Harris Yulin has appeared on Broadway in Hedda Gabler, The Price, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Visit, A Lesson From Aloes, and Watch On The Rhine. His off-Broadway credits include Raindance at Signature Theatre; Don Juan In Hell at Symphony Space; Steve Tesich’s Arts And Leisure at Playwrights Horizons; Tina Howe’s Approaching Zanzibar at Second Stage; Hamlet, King John, Richard III, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at New York Shakespeare Festival; and Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Hedda Gabler at Roundabout. Regional credits include Finishing the Picture at Goodman Theatre; a recent appearance in the title role of King Lear at New Jersey Shakespeare Festival; The Talking Cure at Mark Taper Forum; Tartuffe at the Guthrie and Arena Stage; Henry V at Hartford Stage; and The Tempest at Shakespeare & Co. Mr. Yulin’s directing credits include Horton Foote’s The Prisoner’s Song at Ensemble Studio Theatre; Conor McPherson’s This Lime Tree Bower at Primary Stages; Don Juan In Hell in London (Riverside Studios) and in New York (Symphony Space), Steve Tesich’s Baba Goya (Second Stage), Adele Shank’s Winter Play at Second Stage; Candida at the Shaw Festival; and The Front Page and The Guardsman at Long Wharf. His television credits include “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight,” “Mister Sterling,” “24,” “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Frasier” (Emmy Nomination), and “La Femme Nikita” (Emmy Nomination). His film credits include Fur, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Emperor’s Club, Training Day, The Million Dollar Hotel, The Hurricane, Looking for Richard, Murder at 1600, Multiplicity, Clear and Present Danger, and Scarface.
WP Theater presents
New York Premiere DEAR ELIZABETH
Written by Sarah Ruhl & Directed by Kate Whoriskey FINAL WEEK – MUST CLOSE DEC 5!
Starring a rotating cast of LUMINARIES including: BECKY ANN BAKER, DAVID AARON BAKER, KATHLEEN CHALFANT, RINDE ECKERT, CHERRY JONES, MIA KATIGBAK, ELLEN MCLAUGHLIN, POLLY NOONAN, PETER SCOLARI, J. SMITH-CAMERON, JOHN DOUGLAS THOMPSON & HARRIS YULIN.
NYC: Most recent: Awake & Sing! NAATCO (Obie Award); Washeteria (Soho Rep); A Beautiful Day in November…Great Lakes (New Georges/Women’s Project), Scenes from a Marriage (New York Theater Workshop). Other NYC: Public Theater, Foundry Theater, Civilians, Ma-Yi, Target Margin, Clubbed Thumb, Intar, Pan Asian Rep. Regional: Berkeley Repertory Theater (CA), Swine Palace (LA), Guthrie (MN). International: Manila, Philippines; Abu Dhabi, UAE. Film: I Smile Back, Clutter, Slow Jam King. TV: “Mysteries of Laura,” “Chicago PD,” “Conviction.” Artistic Producing Director and co-founder, NAATCO (National Asian American Theatre Company). Founding director, CAATA (Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists). Other awards: Lucille Lortel, Lee Reynolds Awards (League of Professional Theatre Women); Actors Equity’s Rosetta LeNoire Award, in recognition of her “artistic contribution to the universality of the human experience in the American theater”; New Dramatists’ Charles Bowden Actor Award. BA, Barnard College; MA, Columbia University.
