“I’m creating a path, so it’s easier for the young women behind me.” — Elisa Cardone ’96
working as assistant technical director at McCarter Theatre, Nora commuted back and forth to teach Structural Design for the Stage during Ben’s sabbatical in 2017. Having served as the teaching assistant for the course during her time as a student, Nora was now the first woman to teach the class at YSD. She approached the task with confidence, modeling strength and facility for all her students. In my first year as an MFA candidate, Karen, Nora, and I made up a rare all-women technical direction team for a Rep show—one of the most empowering experiences in my time as a student. The TD&P program has no shortage of advocates or allies, but does lack in female representation on the faculty. I was extremely lucky to have been a student while Elisa Cardone ’96 was teaching. Though she was not full-time faculty, she commuted in and taught up to four classes. Elisa was one of only two women in her cohort, but she shared with me she “felt encouraged to take on leadership roles which was a good base for going out into the 6 0
field.” Going onto managing Broadway shows and tours, she found herself an even rarer bird than she had at Yale. “I don’t consider [the struggle for more female representation] a battle,” she said, “rather that I’m creating a path, so it’s easier for the young women behind me.” Elisa saw an evolution over her roughly 10 years of teaching at YSD. Pleased to see the number of female-identifying students grow, she is even happier to notice now how gender parity is more common. When speaking with TD&P students at a seminar this spring, Alys Holden ’97 shared, “I got 20 years into my professional career before having a female supervisor. This is notable, but I didn’t notice for a long time.” Like Alys, Kat Wepler ’16 had a similar eye-opener about the gender inequality around her when she left her position in California to come to YSD. “It is funny now to remember my interview [for the School], and to think I didn’t even blink an eye at being interviewed by a room full of male faculty. Though, I definitely
YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 019 –2 0
would take note now.” She said she “could feel the refreshing cultural shift in the TD&P department [in her] third year as the first-year class shifted the gender balance.” Following graduation, though, she “felt the [return of that] imbalance during the process of building a new theatre. Repeatedly I would be the only woman in a room filled with architects, consultants, and contractors (or even the other representatives of the theatre).” YSD is making great strides to increase the number of trained female technical managers, but the percentage of women leaders in the industry is still significantly lower than that of men. When I became a member of the TD&P faculty, I had a literal place at the table, a first for a woman. I still have a touch of imposter syndrome. But surrounded by my former faculty who are now my peers, I have opted to lean into that dynamic by being open and honest about decisions and my approach— mobilizing the privilege of my position to enact change in the program, the School, and the