WP Theater Announces 2025 Space Program Residents

WP Theater has announced the residents of the 2025 Space Program. Crystal Skillman's award winning play, OPEN, will make its Off-Broadway Premiere running July 8th-27th. The production previously had a sold-out run at The Tank where it received critical acclaim including a New York Times Critics Pick.

The upcoming production is directed by Jessi D. Hill (Small, The Ask) and starring Megan Hill (The Suffragette's Murder, The Ants). Open is produced by Midnight Theatricals in association with The Tank, with support from The Fiordellisi-Williams Foundation, and is a New Georges Supported Production. Olivia Dennehy-Basile's SEA GLASS will make its World Premiere running August 16th-30th. The production will be produced by Lily Mannon.

OPEN is a queer love story told by an amateur magician. Her energetic act attempts the impossible — to rescue her girlfriend. The show is a magic act that reveals itself to be a resurrection. A woman called the Magician presents a myriad of tricks for our entertainment, yet her performance seems to be attempting the impossible—to save the life of her partner, Jenny. But is our faith in her illusions enough to rewrite the past? The clock is ticking, the show must go on, and, as impossible as it may seem, this Magician's act may be our last hope against a world filled with intolerance and hate.

SEA GLASS takes place over the course of a fall semester in 1979. Teenage sisters Imogen and Anne Kilcullen are left alone on their Long Island home when their mother abandons them for her Semester at Sea. Their father is off in California set to return to God-knows-when. By themselves, they struggle with Catholic school nuns, their mom's limited cash fund, and the boys who live next door. The show is an exploration into generational curses, womanhood, faith, and forgiveness. In the same way glass in the ocean gets tossed around until it becomes something smooth and beautiful, so many women, too, are shaved down into something less jagged, less sharp, less messy, less aggressive. Sea Glass seeks to explore what it means to be lost, tumble, and come out changed.

THE SPACE PROGRAM is an initiative from WP Theater offering discounted space at their home at 76th & Broadway — to provide affordable producing options to mission-aligned individual artists and small budget not-for-profit companies, who might otherwise not be able to produce because of the financial constraints of renting performance spaces. Discounted rates include access to WP's lighting and sound equipment package, all utilities, cleaning, and marketing and front of house consultations.

Is your production WP mission-aligned; written & directed by Women+ artists, and the rest of the team assembled with a focus on gender equity? Does the composition of your cast and creative team demonstrate a commitment to racial equity? If your production meets these criteria, stay tuned for the launch of our 2026 application period on February 24, 2025. 

WP Theater, now in its 47th Season, is the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of Women+ at every stage in their careers. For almost five 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 a robust and thriving community of artists in theater and beyond. WP Theater received a 2018 Lucille Lortel Award,  a 2019 Obie Award, and a 2020 Drama Desk Award, all for Outstanding Body of Work, recognizing WP's unique place and vital work in the theatrical landscape. WP empowers Women+ of all kinds 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 Women+ 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 2024 Tony Winner for Best Direction of a Musical, Danya Taymor, 2019 Tony Winner for Best Direction of a Musical, Rachel Chavkin, 2018 Tony Winner for Best Direction of a Play, Rebecca Taichman, 2013 Tony Winner for Best Direction of a Play, Pam MacKinnon, 2013 Tony Winner for Best Direction of a Musical, Diane Paulus, 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winner Eboni Booth, 2018 Pulitzer Prize Winner Martyna Majok, and two-time Pulitzer Prize Winner Lynn Nottage. These powerful women found an 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 celebrated two-year mentorship and new play development program for Women+ playwrights, directors,and producers; the Space Program subsidized rental program; the Developmental series of workshops and readings; the Commissioning series, and the Mainstage series, which features a full season of Off-Broadway productions written and  directed by extraordinary theater artists. Current artists under commission are: Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Emily Kaczmarek, MJ Kaufman, Zizi Majid, Rehana Mirza, Zoe Sarnak, Rachel Wax, and Leah Nanako Winkler.  WP is proud to have the legendary New Federal Theater as our Resident Company.

When we say Women+ we mean: cis women, trans, non-binary, or gender-nonconforming people and all gender identities which have been systematically oppressed throughout history in the theater and beyond.

For more information, please visit www.WPTheater.org.

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