Rinde Eckert is a writer, composer, librettist, musician, performer and director. His Opera / New Music Theatre productions have toured throughout America and to major theater festivals in Europe and Asia. Eckert began his career as a writer and performer in the 1980’s, writing librettos for Paul Dresher (Pioneer, Power Failure, Slow Fire, Ravenshead). He composed dance scores for choreographers Sarah Shelton Mann and Margaret Jenkins, including the evening-length Woman, Window, Square for The Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. Rinde began composing and performing his own music/theater works in 1992 with The Gardening of Thomas D, an homage to Dante which subsequently toured the United States and France. Staged works for solo performer include Becoming…Unusual: The Education of an Eclectic; three one-act plays: An Idiot Divine, Romeo Sierra Tango and Quit This House; and works for radio including Shoot the Moving Things and Four Songs Lost in a Wall. Writing credits for the theater include Highway Ulysses, Horizon, Orpheus X, And God Created Great Whales, which has been produced three times with the original cast and director, for a total of 227 performances. And God Created Great Whales, Horizon and Orpheus X have run off-Broadway, garnering Drama Desk Nominations and the Lucille Lortel Award. Rinde has received numerous honors and awards for his body of work. In 2012 he was named an inaugural Doris Duke Artist, was honored to receive the 2009 Alpert Award in the Arts for Theatre, a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship, and The American Academy of Arts and Letters 2005 Marc Blitzstein Award. In 2007 Rinde Eckert was the finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Eckert wrote the text and performed in the multi-media production Slide with composer/guitarist Mackey and the new music ensemble 8th blackbird, which toured to major university campuses and the Ojai Festival. Renamed Lonely Motel by Cedille Records, the project won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance. Eckert and Mackey are members of BIG FARM, a ‘prog-rock’ super group with drummer Jason Treuting (So Percussion) and bassist Mark Haanstra. Rinde Eckert’s own uniquely eclectic music is released on Germany’s Intuition label and through Songline/Tonefield Productions.
Ellen McLaughlin’s acting work includes originating the part of the Angel in Angels in America, playing the role in workshops and regional productions through its Broadway run in 1993-1994. Other favorite work includes the Homebody in Bart Sher’s production of Homebody/Kabul (Intiman, Seattle, WA), Pirate Jenny in A Threepenny Opera (Trinity Rep. Elliot Norton Award), Claire in Albee’s A Delicate Balance, (Arena Stage, Yale Repertory Theater), Margie in Good People (George St. Playhouse. Seattle Rep.) and Rosemary in Outside Mullingar (George St. Playhouse.) New York credits include: String of Pearls (Primary Stages), Blue Window (Manhattan Theater Club), and A Bright Room Called Day (Public Theater). Television work includes several appearances on “Law and Order”. McLaughlin is also a playwright.
Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Broadway World have partnered for an inaugural filmed Conversations Q&A series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the union actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen. View a featured career Conversations with Cherry Jones moderated by Broadway World’s Richard Ridge of “Backstage with Richard Ridge!”
Cherry Jones starred most recently in the triumphant Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie (Tony Nomination), which originated at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is a founding member and where earlier in her career she appeared in more than 25 productions including Twelfth Night, Three Sisters and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Broadway and Off-Broadway: Doubt (Tony, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and Obie Awards), Lincoln Center Theater’s production of The Heiress (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards); Pride’s Crossing (Drama Desk Award); When We Were Young and Unafraid; The Baltimore Waltz (Obie Award); Faith Healer; Flesh and Blood; Imaginary Friends; A Moon for the Misbegotten (Tony Award nomination); Angels in America; Our Country’s Good (Tony Award nomination); and Roundabout Theatre Company’s productions of Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Major Barbara and The Night of the Iguana. Television: President Allison Taylor in “24” (Emmy Award), “What Makes a Family,” “Awake,” the next season of “Transparent” on Amazon, the upcoming series “Mercy Street,” and the upcoming mini-series “11/22/63” starring James Franco. Film: Ocean’s Twelve, Cradle Will Rock, The Horse Whisperer, The Perfect Storm, Erin Brockovich, Signs, The Village, Mother and Child, Swimmers, the upcoming films I Saw the Light, and Fun House opposite Tina Fey.
Photograph of Cherry Jones by Zachary Maxwell Stertz
David Aaron Baker is thrilled to once more share the stage with Cherry Jones after playing her husband in Jon Robin Baitz’s play, The Film Society, directed by the late Roger Rees, at The Williamstown Theater Festival in 1997. David had the great fortune to work with Sarah Ruhl in 2008, when he performed in the Playwrights Horizons production of her play Dead Man’s Cell Phone. He is honored to work again with these extraordinary artists. David attended Illinois State University, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Texas – Austin and a diploma from The Julliard School.
