NECESSARY EXPOSURE: THE FEMALE PLAYWRIGHT PROJECT Opens at Dixon Place

The lack of gender diversity in American theatre has been a controversial topic for decades. While non-profit Off-Broadway companies have seen a steady rise in the number of plays produced that are written by women, there is a definite lack of equal representation in commercial Broadway.

A new art installation opening tonight at Dixon Place, NECESSARY EXPOSURE: THE FEMALE PLAYWRIGHT PROJECT, aims to bring visibility to playwrights who identify as female in a series of portrait and sound installations created by Jody Christopherson, with sound design by Natalie Johnsonius Neubert.

The gallery opening takes place on Dixon Place's Mainstage and will include immersive audio performances in darkness with projections to highlight the absence of seeing plays by women performed. Patrons will be invited to download fully sound designed podcast recordings of writers and actors performing excerpts of their plays.

Photos of playwrights represented by by Jody Christopherson:

Top: Susan Bernfield, Kari Bentley-Quinn, Laura Rohrman, Penny Jackson, Sound Designer Natalie Johnsonius Neubert, Saviana Stanescu

Center: Abby Rosebrock, Karen Cellini, Kara Lee Corthron, Micheline Auger, Jessica Almasy, Diana Oh, Winter Miller, Photographer/Conceptual Artist/Actor Jody Christopherson,

Bottom: Maybe Burke, Angela Santillo, Amy E. Witting, Cecilia Copeland and Maria Alexandria Beech.

Jody Christopherson (photographer/ conceptual artist) is a performer, writer and photographer living in New York. As a generative artist she creates and performs interactive events within the context of theater, film/new media. Recent works include: Because You Are Good, transcribed from interviews with Clove Galilee (daughter of Lee Breuer and Ruth Maleczech co-founders of Mabou Mines), commission and presented by Metropolitan Playhouse in April 2015. The Skype Show or See You in August presented by The New York International Fringe Festival (2013), Filmgate Miami, The Brick Theater and StoryCode (2014). Necessary Exposure: The Female Playwirght Project (presented by Dixon Place Jan-Feb 2015), the theatrical band Greencard Wedding, Eschaton Cabaret (Dixon Place, Bowery Poetry Club), DIVE (Philadelphia Shakespeare Classical Cabaret) Like This (Winner of The Exquisite Corpse Film Festival NYC).

Natalie Johnsonius Neubert (sound designer) is a director, sound artist, performer, and curator. In New York her work has been seen with such companies as Target Margin Theater, Performance Space 122, Galapagos Art Center, Ensemble Studio Theater, The Culture Project, The Brick Theater, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, The New York Public Library, the New York Botanical Gardens, as well as at the Miami Light Project and the Bridge Lane Theatre in London. She studied music, theatre and writing at Sarah Lawrence College, where she received both her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees.

Dixon Place, an artistic incubator since 1986, is a non-profit institution committed to supporting the creative process by presenting original works of theater, dance, music, puppetry, circus arts, literature & visual art at all stages of development. Presenting over 1000 creators a year, this local haven inspires & encourages diverse artists of all stripes & callings to take risks, generate new ideas & consummate new practices.

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