WP THEATER Launches Virtual Pipeline Festival with #PIPELINEONLINE

WP Theater has announced that their third biennial Pipeline Festival will continue virtually, with #pipelineonline. Originally slated to begin performances on March 26, each of the Festival plays will now be featured weekly by WP Lab Artists in weekly emails and on WP Theater's Instagram @wptheater, through April 24.

Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty said about #pipelineonline "It was heartbreaking to cancel the Pipeline Festival onstage, which is the absolute heart of who WP is and what we do. We feel so grateful to be able to share the brilliant work the 15 artists of the Lab have been making in this new way. The Lab artists have been so creative and thoughtful about how to bring their process to this New Medium, it has brought real light to a complicated time." Due to the Covid-19 outbreak and the cancellation, WP Theater is thrilled to be able to present an exclusive look at the work of their 2018-2020 Lab artists.

The culmination of the renowned two-year WP Lab residency, The Festival provides a unique opportunity for audiences to see five new plays - in various stages of development, ranging from staged readings to full-length workshop productions - presented over a span of five weeks. #pipelineonline introduces a virtual way to experience the productions and work of the 15 Lab Artists. Each week of #pipelineonline, each of the 5 Pods (1 Playwright, 1 Producer & 1 Director) will share work from their festival projects, culminating in a social media takeover each Friday that include live conversations with the teams, readings from the plays, behind-the-scenes looks at the creative process, and design inspirations. The takeovers began on Friday, March 27, and will continue through Friday, April 24. Each Pod's content lives on in the Instagram's "highlights" section @WPTheater.

The Festival, true to its name, serves as a pipeline to funnel the work of talented women+ artists to the forefront of American theater. Each play is created and produced by collaborative writer/director/producer teams from the WP Lab residency program.

The 2018-2020 WP Lab artists are:

PLAYWRIGHTS: Vanessa Garcia, Sukari Jones, Christina Quintana (CQ), Charly Evon Simpson, and Bryna Turner

DIRECTORS: Victoria Collado, Sarah Hughes, Candis C. Jones, Rebecca Martínez, and Arpita Mukherjee

PRODUCERS: Ilana Becker, Marie Cisco, Lucy Jackson, Stephanie Rolland, and Alyssa Simmons.

The WP Playwrights Lab is co-led by WP Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and former WP Artistic Producer Rachel Karpf; the Directors Lab is led by Tony Award-nominated director Leigh Silverman and former WP Associate Artistic Director Tamilla Woodard; and the Producers Lab is led by Tony Award-winning producer Sally Cade Holmes, with support from Stephanie Ybarra (Artistic Director, Baltimore Center Stage) and Roberta Pereira (Producing Director, The Playwrights Realm).

Previous Festival works have included 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama recipient Martyna Majok's queens (subsequently produced in Lincoln Center Theater's 2017-18 Season), Sarah Burgess' Kings (The Public Theater's 2017-2018 season), Sylvia Khoury's Power Strip (Lincoln Center Theater's 2018-19 Season), and 2018 Jonathan Larson Grant recipients Zoe Sarnak and Emily Kaczmarek's Afloat.

#PIPELINEONLINE CALENDAR

UPCOMING:

WEEK 3: FRIDAY, APRIL 10

TOBIAS: A NOVEL IN PERFORMANCE Featuring:

Instagram takeover with Christina Quintana (CQ), Arpita Mukherjee, and Marie Cisco

An inside look at the visual inspirations that went into the play's design

TOBIAS: A Novel in Performance original playlist

Tobias was a real person; far more than just a footnote in one of North America's earliest-known scandals. TOBIAS: A Novel in Performance is a hybrid theatrical experience, melding the forms of narrative-fiction and playwriting to explore a distinct connection across three backgrounds: Mohawk, African, and Dutch. Tobias, as narrator, leads the audience through a gripping examination of the often-complicated lines between power, sex, and love: both then and now.

WEEK 4: FRIDAY, APRIL 17

GRACE, SPONSORED BY MONTEVERDE Featuring:

Week-long Instagram takeover with Vanessa Garcia, Sarah Hughes, and Alyssa Simmons featuring exclusive immersive content

Insta-script scene breakdown

Design inspirations and designed web-only content

Exclusive expanded play content featuring online-specific storytelling

Catherine is searching for something authentic. Frustrated by her life's direction and haunted by her annoying ex-husband, she embarks with her f*ckbuddy, Lewis, on a Lewis-and-Clark-esque trip across America sponsored by Monteverde Moonshine. But as Catherine travels the country, posting photos and interviews of people she meets-an immigrant worker, a wayward nun, a queer homeschooled teen-she inadvertently raises more questions than answers: about "the real America," about her own identity, and about what "authenticity" even means anymore #ManifestYourDestiny #GraceSponsoredByMonteverde #DrinkandRideResponsibly

WEEK 5: FRIDAY, APRIL 24

MY BABY Featuring:

Instagram takeover with Sukari Jones, Candis C. Jones, and Lucy Jackson

Inspiration images & video from the creative team

Sukari Jones on her inspirations for writing the play

Design images, sketches, and sound samples from the creative team

A reading of an excerpt from MY BABY by Sukari Jones

Behind the scenes video from the rehearsal room

Estelle discovers she cannot be a bone marrow donor for her mother Gladys, who has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Meanwhile, Tinesha is tirelessly searching the universe for her stolen baby. A complicated family drama about mothers, daughters, and the cosmic quests we undertake for the ones we love.

PREVIOUSLY STREAMED:

WEEK 1: FRIDAY, MARCH 27

PHASES OF THE MOON Featuring:

Bryna Turner, Rebecca Martínez and Stephanie Rolland

Before she mastered the art of losing, the poet Elizabeth Bishop was a socialist vegetarian in a peacoat at Vassar College during the Great Depression. Following "Bishie" and her friends over a single lunar cycle during their senior year, Phases of the Moon begins with a ritual gone awry and asks us to consider what's real under all the pretending.

Highlights from PHASES OF THE MOON's takeover can be viewed here.

WEEK 2: FRIDAY, APRIL 3

SANDBLASTED Featuring:

Charly Evon Simpson, Victoria Collado, and Ilana Becker

Angela and Odessa are struggling for survival in a dark present that's being overtaken by an epidemic affecting only black women. A fabulous wellness celebrity emerges as one who could guide them-if only they trust her and follow her into the shifting sands. Will they find a cure? Can a cure even be found? sandblasted is by turns poetic and absurd; a story of waiting and hoping, and of the meaning of touch.

Highlights from SANDBLASTED's takeover can be viewed here.

In addition to #PipelineOnline, WP is also excited to launch the hashtag #WPcommunity to serve as a gathering space for WP Theater's ever-expanding artistic community and to celebrate the work of woman+ artists and theater-makers everywhere. Spread the word and start sharing your content today. https://wptheater.org/wpcommunity/