“RedFarm is indeed groundbreaking” – Time Out New York
Need a reservation at RedFarm in the Upper West Side? Popular restaurant RedFarm doesn’t take reservations but your ticket confirmation for WP’s DEAR ELIZABETH is your ticket in! Email Nina (nina AT redfarmnyc Dot com) to book your after-show seats. You’ll enjoy walking in to your very own table at RedFarm as well as a tasty treat from the kitchen. Enjoy!
Be sure to mention DEAR ELIZABETH when booking and show your confirmation upon arrival. 24 Hour Notice is Required. Red Farm is conveniently located a few doors away from WP Theater at 2170 Broadway (between 76th and 77th Streets). Subject to availability after 9pm. Offer valid until December 5, 2015.
Director Kate Whoriskey most recently directed Lynn Nottage’s Sweat at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Other productions include Ping Pong and Manahatta at the Public through Public Studio, Ruined and Tales from Red Vienna at Manhattan Theatre Club, How I Learned to Drive at Second Stage, The Piano Teacher at the Vineyard Theatre, Oroonoko at Theatre for A New Audience, the world premiere of Fabulation and Inked Baby at Playwrights Horizons, and Massacre by Jose Rivera at the Labyrinth Theatre Company (of which she is a member). Internationally, she directed Magdalena at the Chatelet theatre in Paris and Teatro Muicipal in Sao Paolo. Regionally, she directed Ruined, Vigils, Heartbreak House, The Rose Tattoo and Drowning Crow for The Goodman, The Tempest at Shakespeare Theatre, the world premiere of Intimate Apparel, The Piano Teacher, Life is a Dream, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Antigone, and The Clean House at South Coast Repertory, and Master Builder at the American Repertory Theatre. Nominated for a Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel for her work on Ruined, she has also directed at the Huntington, The Geffen, Baltimore Center Stage, Perseverance Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Sundance Theatre Lab, The Fisher Center and The Eugene O’Neill Center.
Broadway/NY: Hairspray, Sly Fox, Magic Bird, Out of This World, Ziegfeld Follies of 1937 (City Center Encores!), World Premiere of A.R. Gurney’s Family Furniture, Lucky Guy. Regional: World Premieres of Daniel Sullivan’s Inspecting Carol, Ken Ludwig’s Fox on The Fairway at The George Street Playhouse. Winner Best Actor, Berkshire Theater Festival for The Foreigner. VQT Emmy Award Winner for “Newhart,” Three Time Emmy Nominee, Film Critic’s Award Nomination as Best Featured Actor for “Girls” (HBO), recurring on “Gotham,” also “Bosom Buddies,” “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” “The West Wing,” “E.R.,” “Family Ties,” “White Collar,” “King of Queens,” “Reba,” “Ally McBeal,” “From the Earth to the Moon” (HBO), “Stop the World, I Want to Get Off” (Showtime). Selected Film: That Thing You Do, Polar Express, Suburban Girl, Camp Nowhere, The Ryan White Story, and upcoming Madoff for ABC films.
Becky Ann Baker is most recognized for her mothering skills, or lack thereof, on two Judd Apatow series, “Freaks and Geeks” and “Girls”, where she plays creator Lena Dunham’s mom, and for which she received a Critics Choice nomination. But Becky has appeared on Broadway in both musicals and plays, including Good People, All My Sons, Assassins, Titanic, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Her Off-Broadway credits include: Barbecue at the Public Theater, Suddenly Last Summer for The Roundabout; Comedy of Errors, Othello and Two Gentlemen of Verona for New York Shakespeare Festival; Wonderful Town for City Center Encores; The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told for New York Theatre Workshop; Shanghai Moon and June Moon for Drama Dept.; Durang, Durang for Manhattan Theatre Club; To Whom It May Concern and Laura Dennis at the Signature; The Vagina Monologues at Westside Arts; and more. Becky has performed regionally at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where she is an artistic associate, the Old Globe, the South Coast Rep, Arena Stage, the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey and the Goodman Theater in Chicago. Film credits include “The End of the Tour,” “23 Blast,” “Hope Springs,” “Nights in Rodanthe,” “Spinning into Butter,” “Stay,” “The Night Listener,” “Gretchen,” “War of the Worlds,” “Two Weeks Notice,” “A Simple Plan,” “Celebrity,” “Men In Black,” “In and Out,” “Sabrina,” “Unstrung Heroes,” “White Squall,” “Lorenzo’s Oil,” and “Come See the Paradise.” Other TV appearances include: “Gotham,” “Madam Secretary,” Person of Interest,” “Elementary,” “The Good Wife,” “Smash,” “Black Box,” “A Gifted Man,” “Kings,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Mercy,” “Storm of the Century,” “Soul Man,” “Ruby Ridge,” “Frasier,” “Star Trek: Voyager,” “Sex and the City,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Oz,” and “Mind Games.” She is a member of the Actor’s Studio, Drama Dept. and Usual Suspects –NYTW. Becky’s best and favorite production: Willa, co-produced with actor/director Dylan Baker.
