That is all quite unfortunate, and I am really sorry that the stupidity of sexism and cultural patriarchy landed square on their heads.

While sexism is not specific to Somerville, looking at the Somerville-specific things, I'd be very curious to see how this compared to experiences of the folks at the aforementioned Theatre @ First's experience of doing an outdoor version of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" a few years ago. The environment at the Linear Park is very different than Powderhouse, but I'm curious how their experiences (modulo the gender issues) were similar or different.