representation to the Stage

In an age when we're all asking for more representation onscreen, be it television or film, we should also be demanding it onstage. The Future Is Female Festival, a cross-country event that offers audiences short plays by women of all backgrounds, is here to do just that — and Miami is going along for the ride.

The festival, which has 27 outposts in 18 cities and features work by about 140 women, will hit the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach Monday, March 20, at 7 p.m. Thanks to Miami New Drama, the Colony will host a series of readings of short plays by 11 female playwrights, including four high-school students.

One of the festival's outposts, Lost Girls Theatre, was excited to make the announcement. Co-artistic director Andie Arthur, one of the playwrights whose work will be featured, said, "We're really excited about the mixture of voices. It includes some beloved playwrights from our Getting Lost Reading series, as well as some playwrights I have been itching to work with before now.

"We're also showcasing the voices of four high-school students in this mix, which feels like the best way to highlight the title and theme of the festival," she added. The four students, all attending New World School of the Arts, are Samantha Dolly, Sabrina Diehl, Isabela Muñio, and Angelica McEwan.

The evening will also include readings of one-to-15-minute plays by Arthur, Ann Gillespie, Reina Hardy, Callie Kimball, Michelle T. Johnson, Mariah MacCarthy, and Marisela Treviño Orta.

The Future Is Female Festival, which encourages audiences to spend Women's History Month celebrating the future of all women, including trans and nonbinary individuals, is a creation of playwright Mya Kagan. As the national website asks: "What better way to ensure that the future is female than to ask women writers to create it? And in an industry dominated by men, what better way to help them achieve it than by giving them this experience, which will hopefully lead to new connections, new visibility, new audience members eager to see their work again?"

Admission to the event is free, but Lost Girls Theatre will accept donations to raise money for the Aqua Foundation for Women, which supports the lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community in Florida. Visit lostgirlstheatre.com and thefutureisfemalefestival.com.