(Robert Lowell in WP’s ‘Dear Elizabeth’) won Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance for his portrayal of Louis Armstrong in Satchmo at the Waldorf. Shakespeare & Company: Richard III, Othello, The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, All’s Well That Ends Well, King Lear. Joe Mott in The Iceman Cometh with Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy at the Goodman Theatre, Kent in King Lear at the Public Theater with Sam Waterston, Macbeth at TFANA, Marc Antony in Antony and Cleopatra at Hartford Stage with Kate Mulgrew, Gennady in The Forest at CSC with Dianne Wiest, Brutus Jones in The Emperor Jones at The Irish Rep (Lucille Lortel, Drama League and Drama Desk nominations), Othello at TFANA (OBIE, Lucille Lortel Award, Drama League nomination, AUDELCO nomination). Broadway: A Time to Kill, LeBret in Cyrano with Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner, and Julius Caesar with Denzel Washington. International credits: Hotspur in Henry IV (Royal Shakespeare Company). Other off-Broadway credits: Women Beware Women (Red Bull), Enobarbus in Anthony and Cleopatra, Orombo in Oroonoko (TFANA, AUDELCO nomination), Judge Brack in Hedda Gabler (NYTW), Edgar in King Lear (Classical Theater of Harlem, AUDELCO nomination). Regional credits: Lucious Jenkins in Jesus Hopped the A Train (The Wilma Theater, Barrymore Award), Williamstown Theater, Trinity Rep, Shakespeare & Company, ART. TV/FILM: “Law and Order”, “Conviction”, “Michael Clayton”, “Midway”, “Malcolm X”.
(Elizabeth Bishop in WP’s ‘Dear Elizabeth’) has appeared in numerous theatre productions off and on Broadway. Highlights include Our Country’s Good (Tony® nomination), Sarah, Sarah (Drama Desk nomination), Fuddy Meers (Outer Critics and Drama Desk nominations), and As Bees In Honey Drown (Obie award, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics nominations). Recent credits include a critically acclaimed run as the title character in Juno And The Paycock at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC, as well as Richard Nelson’s Sorry and Sweet and Sad (Drama Desk and Obie awards) at the Public and That Hopey Changey Thing by the same author. Also Midsummer Night’s Dream at La Jolla Playhouse and The Starry Messenger by Kenneth Lonergan at the New Group. TV work includes a Series Regular role on SUNDANCE’S “Rectify” and a Recurring Role on HBO’s “True Blood.” Recent film work includes Frank Whaley’s “Like Sunday, Like Rain” and J. also stars opposite Anna Paquin in Kenneth Lonergan’s film “Margaret”, which won her the Best Supporting Actress award for the International Cinephile Society.
As both poets and personalities, Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell could hardly have been more different. She: intensely shy and self-doubting, producing gemlike, allusive poems so infrequently that…read more here.
Take a peek behind the scenes and watch interviews with Sarah Ruhl and the celebrated actors that play ‘Elizabeth Bishop’ in the New York Premiere of DEAR ELIZABETH.
Go behind the scenes and view pictures of a videotaping with all of stellar actors playing “Elizabeth Bishop” in the New York Premiere of DEAR ELIZABETH by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Kate Whoriskey. Featured Actors: Kathleen Chalfant (Week One), J. Smith-Cameron (Week Two), Becky Ann Baker (Week Three), Cherry Jones (Week Four), Ellen McLaughlin (Week Five), and Mia Katigbak (Week Six).
