Flashback
20 years ago this week
The first International Women Playwrights Conference sponsored by UB took place Oct. 14-23, 1988. Under the direction of Anna Kay France, now associate professor emeritus of theatre and dance, the IWPC brought more than 200 women playwrights, directors and scholars from more than 30 countries to UB. Conference organizers arranged for the production of plays written by participating women playwrights at several Buffalo theaters and other local venues. Some of the more distinguished participants included 'Zulu Sofola from Nigeria, Fatima Dike from South Africa, Somalatha Subasinghe from Sri Lanka, Inkeri Kilpinen from Finland and Sandra Shotlander from Australia.
After the end of this groundbreaking first conference, the International Center for Women Playwrights was established. Considered the logical follow-up to the first playwrights conference, its mission was to support and advance the work of women playwrights by encouraging the international production and distribution of their work.
Before closing its offices in 1997, the center helped to organize conferences in Toronto, Australia and Ireland. In 1998, a charter for a new international women playwrights’ organization, named the Women Playwrights International, was drafted. The new group assumed complete responsibility for the planning and convening of future conferences, and remains active at this time.
—Amanda Kuhnel, University Archives
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