Leah Ryan's FEWW Celebrates Ten Years Of The Leah Ryan Prize At Cherry Lane Theatre

Leah Ryan's Fund For Emerging Women Writers celebrates ten years of awarding it's prize to women playwrights with 10 X 10: An Evening of 10 Minute Plays Celebrating Ten Years of Winners. The gala event will take place at Cherry Lane Theatre on March 30 and will feature world premiere short plays from past recipients Megan Mostyn Brown, Genia Femia, Jiehae Park, and Eliana Pipes. A pre-show cocktail reception begins at 6:00pm, followed by the main performance at 7:00pm and an afterparty at Cowgirl. The evening will be under the direction of Daniella Topol. For more information, visit https://leahryansfeww.com/.

Leah Ryan's Fund for Emerging Women Writers (FEWW) and its annual prize were established in 2010 to honor the memory of Leah Ryan, and to encourage and support the work of women writers. It is the purpose of the prize to perpetuate the integrity, compassion and creativity that Leah herself possessed and inspired in others. Leah Ryan's FEWW intends to encourage brilliant and unrecognized women playwrights with an annual cash prize and a New York City showcase of the winning work. Previous winners include, Megan Mostyn Brown (The Rest of Your Life), Laura Marks (Bethany), Rachel Teagle (The Ever and After), Jiehae Park (Hannah and the Dread Gazebo), Jen Silverman (The Moors), Boo Killebrew (Miller, Mississippi), Genne Murphy (Giantess), Susan Soon He Stanton (We, The Invisibles), Gina Femia (Allond[r]a), and Eliana Pipes (Dream Hou$e).

In addition, the fund also provides financial support to writers afflicted with a serious illness, known as the "Vladimir" (a nod to Leah's love of Russian writers and plays). For more information please visit https://leahryansfeww.com/.

Megan Mostyn Brown Plays include: THE BENDS, GIRL, THE SECRET LIVES OF LOSERS, GOING AFTER ALICE, LIZARDS, OBJECTS ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR, THE BENDS, NORA GETS A BOYFRIEND, NANCY BLUE: GIRL DETECTIVE and THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

Her work has been seen at: The Guthrie Theater, The Cherry Lane Theater, Union Station Theater, New York Stage and Film, The Women's Project, LAByrinth Theater Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, The Public Theater, The Old Vic/ New Voices New York Exchange, The Tribeca Theater Festival and The HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, CO.

Honorable mention: Herrick Theater Foundation New Play Competition. Inaugural winner: Leah Ryan FEWW award. Recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan commission. Megan is published through Samuel French and Playscripts.

Megan also works in TV. Currently a Co-Executive Producer on an overall deal at AMC. She's developing two projects for the network including an adaptation of the book BUNNY by Mona Awad. She has written for NOS4A2 and GOTHAM (2014-2017). Graduate of Warner Bros Writer's Workshop.

Gina Femia's work has been seen/developed at MCC Theater, Playwrights Horizons, EST, The Flea, Page 73, CTG, Theater of NOTE, Panndora Productions, among others. Plays include ALLOND(R)A (2019 Kilroys List; Winner: Leah Ryan Prize; Runner-up: Yale Drama Prize), THIS HAPPENED ONCE AT THE ROMANCE DEPOT OFF THE I-87 IN WESTCHESTER (2019 Kilroys List Honorable Mention), We Are a Masterpiece (Winner: The Doric Wilson Award, Stage Rights publishing), The Mermaids' Parade (Finalist, American Blue Ink Award, Semifinalist, The Relentless Award, Finalist, Princess Grace Award), For The Love Of (Original Works Publishing), and The Violet Sisters (Great Plains Theatre Conference).

Gina is the 2020 Otis Guernsey New Voices award winner, a 2019-2022 Core Writer with the Playwrights Center, and a 2019-2020 member of Ingram New Plays Lab & Parsnip Ship's Radio Roots writer's group. She is an Alum of EST Youngblood, Page73's Interstate 73, Pipeline Theatre's PlayLab, New Georges' Audrey Residency and Project Y's Writer's Group. Gina's a New Georges Affiliated Artist and has received residencies with Page73, Powerhouse, NTI at the O'Neill, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and Fresh Ground Pepper. MFA, Sarah Lawrence College (Lipkin Prize in Playwriting).

