Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and the Mabou Mines Family Aesthetic

Abstract

Since its founding, Mabou Mines’ collective structure has enabled its female leaders to shape their own status within the company, establishing creative processes and political prerogatives that rely equally upon artistic collaborations and personal relationships. Two of the founding co-artistic directors, JoAnne Akalaitis and Ruth Maleczech, pioneered this strategy, insisting that production budgets include compensation for childcare; later, they championed support for a child or partner to accompany touring artists. Their influence in establishing policies that supported artistic and personal development mirrored their paths to increased authority in the company. This chapter investigates how Mabou Mines’ approach to authority empowered Akalaitis and Maleczech, even as the ongoing historiography of the company has erroneously attributed its artistic success to a more traditional and patriarchal institutional structure.