Library of Congress to Host Conference on Women in Musical Theater with Shaina Taub, Jeanine Tesori, & More

The Library of Congress will host “StageStruck! VI: Women and the American Musical,” a free three-day conference May 14-16. This conference will focus on the centrality of women to the American musical on stage and screen and showcase the role of the Library’s musical theater collections in advancing musical theater studies. The public can register to attend in person or virtually here.

“StageStruck! VI: Women and the American Musical” features industry panel discussions, 25 presentations on the works and many roles women play in the history of the American musical and a display of items from the Library’s renowned musical theater collections – including from the papers of Pearl Bailey, Florence Klotz, Ethel Merman, Mary Rodgers, Jeanine Tesori and Bob Fosse/Gwen Verdon.

The panels will feature Tony Award-winning luminaries including composer Jeanine Tesori (“Kimberly Akimbo” and “Fun Home”); songwriters Shaina Taub (“Suffs”) and Helen Park (“KPOP”); director and designer Julie Taymor (“The Lion King”); director and choreographer Camille A. Brown (“Gypsy” and “Hell’s Kitchen”); and producer Marjuan Canady (“Hell’s Kitchen”).

Tesori, Park, and Taub will speak between 2:45 p.m. and 4 p.m. and Taymor, Brown, and Canady will take the stage 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. They will be held at the Library of Congress James Madison Memorial Building, West Dining Room and Mumford Room, 101 Independence Ave. SE, Washington, D.C.

StageStruck! is a semi-annual international musical theater studies conference. Past conferences were held at the University of Sheffield (2014, 2016), at the Great American Songbook Foundation in Indiana (2018, 2024), and online (2021).

The Library of Congress is home to one of the world’s preeminent performing arts collections. With over 28 million items in its custody, the Music Division preserves and provides access to general music collections comprising musical scores, instructional books and music literature, as well as special collections that include the personal papers of notable creative artists, the business papers of publishers and artistic foundations, and more.

Special collections related to women and musicals include Pearl Bailey, Peggy Clark, Barbara Cook, Katherine Dunham, Sylvia Fine, Dolores Gray, Harriet Hoctor, Yuriko and Susan Kikuchi, Florence Klotz, Ethel Merman, Mary Rodgers, Jeanine Tesori, Gwen Verdon, and many more. Additional musical theater collections include the papers of George and Ira Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein II, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and Tony Walton.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.