Lisa Lampanelli's STUFFED with Ann Harada and More Set for WP Theater's 2016-17 Season

WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater) has announced its 2016-17 Season at the McGinn/Cazale Theater (2162 Broadway, at 76th Street), the artists for the 2016-2018 WP Lab and the new Domestic Partner residency initiative.

The season will feature the world premieres of two new plays, STUFFED by two-time Grammy Award-nominated comedian Lisa Lampanelli (HBO, Comedy Central, The Howard Stern Show), and SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON by award-winning playwright Rachel Bonds (Five Mile Lake).

Written by and starring Lampanelli, with additional material by Ashley Austin Morris, STUFFED will also star Outer Critics Circle Award winner Ann Harada (Avenue Q, Cinderella). Directed by Jackson Gay (These Paper Bullets!), previews begin Friday, September 23, 2016 with an Opening Night of Friday, October 7, 2016 at the McGinn/Cazale Theater). The limited engagement will play through Sunday, November 6. Additional casting to be announced shortly.

In the spring, WP Theater will join forces with the acclaimed and adventurous theater company Ars Nova to present the world premiere of award-winning playwright Rachel Bonds' latest offering, SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON, featuring music and lyrics from Brooklyn indie-rock duo The Bengsons (Hundred Days) and additional lyrics by Rachel Bonds, and directed by Drama Desk Award, Lortel Award and two-time OBIE Award winner Anne Kauffman (The Nether). Previews will begin in March 2017 at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre, casting and additional creative team soon to be announced.

Fresh off the incredible success of last season's inaugural WP PIPELINE FESTIVAL, WP Theater announces the artists for its 2016-18 WP Lab, in which selected playwrights, directors and producers complete a two-year residency that culminates in the presentation of five brand new plays - written, directed and produced by the fifteen women of the Lab. 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.

Four of the five plays in the inaugural 2016 WP Pipeline Festival were included in the 2016 Kilroy's List: Cygnus by Susan Soon He Stanton; Kings by Sarah Burgess; The Rug Dealer by Riti Sachdeva; and Queens by Martyna Majok. Other select achievements from the 2014-2016 WP Lab include Majok's Ironbound, which earned an Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Playwriting Award nomination and a New York Times Critics' Pick, as part of the 2015-16 WP season. Director 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). Burgess' play Dry Powder was part of The Public Theater's 2015-16 Season and starred Claire Danes and John Krasinski. 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.

The WP Lab is run by WP's Lisa McNulty, Director Shelley Butler, and Producer Stephanie Ybarra.

THE ARTISTS FOR THE 2016-18 WP LAB ARE:

Writers: Donnetta Lavinia Grays, MJ Kaufman, Sylvia Khoury, Zoe Sarnak, Leah Nanako Winkler

Directors: Melissa Crespo, Morgan Gould, Ellie Heyman, Tyne Rafaeli, Mo Zhou

Producers: Roxanna Barrios, SallyCade Holmes, Nidia Medina, Laura Ramadei, Yuvika Tolani

Click here for biographies.

WP Theater is also pleased to announce a brand new initiative called the Domestic Partner Program, focused on supporting fellow organizations developing work by female artists. Each year, WP Theater will welcome companies into residency at the McGinn/Cazale Theater, providing them with rehearsal and theater space at a reduced rate, as well as artistic, marketing, ticketing and other institutional support, and present their work to WP audiences. The program launches this season with contemporary Dance Company Monica Bill Barnes & Company (Happy Hour) and PopUp Theatrics (Broken City Trilogy). Called "Buster Keaton in Vegas...unapologetically human and refreshingly relatable," by The New York Times, Monica Bill Barnes & Company brings their physical humor and rigorous live performances to a special series of pilot performances at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre. PopUp Theatrics' mission is to create site-specific, site-impacting theatrical events in dynamic collaborations with theatre artists worldwide. Dates to be announced shortly.

About STUFFED - A confident overweight gal, a chronically thin chick, a compulsive eater, and a bulimic, walk into a play and... what happens next could only be told by comic mastermind Lisa Lampanelli. With signature wit and razor-sharp insight, Lampanelli's famously irreverent voice comes to the New York stage with STUFFED, bringing together four women's disparate stories to paint an acerbically witty and ultimately poignant portrait of the insanity of a world that forces women to address hard-hitting issues like: Is eating an ice cream sandwich in the shower an emotionally fulfilling activity? When it comes to blue jeans, should one opt for a camel toe or a muffin top? And the ultimate question: can food and body-image issues ever truly be conquered or are we all just destined to be 'Stuffed'?

About Lisa Lampanelli - Best known as 'Comedy's Lovable Queen of Mean,' Lampanelli, a former newspaper and magazine writer, switched from journalism to comedy at age 30 but maintained her keen observational skills. A comic's comic, Lampanelli has compelled comedy great Jim Carrey to say, "By boldly poking fun at everyone, Lisa releases us from a prison of cultural guilt. She's more than a standup. She's a standout." King of All Media and radio pioneer Howard Stern called her "a true original and a brilliant comedy mind who'll steal the show every time." Known for saying things that most people are afraid to think, Lampanelli's raunchy, gut-busting performances are wildly popular at theaters across the U.S. and Canada. This equal-opportunity offender has had several HBO & Comedy Central Specials, was a cast member on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice," is a regular on late-night television, and a frequent guest and guest host on Sirius XM satellite radio shows. Having earned two Grammy nominations for "Best Comedy Album," Lampanelli is thrilled to present her first play, Stuffed.