Jiehae Park's plays include peerless (Yale Rep premiere, upcoming at Primary Stages), Hannah and the Dread Gazebo (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Here We Are Here (Sundance, Ground Floor@Berkeley Rep, Princess Grace WIP@Baryshnikov Arts Center), The Aves (Alley All-New, McCarter Spotlight), and the book for the upcoming musical Kill the Boy Band. Development: Soho Rep Writer-Director Lab, the Public's Emerging Writers Group, CTG Writers Workshop, p73, ACT, Atlantic, PlayCo, Old Globe, Dramatists Guild Fellowship, Ojai, BAPF, and the amazing Ma-Yi Writers Lab. Awards: Leah Ryan, Princess Grace, Weissberger, ANPF Women's Invitational. Commissions: Playwrights Horizons, Yale Rep, Geffen, OSF, MTC/Sloan. Residencies: MacDowell, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, McCarter/Sallie B. Goodman. As a performer, she most recently appeared in Celine Song's Endlings (NYTW, ART), and Ripe Time/Naomi Iizuka's adaptation of Murakami's Sleep (BAM Next Wave, Yale Rep). TV writing: Marvel's Runaways; currently developing a new show with Diana Son for Tomorrow Studios/Apple. NYTW Usual Suspect, Lincoln Center Theater New Writer-in-Residence, Hodder Fellow, New Dramatist, and 2019-20 Tow Playwright-in-Residence at Primary Stages. BA, Amherst; MFA, UCSD.

Eliana Pipes is a playwright and filmmaker. She's the recipient of the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women and the Leah Ryan Fund Prize for Emerging Women Writers. Recent playwriting work includes: DREAM HOU$E (Ars Nova ANT Fest, San Diego Rep New Latinx Plays Festival, O'Neill Theater Conference Finalist); COWBOY AND THE MOON (National New Play Network MFA Workshop); STAND AND WAIT (Gaffney National Playwriting Prize Winner, Bay Area Playwright's Festival Finalist); STILETTO ENVY (Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival, The Fire this Time Festival). She is currently pursuing an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University. More at www.elianapipes.com.

Daniella Topol is the Artistic Director of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Her world premiere productions include: Cusi Cram's Novenas for a Lost Hospital (Rattlestick), Martyna Majok's Ironbound (Rattlestick; Roundhouse; Steppenwolf's First Look, NY Times Critics' Pick), Jessica Dickey's Charles Ives Take Me Home (Rattlestick) and Row After Row (Women's Project), Cori Thomas' When January Feels Like Summer (Ensemble Studio Theatre/P73/Women's Proj; NY Times Critics' Pick), Rachel Bonds' Five Mile Lake (South Coast Rep), Sheila Callaghan's Dead City (New Georges) and Lascivious Something (Women's Project), Rajiv Joseph's Monster at the Door (Alley Theatre), Tony Meneses' Guadalupe in the Guest Room (Two River), Catherine Treischmann's How the World Began (South Coast Rep and Women's Project), Lloyd Suh's Jesus in India (MaYi and Magic).

Topol has been the Artistic Program Director of the Lark Play Development Center, New Works Program Director of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and Associate Producing Director of City Theatre. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon's Directing Program where she also has a Masters in Arts Management. She has directed readings and workshops for a number of companies, has been a grants review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NY State Council on the Arts and TCG. She is an NYTW Usual Suspect, member of EST, a Women's Project Lab alumnus, and a New Georges affiliated artist. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and 7-year-old daughter.

The Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley works to strengthen community by helping individuals, businesses and organizations establish and administer funds that support vital causes and charities. Partnering with generous donors, they address current and emerging community needs through effective grantmaking to improve the quality of life for all. Additionally, they provide technical assistance to help nonprofits operate more effectively.

If you'd like to make a donation to Leah Ryan's FEWW to support the work of brilliant and unrecognized women, trans, and non-binary playwrights, please do so on the Community Foundation of the Hudson Valley website at https://communityfoundationshv.org/LeahsFEWW. You can also send a check payable to the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, and make sure to write "Leah Ryan's FEWW" in the memo line. Please mail to: Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, 80 Washington Street, Suite 201, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601

Cherry Lane Theatre (www.cherrylanetheatre.org) is located at 38 Commerce Street, New York, NY 10014. Tickets are available through OvationTix at (212) 352-3101.