The two-character drama is on tap for the organization’s 2015-16 season.
David Gordon • Off-Broadway • Aug 24, 2015
Off-Broadway’s Women’s Project Theater has announced its 2015-16 season, set to take place at the organization’s new home, theMcGinn/Cazale Theatre.
The season will kick off with the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s Dear Elizabeth, under the direction of Kate Whoriskey. Performed with a rotating cast (still to be announced), the drama follows the friendship between poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, whose relationship spanned 30 years and included more than 400 letters. The play will run from October 26-December 5.
Next is Martyna Majok’s Ironbound, directed by Daniella Topol. A coproduction with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, the work follows Darja, a Polish immigrant cleaning lady, over the course of 20 years as she negotiates for her future with three different men who can offer her love or security, but never both. The work runs March 2-April 10.
Closing out the first season at the McGinn/Cazale is the first-ever WP Pipeline Festival, in which WP Lab playwrights, directors, and producers present five brand-new plays from March 24-April 23. The writers are Sarah Burgess, Monet Hurst-Mendoza, Martyna Majok, Riti Sachdeva, and Susan Soon-He Stanton. Directors are Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Lee Sunday Evans, Sarah Krohn, Danya Taymor, and Tamilla Woodard. Producers are Rachel Karpf Reidy, Pearl Kermani, Kristen Luciani, Liz Olson, and Rachel Sussman.
Women’s Project Theater is currently under the leadership of producing artistic director Lisa McNulty and managing director Maureen Moynihan.
For more information on WP’s New Season click here.
Women’s Project Theater, under the leadership ofProducing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Maureen Moynihan, just announced the 2015-2016 Season and the beginning of its three-year residency at the McGinn/Cazale Theater (2162 Broadway, at 76th Street), creating an artistic home for women in theater.
“I’m thrilled for WP Theater to set down roots in this wonderful space with such a storied theatrical history, and to bring all of these brilliant women together in one season,” said McNulty. “Our upcoming season features such an exciting range of talent: from Sarah Ruhl, one of our most treasured and accomplished writers; to Martyna Majok, who is making her Off-Broadway debut; to a festival fully dedicated to new work from the emerging artists of the WP Lab. This is the essence of what WP Theater does-creating a theatrical home where female-identified artists are welcome at every point in their careers, a place where women’s voices are central. I’m also really excited to partner with The Kilroys and The Lilly Awards this year on a series of events that will celebrate all of these invaluable organizations under WP Theater’s new roof. With the generous support of The Royal Little Family Foundation, WP has been given the opportunity to make 76th & Broadway the destination for some of the most exciting new theater in town.”
WP Theater’s inaugural season at the McGinn/Cazale Theater will commence with the New York premiere of DEAR ELIZABETH, written by two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee and Tony Award nominee Sarah Ruhl (The Oldest Boy, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play), directed by Kate Whoriskey (Ruined, Sweat) from October 26 to December 5, 2015. Drawn from the famed correspondence between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell – two of the twentieth century’s most brilliant poets – DEAR ELIZABETH tells a tale of unconventional friendship and intimacy that spanned thirty years and more than 400 letters, with postmarks from Maine to Key West, from London to South America. Performed with a rotating cast of the theater community’s most brilliant and beloved performers – to be announced shortly – DEAR ELIZABETH is an insightful and impassioned examination of Bishop and Lowell’s lives, their work, and the true nature of friendship.
In a co-production with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, IRONBOUND by Martyna Majok (Petty Harbor), directed byDaniella Topol (When January Feels Like Summer, Row After Row) will make its New York Premiere March 2 – April 10, 2016 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. IRONBOUND is a darkly funny, heartbreaking portrait of a woman for whom love is a luxury – and a liability – as she fights to survive in America from award-winning playwright Martyna Majok. At a bus in a run-down New Jersey town, Darja, a Polish immigrant cleaning lady, is done talking about feelings; it’s time to talk money. Over the course of 20 years, three relationships, and three presidents, Darja negotiates for her future with men who can offer her love or security, but never both.
