Equity Initiative: PRIME Productions
PRIME Productions is taking back what it means to be in the “prime of life” by challenging aging stereotypes through performances that present women over 50 as powerful and intelligent characters, not just side characters.
In 2016, when Shelli Place and Alison Edwards realized there were only five roles for women over 50 across the approximately 45 Twin Cities theaters, they set out to create a space that highlights mature women as more than common stereotypes that label older women as kind, friendly, and deferential. They wanted to transform how society views aging and women’s potential on stage.
“We want to present older women as badasses,” Edwards says. “We want their grandchildren to recognize that their grandmothers aren’t only these sweet little old ladies who give them candy.”
Their fully staged productions and readings have employed dozens of women over 50 since the beginning, and they’ve drawn thousands to their shows.
Place and Edwards have watched audience size grow after each performance, and donations have increased by 90%, with the donor base growing by 30%. Larger theaters saw that PRIME was focusing on a niche they didn’t adequately serve, and by its second season, PRIME was partnering with the Guthrie Theater and Park Square Theater.
“We started this to employ all the amazing talent in the Twin Cities that have aged out of the usual plays that were being presented, and we’re doing that,” Edwards says. “Now what we would like to do is expand our reach.”
There’s an informal agreement that every show PRIME puts on has to have two meaningful and substantial roles for mature women—something that is hard to come by. So PRIME started commissioning plays with substantial roles for older women.
“We want to show the people, the women in the audience and the men who love them, that these women are strong and they are smart,” Place says. “They may even be the villain of the piece, but they are strong and smart and scrappy.”
Over the years, the project has grown to feature more than just actresses over 50. During the pandemic, it expanded its impact by launching a YouTube interview series featuring diverse mature women sharing stories of challenges and achievements, including an immigration lawyer who built her career from scratch.
Place and Edwards are trying to show that no matter how old someone is, they are still in their prime.
Looking ahead, they want to expand outside the theater community to show that mature women are amazing regardless of setting.
“The word ‘prime,’ when I was growing up, meant two things: It meant a cut of meat or it was a limitation that was put on women, like, ‘Oh, she’s past her prime,’ ” Place says. “We decided to make that word a normal word. And we’ve actually done that here in Minneapolis. We just want to take it and spread it all over.”
