WP THEATER Announces 2018 PIPELINE FESTIVAL Lineup

WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater), under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Michael Sag, is thrilled to announce the lineup for the second biennial Pipeline Festival, showcasing the work of the celebrated WP Lab residency for playwrights, directors and producers from March 29 - April 28 at WP Theater (2162 Broadway & 76th Street.)

The culmination of the two-year WP Lab residency, the 2018 Pipeline Festival provides a unique opportunity for audiences and industry to access five new plays at various stages of development, ranging from staged readings to full-length workshop productions. The Festival, true to its name, serves as a pipeline to funnel talented female-identified and trans artists and their work to the forefront of American theater.

The 2016-2018 WP Lab is:

PLAYWRIGHTS: Donnetta Lavinia Grays, MJ Kaufman, Sylvia Khoury, Zoe Sarnak, Leah Nanako Winkler

DIRECTORS: Melissa Crespo, Morgan Gould, Ellie Heyman, Tyne Rafaeli, Mo Zhou

PRODUCERS: Roxanna Barrios, Sally Cade Holmes, Nidia Medina, Laura Ramadei, Yuvika Tolani

Shelley Butler leads the Director's Lab, Stephanie Ybarra leads the Producer's Lab and Lisa McNulty leads the Playwright's Lab.

Four of the five plays in the inaugural 2016 WP Pipeline Festival were included in the 2016 Kilroy's List, an annual industry survey of excellent new plays by female and trans playwrights: Cygnus by Susan Soon He Stanton; Kings by Sarah Burgess; The Rug Dealer by Riti Sachdeva; and queens by Martyna Majok. Kings is currently running as part of The Public Theater's 2017-2018 season, directed by Thomas Kail (Hamilton) and starring Aya Cash, Eisa Davis, Zach Grenier, and Gillian Jacobs. queens begins performances tonight at Claire Tow Theater, as part of Lincoln Center Theater's 2017-2018 season.

Tickets for The Pipeline Festival are now on sale via WWW.WPTHEATER.ORG 888.811.4111. Festival passes are available for $60. The performance schedule is as follows: Thursday at 7:00pm, Friday at 3:00pm & 8:00pm, and Saturday at 8:00pm.

WEEK 1: MARCH 29 - 31

GALATEA or WHATEVER YOU BE

By MJ Kaufman * Directed by Mo Zhou * Produced by Yuvika Tolani

Set Design: Carolyn Mraz * Costume Design: Andrea Hood * Lighting Design: Masha Tsimring * Sound Design: Joanna Lynne Staub

A trans love story set against the backdrop of a climate crisis. Loosely based on John Lyly's 1585 play, Galatea tells the story of two young women from a village threatened with flooding who escape to the nearby woods disguised as boys and fall in love.

WEEK 2: APRIL 5 - 7

THE REVIEW or HOW TO EAT YOUR OPPOSITION

By Donnetta Lavinia Grays * Directed by Melissa Crespo * Produced by Roxanna Barrios

Set Design: Kimie Nishikawa * Costume Design: Lux Haas * Lighting Design: Masha Tsimring * Sound Design: Emily Auciello

In the fall of 2001, there's a marked change in the air of New York City. When a naive yet self-righteous art critic questions an iconic visual artist's integrity, the stage is set for a sexy, emotional, and intellectual game of football between critic and artist.

WEEK 3: APRIL 12 - APRIL 14

AFLOAT

Music and Lyrics by Zoe Sarnak * Book by Emily Kaczmarek * Directed by Ellie Heyman * Produced by Nidia Medina

Set Design: Kimie Nishikawa * Lighting Design: Lucrecia Briceno * Sound Design: Joanna Lynne Staub

In a near-future America ravaged by climate change, teenagers Blue, Nico, and Casey steal a boat and set sail. A kinetic musical odyssey about friendship, survival...and the future of civilization.

WEEK 4: APRIL 19 - APRIL 21

POWER STRIP

By Sylvia Khoury * Directed by Tyne Rafaeli * Produced by Laura Ramadei

Set Design: Kimie Nishikawa * Lighting Design: Masha Tsimring* Sound Design: Joanna Lynne Staub

A young woman is tethered to the only power source in a Syrian refugee camp. Caught in a war-torn world, dictated by the needs and expectations of men, she battles for power of her own.

WEEK 5: APRIL 26 - APRIL 28

TWO MILE HOLLOW

By Leah Nanako Winkler * Directed by Morgan Gould * Produced by Sally Cade Holmes

Set Design: Carolyn Mraz * Costume Design: Haydee Antunano * Lighting Design: Lucrecia Briceno * Sound Design: Emily Auciello

Two Mile Hollow explores the age-old theater genre of affluent white families retreating to their big houses for a weekend of secrets and fights with brutality, awe and compassion.... only this time, none of the white characters are played by white actors.

