10 Words of Wisdom from Women’s Day on Broadway

The powerhouse women of Broadway gathered at the St. James Theatre on Monday afternoon for the first Women’s Day on Broadway, which celebrated stories for, by, and about women. We were at the landmark event and captured some pearls of wisdom from the panelists

“Coming from television comedy, which is typically very male, I think the very beneficial thing you can do is to do everything you can do to change the chemistry in that room.” – Tina Fey, writer, “Mean Girls”

“In ‘High School Musical,’ they made the one that was the pianist, she had to wear the dowdy clothes and a gray cap. Why can’t she be in a sparkly outfit writing the songs?” – Kristen Anderson-Lopez, lyricist, “Frozen”

“Being a leader in a room is about listening and respecting the people of the room. I’m not saying it’s a feminine weak way to be — it’s an inclusive compassionate way to be that requires an incredible amount of confidence.” – Tina Landau, director, “SpongeBob SquarePants”

“The American history is our history. For a long time, women felt left out of history because no one ever talked about us. Big history things that changed the way we think, the way we feel, the way we talk — those are just starting to be discovered.” – Whoopi Goldberg

“I find that the biggest enemy is myself. I find that I have to talk myself into things. It’s so easy for me to see what I can’t do.” – Renee Elise Goldsberry, actor

“In the theater, there’s no place for ‘no’ because we are a creative group…There’s always a solution even if the solution is turning to somebody else and saying what is the solution. – Natasha Katz, lighting designer, “Frozen”

“Do what makes you happy. Find that thing that makes you happy and work hard at it. If you’re nice and you work hard you have a very good chance of succeeding.” – Hillary Blanken, technical supervisor

“As women, we’re brought up to always please people…I think that you have to get rid of those notions that you’re here to make everybody happy and to please everyone.” – Daryl Roth, producer, “Kinky Boots”

“I do believe in creating a place where people feel they could be someone they never thought they could be.” – Diane Paulus, director

“We’ve got all these voices that are finally being given opportunities. From an audience perspective, men get to finally identify with women…You get to experience another life, and in our America today, there’s nothing more important than stepping outside of yourself and understanding life from another perspective.” – Julie Taymor, director