To cap off the first year at the McGinn/Cazale Theater, WP Theater will present the first-ever WP PIPELINE FESTIVAL in which WP Lab playwrights, directors and producers’ two-year residency culminates in the presentation of five brand new plays – written, directed and produced by the fifteen women of the WP Lab – from March 24 to April 23, 2016. As the artistic heart of WP Theater, the Lab provides rising stars in the industry with a vital professional network, entrepreneurial and leadership training, rehearsal space, and most significantly, tangible opportunities for the development and production of bold new work for the stage. The Lab artists featured in the inaugural WP PIPELINE FESTIVAL are:
Writers: Sarah Burgess, Monet Hurst-Mendoza, Martyna Majok, Riti Sachdeva, Susan Soon-He Stanton
Directors: Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Lee Sunday Evans, Sarah Krohn, Danya Taymor, Tamilla Woodard
Producers: Rachel Karpf Reidy, Pearl Kermani, Kristen Luciani, Liz Olson, Rachel Sussman
Some recent successes by WP Lab artists include: Director Adrienne Campbell-Holt’s theater company Colt Coeur’s production of Dry Land, by Ruby Rae Spiegel, earned rave reviews from New York’s top critics and was listed as one of New York Post’s Top 10 theater experiences of 2014. Playwright Majok’s IRONBOUND is a part of the 2015-2016 WP season, Lee Sunday Evans earned a 2015 Obie Award for her direction of A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes (New Georges, in association with WP Theater) and Sarah Burgess’s play, Dry Powder, is slated for the 2015-2016 season at the Public Theater, directed by Thomas Kail.
In addition to the two New York play premieres and WP PIPELINE FESTIVAL, WP Theater will also produce a series of events with other gender-focused theater and advocacy organizations, including The Kilroys (thekilroys.org) and The Lilly Awards (www.thelillyawards.org). WP Theater is invested in making its new artistic home a place where the theater community can come together to celebrate women’s talents and voices onstage. Details on these events to follow.
For details on WP subscriptions, visit WWW.WPTHEATER.ORG or call (212) 765-1706. WP Theater makes its home at the McGinn/Cazale Theater thanks to the generous support of The Royal Little Family Foundation.
WOMEN’S PROJECT THEATER (WP) is the nation’s oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of female theater artists at every stage in their careers. WP Theater supports female-identified theater artists and the world-class, groundbreaking work they create, and provides a platform where their voices can be heard and celebrated on the American stage.
Founded in 1978 by visionary producer, Julia Miles, WP has been the launching pad for many of our nation’s most important theater artists. Eve Ensler, María Irene Fornés, Katori Hall, Pam MacKinnon, Lynn Nottage andLeigh Silverman, among many, many others, all found early artistic homes here. Throughout its 38 year history, WP has produced over 600 main stage productions and developmental projects, and published 11 anthologies of plays. No other producing institution in the country can claim this kind of ongoing history of advocacy and support for women in the theater, and we look ahead to the next generation of artists who will also begin their careers here.
WP Theater accomplishes its mission through several fundamental programs: the WP Lab, a two-year mentorship and new play development program for women playwrights, directors, and producers; the Playwright In Residence commissioning program; the Developmental series; and the Main Stage series, which features a full season of Off-Broadway productions written and directed by extraordinary theater artists.
Lisa McNulty (Producing Artistic Director). Lisa is about to enter her second season as Producing Artistic Director of Women’s Project Theater. Lisa comes to WP from Manhattan Theatre Club, where she served as Artistic Line Producer for eight seasons, working on more than 30 productions both on and off Broadway, including plays byLynn Nottage, Sarah Treem, Harvey Fierstein, and Tarell Alvin McCraney, among many, many others. Lisa has a long history with WP Theater. She was originally hired by the company’s founder, Julia Miles, as the Literary Manager from 1997-2000, where she dramaturged work by María Irene Fornés, Julie Hébert, and Karen Hartman, among others. In 2004, she returned to WP as its Associate Artistic Director where she served as the company’s casting director and literary manager and again ran WP’s Playwrights Lab. Her independent producing career includes projects with Sarah Ruhl, Todd Almond, and Lucy Thurber, all at 13P. Lisa has also served as the Producing Associate at the McCarter Theatre, acting as Line Producer on McCarter’s mainstage, as well as developing McCarter’s commissioned short series.
