Martha Plimpton & More to be Honored at Women of Achievement Awards; Lisa Lampanelli to Host

Women's Project Theater (WP Theater), under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Maureen Moynihan, has announced the 31st ANNUAL WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS GALA. The gala will honor Emmy Award winning actress Marta Plimpton; celebrated film, television and Broadway producer Jenna Segal; and actress, producer, environmentalist and UNICEF ambassador Trudie Styler. Hosted by Grammy nominated comedienne Lisa Lampanelli, with special performances by Fun Home's Tony Award Nominee Beth Malone and Tony Award winner Jeanine Tesori; dance company Monica Bill Barnes & Co. and a presentation by Emmy Award nominee Heidi Thomas (creator of "Call the Midwife"), the Gala will take place on Monday, June 13, 2016 at 6:30pm at The Edison Ballroom, 240 W 47th Street.

Each year WP honors truly outstanding women who have taken risks, pushed limits, and broken ground in a wide variety of fields, celebrating their unique accomplishments at the WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS. Over the past 30 years, WP Theater has paid homage to luminaries such as Gloria Steinem, Whoopi Goldberg, Audra McDonald, Eve Ensler, Dame Judi Dench, Kerry Washington, Vanessa Redgrave, and Chita Rivera, to name but a few. The WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS delivers an inspiring, entertaining, star-studded night that celebrates the accomplishments of vital women across many disciplines in New York and beyond.

Award winning television, stage, screen actress and activist, Martha Plimpton won an Emmy Award for her memorable appearance on television's The Good Wife, and was nominated two additional times for her work in Raising Hope and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Also a three-time Tony Award nominee, she has appeared on Broadway in A Delicate Balance, Pal Joey, The Coast of Utopia and Top Girls. Plimpton has appeared in over 30 films, including The Goonies, Running on Empty, Beautiful Girls, Parenthood and 200 Cigarettes. She currently stars in ABC's new comedy The Real O'Neals and will next be seen in the film adaptation of the musical of Hello Again opposite Audra McDonald. Politically active since she was a teenager, Plimpton is on the Board of Directors for A is For.., a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing women's reproductive rights and ending the stigma against abortion care.

Named "a producer to watch" by The Wall Street Journal and Variety, Jenna Segal serves as President of Segal NYC, a theater, television, film and internet production company that makes content with a focus on women. Having begun her career in political talk shows in Washington, DC including CNBC and CNN, Segal later moved to the VIACOM networks (MTV, VH1, Nicktoons, Nickelodeon) working in production management development on live shows, animation, live events, reality competitions, variety shows, documentaries, live action gaming, non-fiction programming, extreme sports and reality programming, escalating to the position of Director of Production Management Development. She recently produced Gigi starring Vanessa Hudgens, which played a sold-out engagement at The Kennedy Center and then moved to The Neil Simon Theater on Broadway as part of the 2014-2015 Season.

Trudie Styler is an actress, film producer, human rights activist, environmentalist, and UNICEF Ambassador. In 1989, Trudie and her husband Sting started the Rainforest Fund, an organization devoted to protecting rainforests and their indigenous peoples in South America, Africa and Asia, raising more than $30 million for the cause. She has produced award-winning documentaries and feature films through her company Xingu Films and is now a partner in New York-based production company Maven Pictures, whose first feature Girl Most Likely, starred Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening and Matt Dillon; closely followed by Filth, which starred James McAvoy; and Black Nativity, which starred Forest Whitaker. Maven Pictures currently has several films in various stages of development and production, including Freak Show based on the bestselling book by James St. James, as well as Wilding, starring Liv Tyler. Trudie has numerous stage credits in both the US and UK, including roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Lisa Lampanelli is best known as "Comedy's Lovable Queen of Mean." A two-time Grammy nominee for "Best Comedy Album," Ms. Lampanelli is a regular on Sirius XM's "Howard Stern Show" as well as Comedy Central's Roasts. Over her 25 plus years in show business, she has appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "The Late Show with David Letterman," "Chelsea Lately," "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "Good Morning America" and more. She was a cast member on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice," Season Five and raised $130,000 for her charity, the Gay Men's Health Crisis. Most recently she has written Stuffed, the first of a four play series that tackles body image from the perspectives of four different women.

Called "an important, risk-taking organization" by New York Magazine, WP Theater is the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of women in theater 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. This year launched the first ever WP Pipeline Festival, in which WP Lab playwrights, directors and producers' two-year residency culminated in the presentation of five brand new plays - written, directed and produced by the fifteen women of the WP Lab. The acclaimed 2015-2016 season also included two-time Pulitzer Nominee Sarah Ruhl's Dear Elizabeth, featuring a rotating cast of theatre luminaries including Cherry Jones, Kathleen Chalfant and David Aaron Baker and, in co-production with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Martina Majok's Ironbound starring Marin Ireland. The play was selected as a New York Times Critics' Pick, received a nomination for Outer Critics Circle's John Gassner Playwriting Award and Drama Desk and Drama League Award nominations for Ireland's performance.

Sponsorship and support of WP's premiere event complements WP Theater's unwavering commitment to develop, produce, and promote the work of female theater artists at every stage in their careers. For information regarding tickets to the GALA, visit http://wptheater.org/special-events/2016tickets/ or contact 917-818-0572.

Photo by Jennifer Broski