Starting Out

Abstract

Aware that the seat of theatrical power in the front offices of managers, booking agents, and producers was male turf, the 22-year-old Audrey Wood was too busy looking for a job to be concerned about what was later called the glass ceiling. She knew that most women in theatrical offices labored as telephone operators, receptionists, and typists in undistinguished and badly paid jobs. Even in the mid-1920s, when Rachel Crothers, Zoë Akins, Rose Franken, and Anne Nichols were making names as playwrights, there were few opportunities for women to be hired at the managerial level. As she walked down Broadway toward the offices of the Century Play Company, she did not consider herself a modern-day heroine breaking down doors to invade male territory. She wanted a job—any job.

Many, many scripts call, but few are chosen.¹