Maureen Moynihan (Managing Director) Maureen started her career in Chicago working for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and commercial producer Fox Theatricals. Prior to joining WP Theater, Maureen spent over a decade working for Blue Man Productions in several positions including serving as their Executive Director for five North American Productions. Since moving to New York, she has worked for several nonprofit and commercial organizations including Manhattan New Music Project, York Theatre Company and the immersive theatrical experience Queen of the Night.
Selected through a highly competitive process, the WP Lab is the only program in America putting playwrights, directors, AND producers together in the same room. Providing both professional development and leadership training, Lab participants obtain executive coaching, make professional contacts, and receive training that proves invaluable to their development. The benefits of the WP Lab extend well beyond the two-year residency. Having forged strong working relationships in the Lab, both with fellow Lab artists and outside professional contacts, Lab artists continue to work together and with other brilliant voices in the artistic collective long after their official residency ends. WP’s top priority is to achieve a standard of excellence for these artists, advocating for women by producing stellar work featuring extraordinary talent.
For more information on WP’s New Season click here.
Women’s Project Theater, founded in 1978 to develop, produce and promote the work of women theatre artists, has announced its upcoming season lineup at its new artistic home.
To begin a three year residency at the McGinn/Cazale Theater (2162 Broadway, at 76th Street in New York) artistic director Lisa McNulty announced that the season will include the New York premieres of Sarah Ruhl’s Dear Elizabeth and Marytyna Majok’s Ironbound.
New this season will be the inaugural “Pipeline Festival,” which will include five new plays written, directed and produced by WP Lab Artists.
McNulty issued a statement calling the McGinn/Cazale Theater “an artistic home for women in theatre,” adding “I’m thrilled for WP Theater to set down roots in this wonderful space with such a storied theatrical history, and to bring all of these brilliant women together in one season. Our upcoming season features such an exciting range of talent: from Sarah Ruhl, one of our most treasured and accomplished writers; to Martyna Majok, who is making her Off-Broadway debut; to a festival fully dedicated to new work from the emerging artists of the WP Lab.”
She said, “This is the essence of what WP Theater does—creating a theatrical home where female-identified artists are welcome at every point in their careers, a place where women’s voices are central.”
Here’s a closer look at the season:
Dear Elizabeth (Oct. 26-Dec. 5) is written by two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee and Tony Award nominee Sarah Ruhl (The Oldest Boy, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play), directed by Kate Whoriskey. “Drawn from the famed correspondence between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell–two of the 20th century’s most brilliant poets–Dear Elizabeth tells a tale of unconventional friendship and intimacy that spanned 30 years and more than 400 letters, with postmarks from Maine to Key West, from London to South America.” It will be performed with a rotating cast of “the theater community’s most brilliant and beloved performers.”
Ironbound (Mar. 2-April 10, 2016) A co-production with (and performed at) Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Written by Martyna Majok (Petty Harbor) and directed by Daniella Topol. Described as “a darkly funny, heartbreaking portrait of a woman for whom love is a luxury – and a liability – as she fights to survive in America. At a bus in a run-down New Jersey town, Darja, a Polish immigrant cleaning lady, is done talking about feelings; it’s time to talk money. Over the course of 20 years, three relationships, and three presidents, Darja negotiates for her future with men who can offer her love or security, but never both.”
The WP Pipeline Festival (Mar. 24-April 23) Five brand new plays – written, directed and produced by the fifteen women of the WP Lab: Writers Sarah Burgess, Monet Hurst-Mendoza, Martyna Majok, Riti Sachdeva and Susan Soon-He Stanton. Directors Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Lee Sunday Evans, Sarah Krohn, Danya Taymor and Tamilla Woodard. Producers Rachel Karpf Reidy, Pearl Kermani, Kristen Luciani, Liz Olson and Rachel Sussman.
For more information on WP’s New Season click here.
