Parity Productions To Honor Winners Of The Second Annual Parity Commission For Women And Transgender Playwrights

Theatre Production Company Parity Productions, a producer of new work that ensures they fill at least 50% of the creative positions (playwrights, directors, and designers) on their productions with women and/or trans and gender nonconforming (TCNG) artists, is hosting their second Annual Parity Productions Gala on Wednesday, September 26 from 7pm-9pm at Gotham Comedy Club, honoring and announcing the winners of The Second Annual Parity Commission for Women and Transgender Playwrights.

Parity Productions awards two commissions annually to women and TGNC playwrights who have demonstrated a singular talent for storytelling. The selected playwrights receive $2,500 each and developmental support with an option for production. "We can't wait to announce the two winners of our second Annual Parity Commission for Women and Transgender Playwrights and begin the development process. We have selected two moving and relevant pieces that will be wonderful follow-ups to our upcoming productions from our first year of the commission - Charlie's Waiting by Mêlisa Annis and Boxcar by Corbin Went," says Parity Productions Founder and Artistic Director, Ludovica Villar-Hauser. The awards will be presented by last year's commission-winning playwrights. "The benefit of this commission is threefold: first, the script is made stronger and more deliberate; second, I am made stronger and more deliberate; third, the voices of women and trans authors in the national conversation of theatre are made stronger and more deliberate," says 2017 Commission Winner Corbin Went.

In addition to announcing the 2018 winners of the Annual Parity Commission for Women and Transgender Playwrights, Parity Productions will be celebrating their production successes and previewing what's in development, including scenes from last year's commission winner Charlie's Waiting by Mêlisa Annis, Parity's next slated production. "As a long time fan of Parity's advocacy work, I feel honored to be developing my play, Charlie's Waiting, with their team. It has been an incredible process," says 2017 Commission Winner Mêlisa Annis.

The event includes live music, a silent auction, libations, and the awards ceremony, including excerpts from commission winners, and more!

Tickets to this event are available online at The Parity Store. Single Ticket: $95. Double Ticket: $175. VIP Ticket: $250. All VIP tickets include a 60 minute opening reception with hor d'oeuvres at 6pm, preferred seating, early access to silent auction items, and a three hour open bar until 9pm.

All ticket purchases and donations of $95 will enter one ticket (or more per $95) into a raffle for a dinner for two ($150 value) at Broadway favorite Chez Josephine.

You can also support the Gala through Sponsorship, Donation, and/or Purchasing a Journal Advertisement. Email Isabella Schiller at isabella@parityproductions.org for more information.

The host committee for the event includes Ashley Garrett, Howard Goldberg and Jo-Ann Sickinger, Mary Francina Golden, Elizabeth Green, Jann Leeming, Helen Mills and Gary Tannenbaum, Gregory Murphy, DeVida Jenkins, Maritza and Tom McCaskill, Judith Polzer, Lisa Schiller, Kathleen Treat, George Weinhouse MD, and Parity's Founder and Artistic Director, Ludovica Villar-Hauser.

Performers will include Elizabeth Jasicki (Final Analysis), Maggie Mason (Noises Off), and more to be announced. Musical performances by Brittany Brook, Nandi Kayyy, and Brittany's Bluegrass Band will also be part of the evening's festivities.

The submission period for Parity's Third Annual Commission for Women and Transgender Playwrights is October 1st - October 31st, 2018. Click here to learn more about the submission process.

Mêlisa Annis's work has been seen at or developed by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, The Lark and with Dorest Theater Festival at the Theresa Rebeck Writers Colony, The New School, Primary Stages, ESPA*Drills, Tangent Theater, AboutFace Theater (Ireland) and her play United Front was a finalist for the Lark's Playwrights Week. She won the Margaret Lamb Creative Writing Prize, and was the recipient of the Fordham Summer Fellowship while studying for her MFA in playwriting at Fordham/Primary Stages. Mêlisa has written for new children's show Jessy and Nessy for Amazon Studios/JAM Media. Mêlisa's play Aberfan was published in Clockhouse Literary Magazine (Goddard University) and her play Fit for a King was illustrated and published in Fourth Wall Magazine. Mêlisa is a frequent contributor to BBC Wales factual programming, and has written personal essays for The Western Mail (UK) and BBC Online. Mêlisa is the proud recipient of the Parity Productions Annual Commission for her play Charlie's Waiting.

Corbin Went is a co-founder of The Renovationists and current member of Trans Theatre Lab. Corbin's work has been produced and developed by Trans Lab at The Public and WP, Parity Productions, The Tank, The Brick, The Flea, Barn Arts Collective, and regionally. Recipient of 2017 Parity Productions's Commission for Women and Transgender Playwrights. Finalist for The Public's Emerging Writers Group, Ingram Works New Play Lab at Nashville Rep, Scratchpad Series at Playwright's Realm; semi-finalist for the Ars Nova Play Group. Corbin's full length plays include Old Names for Wildflowers, Courage! To the Field!, Three Seconds, Saving Throw, Boxcar, The Great American Folksong, and The Tarantists. Short works include Mongrel (pub. Dionysian #3) and Fireflies. BA Sarah Lawrence College.

Ludovica Villar-Hauser is the Founder and Artistic Director or Parity Productions. As a director, she is known for her skill and emotional insight of a wide range of plays on diverse topics. Among them: the Off-Broadway premiere of Final Analysis by Otho Eskin at the Signature Theatre (Outstanding Direction at Midtown International Theatre Festival); the premiere of Gregory Murphy's The Countess, which ran for 634 performances Off-Broadway before moving to London's West End; the Off-Broadway premiere of Leaves of Glass by English playwright Philip Ridley; As It Is In Heaven by Arlene Hutton at The Cherry Lane; Bold Girls by Rona Munro at 29th Street Rep; and the NY premieres of A Dozen Perfect Moments, The Brightness of Heaven, Living Arrangements by Laura Pedersen; and, most recently, She Calls Me Firefly by Teresa Lotz at SoHo Playhouse. Previous to her many credits in New York, Villar-Hauser was the youngest woman ever to simultaneously produce and direct in London's West End. Her Long Day's Journey Into Night transferred after its initial run to a larger West End venue. She is a recipient of NYWA's Galaxy Award, and has served on the Board of the League of Professional Theatre Women since 2009.

Parity Productions is a formidable producer of new work that ensures that they fill at least 50% of the creative positions (playwrights, directors, and designers) on their productions with women and/or TGNC artists. In addition to producing their own work, they actively promote other theatre companies that follow their 50% hiring standard. Artistically, they develop and produce compelling new plays that give voice to individuals who rebel against their marginalized place in society. Parity Productions is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit theatre company formed in 2016 by international award-winning director Ludovica Villar-Hauser with its roots in two other previous not-for-profits founded by Villar-Hauser: VH Theatrical Development Foundation and Works by Women.

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