WOMENS PROJECT AND PRODUCTIONS INC
55 West End Avenue, New York, NY 10023 wptheater.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: WP THEATER (Formerly known as Women's Project Theater) is the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of female-identified and trans theater artists at every stage in their careers. For nearly four decades we have served as leaders at the forefront of a global movement towards gender parity, and the example we set and the artists we have fostered have grown into to a robust and thriving community of female writers and directors in theater and beyond.WP empowers female-identified artists to reach their full potential and, in doing so, challenges preconceptions about the kinds of plays women write and the stories they tell. As the premier launching pad for the most influential women working in theater today, WP has had a significant impact on the field at large. Nearly every prolific female theater artist has been through our doors, including Eve Ensler, Mara Irene Forns, Katori Hall, Pam MacKinnon, Lynn Nottage, Leigh Silverm

WP THEATER (Womens Project Theater) is the nations oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of women artists at every stage in their careers.

MainstageEach year, WP offers our Mainstage series: a full season of Off-Broadway productions written and directed by extraordinary women+ theater artists, reaching over 12,000 audience members annually. WP strives to program work that shows the breadth of the stories women+ tell, as well as reflecting the racial, socioeconomic, and gender diversity of WP's artistic community and the community at large.The season launched in September 2019 with the world premiere of Our Dear Dead Drug Lord by emerging Colombian-American playwright Alexis Scheer, directed by rising star Whitney White, in a co-production with Second Stage Theater. In this fierce and feverish comedy, a gang of teenage girls gathers in an abandoned treehouse to summon the ghost of Pablo Escobar. Led by a creative team that is composed entirely of women/gender nonconforming people of color, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord explores the complex inner lives of girls on the verge of womanhood, the complications of teenage friendship, and the female capacity for anger and even violence. A New York Times Critics Pick, the play extended twice in its nonprofit run before a commercial extension at our theater space, closing on January 5, 2020 for an extraordinary 17-week run. Our second Mainstage production was Where We Stand by actor/playwright and Lab alum Donnetta Lavinia Grays, directed by fellow Lab alum and current WP Associate Artistic Director Tamilla Woodard. Donnetta has created an epic, poetic play with music performed entirely by a solo performer, a storyteller who weaves a fable of judgement and asks what it means to forgive. Where We Stand ran from February 1 to March 1, 2020. WP Lab and Pipeline FestivalFounded in 1983, the WP Lab is a unique two-year mentorship and new play development program for 15 early-career women+ playwrights, directors, and producers (five in each concentration). WPs Lab is the only program in America that puts playwrights, directors, and producers together in the same room. In fall 2018, we welcomed a new class of 15 Lab members:Playwrights: Sukari Jones, Vanessa Garcia, Christina Quintana (CQ), Charly Evon Simpson, and Bryna Turner.Producers: Ilana Becker, Marie Cisco, Lucy Jackson, Stephanie Rolland, and Alyssa Simmons.Directors: Victoria Collado, Sarah Hughes, Candis C. Jones, Rebecca Martinez, and Arpita Mukherjee.FY20 was slated to conclude with the 2020 Pipeline Festival, a five-week celebration of new plays written, produced, and directed by Lab members and presented as part of WPs Mainstage Season. The Festival is not only the culmination of the two-year Lab program, but serves as a critical opportunity for our Lab artists to connect with audiences and industry professionals. The 2020 Festival had been set to open March 26 and run through April 25 but ultimately, we were forced to cancel the performances due to COVID-19 and the subsequent New York PAUSE Order. The Festival was slated to include premieres of five incredible new plays by WP Lab members: Phases of the Moon Creative Team: Bryna Turner | Rebecca Martnez | Stephanie Rolland Phases of the Moon is a queer coming-of-age story centering on poet Elizabeth Bishop and her friends during their Senior year at Vassar in 1933. Sandblasted Creative Team: Charly Evon Simpson | Victoria Collado | Ilana BeckerInspired by her research on the mortality rates of black women during childbirth, Charly Evon Simpson continues her exploration of the effects of generational trauma on the body in her play Sandblasted. Tobias: A Novel In Performance Creative Team: Christina Quintana (CQ) | Arpita Mukherjee | Marie Cisco Tobias: A Novel In Performance explores the complicated lines between power, sex, and love. Inspired by a real-life story and jumping between New Amsterdam in 1630 to present day New York City, we revisit a footnote in one of the earliest known gay scandals in New York: observing a baby/sugar daddy relationship in which the characters find connection across three backgrounds: Mohawk, African, and Dutch. Grace, Sponsored by Monteverde Creative Team: Vanessa Garcia | Sarah Hughes | Alyssa Simmons Grace, Sponsored by Monteverde explores the layers of migration and gender inequity that make up America. The play centers on Catherine, a journalist who embarks on a 21st-century Lewis and Clark-inspired adventure joined by her friend-with-benefits, Lewis. My Baby Creative Team: Sukari Jones | Candis C. Jones | Lucy Jackson My Baby centers on Condola who discovers that she is not a bone marrow donor for her cancer suffering mother because they have no DNA in common. Condola learns that the person she knows as her mother in reality is a person who kidnapped her as an infant from a teenage girl at a bus stop thirty-eight years ago. In order to honor our commitment to these artists and uphold the mission and spirit of the Lab, WP launched #PipelineOnline, a five-week social media and email campaign designed to bring attention to our artists and their work. The campaign included social media takeovers and targeted video content featuring Lab members. For each week of the Festival, we sent an e-blast and shared social media content highlighting the play that would have been in performance. E-blasts and social media posts included conversations with the artistic teams (filmed at their respective homes while sheltering in place), design examples, script excerpts, and other highlights from each production. The campaign allowed us to showcase each production and its creative team, as well as gave Festival designers a well-earned spotlight. WPs artistic staff also did a major outreach campaign to industry professionals to amplify the artists work and make vital professional connections for Lab artists. New Play DevelopmentEach season also includes WPs play development activities, such as commissioning new work, offering developmental readings and workshops, and partnering with like-minded organizations to offer public reading series throughout the year. These activities help support our artists creative processes, while fostering the creation of in-progress works for the stage by both emerging and seasoned playwrights.

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