About Rachel Bonds - Rachel Bonds' plays have been developed or produced by South Coast Rep, McCarter Theatre, Atlantic Theater Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Ars Nova, Roundabout Underground, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Studio Theatre, New York Stage & Film and SPACE on Ryder Farm, among others. She is an affiliated artist of New Georges, an Alum of EST's Youngblood, Ars Nova's Play Group and SPACE on Ryder Farm's Working Farm; recipient of the 2014 Heideman Award from Actors Theatre of Louisville, the 2013 L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award from Williamstown Theatre Festival and the 2015 Sky Cooper Prize from Marin Theatre Company. Commissions include Studio Theatre, South Coast Rep, Atlantic Theater Company, McCarter, Ars Nova/Manhattan Theatre Club and The Geffen. Bonds is a graduate oF Brown University.

About The Bengsons - Married duo The Bengsons have appeared across the country and around the world at such venues as Joe's Pub (NYC), NYU's Skirball Center (NYC), MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA), On The Boards (Seattle), FlynnSpace (Burlington, VT), and the Market Theater (Johannesburg, South Africa). Their indie folk opera, HUNDRED DAYS (Z Space, San Francisco; Know Theatre, Cincinnati) was awarded the TBA Award for Best New Musical. They have had three singles featured on national television on So You Think You Can Dance (FOX). Most recently their music was featured in Anne Washburn and Rachel Chavkin's Iphigenia in Aulis at Classic Stage Company. They are founding members of the Real Make Collective with Sonya Tayeh and Jo Lampert. Abigail Nessen Bengson has toured as a member of tUnE-yArDs, including an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Upcoming works include commissions with Ars Nova and New York Live Arts.

About Ars Nova - Ars Nova is committed to developing and producing theater, comedy and music artists in the Early Stages of their professional careers. Our unique development programs are designed to support outside-the-box thinking and cross-pollination to encourage innovative work. Dubbed by the New York Times as a "fertile incubator of offbeat theater," Ars Nova blurs genres and subverts the status quo. With our feverish bounty of programming, we are the stomping ground and launching pad for visionary, adventurous artists of all stripes. By providing a safe environment where risk-taking and collaboration are paramount, Ars Nova gives voice to a new generation of artists and audiences, pushing the boundaries of live entertainment by nurturing creative ideas into smart, surprising new work.

Ars Nova was honored with a 2015 OBIE Award and a 2015 Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics' Circle for their sustained quality and commitment to the development and production of new work. Notable past productions include: 2016 Best Musical winner Futurity, by César Alvarez with The Lisps; the critically-acclaimed world premiere of Small Mouth Sounds by Bess Wohl currently enjoying a commercial transfer; Time Out NY's "Best of 2014,"Jacuzzi by The Debate Society; Drama Desk nominated Charlatan by Vinny DePonto and Josh Koenigsberg; the award-winning smash-hit Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy (Broadway transfer Fall 2016); Jollyship the Whiz-Bang by Nick Jones and Raja Azar; the world premiere of the 2009 season's most-produced play boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb; Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle nominated From Up Here by Liz Flahive; audience favorite Dixie's Tupperware Party by Kris Andersson; and star-makers At Least It's Pink by Bridget Everett and Kenny Mellman; and Freestyle Love Supreme by Anthony Veneziale and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

About Monica Bill Barnes & Company - The company that made Happy Hour returns, bringing their physical humor and rigorous live performances to WP Theater. Audiences are invited to a special series of pilot performances where Monica Bill Barnes & Company will test drive new material in a run of fully staged shows that will change with every performance. There will be movement, there will be a megaphone, and there will be nothing like this anywhere else.

Monica Bill Barnes & Company is a contemporary American Dance Company that brings dance where it does not belong. We create and produce each work entirely from its own rulebook - dancing to radio interviews on the biggest stages in the world, hosting a weekly show in a crowded office party, or leading a choreographed exercise routine in an art museum. Within each of these new contexts and borrowed environments, we constantly find humor in our awkward, everyday triumphs and failures.

The company consists of a team of collaborators: Artistic Director/Choreographer, Monica Bill Barnes; Associate Artistic Director/Performer, Anna Bass; designers Kelly Hanson (Set/Costume) and Jane Cox (Lighting); and Robbie Saenz de Viteri (Creative Producing Director). Together, this team creates the most unlikely experiences for every kind of audience.

About PopUp Theatrics - PopUp Theatrics is a partnership between theatre artists Tamilla Woodard, Ana Margineanu and Peca Stefan. PopUp Theatrics' mission is to create site-specific, site-impacting theatrical events in dynamic collaborations with theatre artists worldwide. Since its beginnings in 2011, PopUp Theatrics has produced critically acclaimed, award-winning, globally inclusive, immersive theatre in collaboration with 100+ artists from countries on six continents. Upcoming: Broken City: Wall St, the third and final installment of the Broken City Trilogy, will perform July 2016 in lower Manhattan in collaboration with the UK's Sign Dance Collective. Later in 2016, New York City will welcome INSIDE.

About WP Theater - 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 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 premiere launching pad for some of the most influential female theater artists today, our work has had a significant impact on the field at large. Nearly every prolific female theater artist has been through our doors, including Eve Ensler, María Irene Fornés, Katori Hall, Pam Mackinnon, Lynn Nottage, Leigh Silverman, and Anna Deveare Smith. These powerful female artists found an early artistic home at WP, and are a testament to our role as a driving cultural force.

WP was founded in 1978 by visionary producer, Julia Miles, to address the significant under-representation of women in theater. Today, WP accomplishes its mission through several fundamental programs, including: 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.

Tickets for Stuffed are now on sale via bit.ly/STUFFEDTIX or by calling Ovation tix (866) 811-4111. Tickets and Performance dates for Sundown Yellow Moon will be available soon, check www.wptheater.org for updates.

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