Only one woman has been recognised in the Best Director category in this year's Helpmann Awards, revealing the live performance industry's prevailing bias towards male directors.
The Helpmanns are Australia's answer to Broadway's Tony Awards, covering live performing arts across the country.
Melbourne Theatre Company [MTC] associate director Sarah Goodes is nominated as best director for the acclaimed anti-nuclear play The Children, which is a co-production between the MTC and the Sydney Theatre Company.
All 11 other directorial slots across theatre, opera and musicals are filled by men, with some nominated twice.
Australia's 18 major theatre, opera and dance companies share with the orchestras $110 million in federal government funding annually, in addition to receiving financial support from state governments.
Only one of those companies, Perth's Black Swan Theatre Company, is run by a woman.
This lack of diversity calls into question the effectiveness of equal access discussions and provisions companies have put into place during the past decade.
Goodes' The Children, which starred Pamela Rabe, William Zappa and Sarah Peirse, was MTC's greatest critical success during the past 14 months, getting five nominations.
STC was the most recognised company, scooping a bonanza of 27 Helpmann nominations, 11 of them for its hit reboot of the classic film, Muriel's Wedding the Musical, which is being readied for a national tour.
In the acting categories newcomer Maggie McKenna was nominated for a Helpmann in the title role, with Christie Whelan Browne and Madeleine Jones also nominated for the musical.
Bangarra was another company which enjoyed a strong year, garnering nine nominations, including eight for its 2017 work Bennelong.
Nakkiah Liu's Black is the New White is a contender for best new Australian work.
The Australian Ballet was also nominated for its hit new production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
South Australia continues to enjoy the legacy of generous arts funding across the decades.
The 18 nominations earned by productions in the state were boosted by the premiere of a new opera based on Hamlet, directed by Adelaide festival director Neil Armfield and composed by Brett Dean.
Now in its 18th year, the Helpmann Awards ceremony will be held at Sydney Town Hall and at the Capitol Theatre on July 16 and broadcast on ABC TV.
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