HOW TO SUPERVISE WOMEN: The Origin Story
Lou Clyde
How to Supervise Women received a staged reading during our 2025 New Works Festival.
I began writing How to Supervise Women about 3 years ago. My dad fought in World War II and my mom was one of the 6.6 million women who took jobs in factories during the war. While conducting background research, I came upon the infamous article in Transportation Magazine titled “Guide to Supervising Women,” written for male supervisors of women in the workforce. The ridiculously laughable guidelines immediately became my inspiration for this play. I decided to set the play in Consolidated Electronics, a fictional aircraft assembly factory in San Diego and created a diverse group of female employees under the leadership of plant manager George and shift supervisor Herman. I also had to determine exactly what the women would be assembling. I uncovered a detailed diagram of a WWII aircraft and selected the VCCS unit (in an attempt to keep the set and props simple). I finished the first act in 2022 but hated it, largely because George Perroni was incredibly unlikeable. I put the play on the back burner and started working on it 2 years later.
I decided to give George a “persona transplant,” making him more like Lou Grant, and everything started clicking again. I’ve had numerous script revisions. After a table read in Columbia, SC, and an intensive workshop in Raleigh, NC, this play has become one of my favorites.
LOU CLYDE is an award-winning playwright living in South Carolina. Pouf! was selected as a winner in the SheNYC Arts New Play festival and was presented at the Connelly Theatre in New York in July 2021. Pouf! was also awarded first place in the 2020 Centre Stage Theatre New Play Contest. Pouf! is published by Dramatists Play Service and is scheduled to be staged in two markets in the U.S. and Canada in 2025. Heck the Dolls with Chardonnay in a Box was a finalist in the 2023 Centre Stage Theatre New Play Contest. Her newest play, Stilt Girl, represented South Carolina at the SETC Convention earlier this year. Lou’s short plays have received accolades and have been staged in Los Angeles, Tampa, and Gulfport, Florida. Senior Discount was awarded best short play at the 2023 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival. Lou was awarded Erma Bombeck Humor Writer of the Month in January 2024. She loves comedy and her humor has been influenced by the works of Erma Bombeck, David Sedaris, and Tina Fey. She is obsessed with Schitt’s Creek.