PHOTOS (Headshots & Complete Lab): http://bit.ly/2Er35GC

BIOGRAPHIES (by show):

GALATEA or WHATEVER YOU BE

(March 29 - 31)

Playwright: MJ Kaufman is a playwright and devised theater artist working in New York and Philadelphia. Their work has been seen at the Huntington Theatre, New York Theater Workshop, the New Museum, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Page73, Colt Coeur, Yale School of Drama, Lark Play Development Center and performed in Russian in Moscow. MJ is currently a member of The Public Theater's Emerging Writers' Group, WP Theater Lab, and a resident playwright at New Dramatists. Originally from Portland, Oregon, MJ attended Wesleyan University and Yale School of Drama. MJ co-curated the 2016 and 2017 Trans Theater Festivals at The Brick.

Director: Mo Zhou Originally from China, Mo Zhou is a stage director based in New York City. She directs plays, musicals, and opera. Ms. Zhou is a 2016/17 NYTW 2050 Fellow and a member of the Directors' Lab with WP Theater. She has developed and presented works at New York Theatre Workshop, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Williamstown Theater Festival, Manhattan School of Music, among others. She was the James Marcus Opera Directing Fellow at the Juilliard School, where she apprenticed alongside Stephen Wadsworth. She has worked and trained with Houston Grand Opera, Merola Opera Program, Wolf Trap Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, to name a few. MFA in Directing, Columbia University; BA, Bowdoin College.

Producer: YUVIKA TOLANI is a producer and dramaturg interested in developing new work. She is currently a Line Producer at The Public Theater, where she collaborates with artists throughout the year on projects ranging from one-day events to mainstage productions in the season. Prior to working at The Public she was part of the fundraising team at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard. Yuvika began her exploration of the role of a producer in developing new work while pursuing Theater Studies at Yale University. Yuvika comes to New York with an already-split allegiance to her original hometowns: Mumbai and Singapore. A product of disparate cultures, she is a big believer in the universal impact of a powerful story.

THE REVIEW or HOW TO EAT YOUR OPPOSITION

(April 5-7)

Playwright: Donnetta Lavinia Grays - Plays include Last Night and the Night Before (Kilroys List, Denver Center's Colorado New Play Summit, NNPN Showcase, Todd McNerney National Playwriting Contest Winner, O'Neill Center Semifinalist), Laid to Rest (Kilroys List - Honorable Mention. Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep Residency, Space on Ryder Farm Creative Residency), The Review (O'Neill Center Finalist). Developed work with The Public, Labyrinth Theater, New York Theater Workshop, KC Rep, Portland Stage, Pure Theatre, and Naked Angels. 2016-2018 Time Warner Foundation WP Playwrights Lab Resident. Civilians R&D Group and terraNova Collective Groundbreakers Playwright group alumna. Inaugural recipient of the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. www.donnettagrays.com

Director: Melissa Crespo is a NYC based director of theater, opera and film. Recent credits include: Jill Abramovitz & Brad Alexander's Bread and Roses(Amas Musical Theatre), MJ Kaufman's eat and you belong to us (NYU Tisch), Vid Guerrerio's ¡Figaro! (90210) (The Duke on 42nd Street, LA Opera), Karen Zacarías' Destiny of Desire (Garden Theatre), Tar Baby written and performed by Desiree Burch with Dan Kitrosser and The ABC Talent Showcase. Upcoming:Brother Toad by Nathan Louis Jackson (Kansas City Repertory Theatre). Melissa is an alum of the Drama League, current NYTW Usual Suspect and received her MFA in Directing from The New School for Drama. www.melissacrespo.com

Producer: ROXANNA BARRIOS currently resides at The Public Theater as the Program Manager of the Mobile Unit, a program that brings free year-round programming to the five boroughs of NYC. She is about to manage her eighth tour, bringing Henry V to community centers, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, and more. As a producer, she has worked with the Cherry Lane Mentor Project, UglyRhino Productions, and the producing department of The Public Theater. Prior to her time in New York, she did a brief stint in film in Los Angeles and spent just under a decade working for a children's performing arts training company in South Florida. She is a graduate of the University of Florida and a proud South Florida native

AFLOAT

(April 12 - April 14)

Music and Lyrics: Zoe Sarnak Works include: Secret Soldiers (with Marsha Norman), Afterwords (Village Theatre Beta Series Production 2018, Playwrights Horizons-MTF lab),The Years Between (with Kirsten Guenther, T-Fellowship), Across the Great Divide (with Michele Lowe, Transport Group's 20th Century Commission), Galileo (with Danny Strong, Michael Weiner and dir. Michael Mayer), Teddy & Max (with Brian Crawley), A Crossing (with Josh Bergasse, Barrington Stage Company commission) and musical short films Landed, Alma Mater, and Hold Your Peace. (with Emily Kaczmarek, New York Film Academy commissions). Awards include: 2018 Jonathan Larson Grant Finalist (with Emily Kaczmarek, winners to be announced), Davenport Songwriting contest winner, NY Stage & Film's Founders Award finalist, Fred Ebb Award finalist, two time Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award Honoree, Women's Project Lab Artist, SWAN song contest award. Residencies include: The Public Theater at Vineyards Arts, Goodspeed Writers Colony, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New York Theatre Workshop, McCarter Theater Residency, Prospect Theatre Company, Eugene O'Neill Artist Residency, and Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. Music featured: NY Times Live, Lilly Awards, Women of Note, Cutting Edge Composers and more. Education: Harvard University.

Book: Emily Kaczmarek is a NYC-based writer, teacher, and performer. Works include: Sam & Lizzie (First Floor Theatre), Afloat (with Zoe Sarnak; Prospect Theatre Company, WP Theatre Pipeline Festival), Afterwords (with Zoe Sarnak; Village Theatre Beta Series, Village Originals Festival of New Musicals, Playwrights Horizons-Musical Theatre Factory workshop, NYMF Developmental Reading), American Kids (City Theatre ShortCuts, Women in Arts & Media Coalition, BoxFest Detroit), Landed, Alma Mater and Hold Your Peace(with Zoe Sarnak; New York Film Academy commissions), Paper & Glue (Future of Storytelling Conference, various high schools in NY and CA), and Anything New (NYU commission, Wombat Theatre Co). Residencies include: SPACE on Ryder Farm, Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, Goodspeed Musicals. Awards include: 2018 Kleban Prize Finalist, 2017 Premiere Stages Play Festival Semifinalist, 2018 Jonathan Larson Grant Finalist (with Zoe Sarnak; winners to be announced). She also teaches writing to high schoolers through the college access program SEO Scholars, and sings whenever possible. Education: New York University.

Director: Ellie Heyman is a NYC theater director. Credits include: The Traveling Imaginary, theatrical rock show with Julian Koster (Neutral Milk Hotel) rated "Top 5 shows of the year" by NPR; narrative podcast The Orbiting Human Circus (Of the Air) featuring John Cameron Mitchell, Tim Robbins, and Mandy Patinkin, downloaded over 2 million times and rated #1 in iTunes (Night Vale Presents); Jason Craig & Dave Malloy's Beardo (Pipeline Theater) Erin Markey: Boner Killer (Under the Radar/The Public Theater); Becca Blackwell'sThey, Themself and Schmerm,(Under the Radar/The Public Theater); Adrienne Truscott's THIS (NYLA). International credits include: Elevation 506 in Bulgaria with Yasen Vasilev andHome/Yuva in Istanbul with Sami Berat Marcali. Her work has been presented by The Public Theater/Joe's Pub, New York Theater Workshop, The Kennedy Center, Abrons Art Center, The Bushwick Starr, Banana, Bag & Bodice, La Mama, New World Stages, The Drama League, Big Theater, Boston Center for American Performance, The Laguardia Performing Arts Center, NYLA, En Garde Arts, and indie rock clubs across America. She is a graduate of Northwestern and Boston Universities (MFA), a Drama League Directing Fellow, a Drama League Artist in Residence, and a Time Warner Directing Fellow at the Women's Project Theatre.

Producer: NIDIA MEDINA is currently the Line Producer at The Public Theater. Before landing there, she had the pleasure of being Associate Producer at INTAR, and also produced an internationally touring one-woman show for charity called The God Box that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities all over. Other independent producing projects include off-off Broadway shows, fundraiser performances, and some wacky variety shows. But that's not all! She's held a variety of other positions in the theater, and has spent the past ten years backstage, onstage and in the offices of some great NYC theater companies - including Cherry Lane, Ars Nova, MCC, MTC, Theater for a New Audience, and LAByrinth Theatre Company. She makes art, too. It's probably best to just call her a "Theatre Person." She holds a Master's degree in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute.

POWER STRIP

(April 19 - April 21)

Playwright: Sylvia Khoury is a New York-born writer of French and Lebanese descent living in Manhattan. Her plays include Against the Hillside (EST premiere, Lark Playwrights' Week, Eugene O'Neill Playwrights' Conference, 2016 Kilroys List, Roundabout Theatre's Underground Reading Series, NNPN National Showcase of New Plays) and Selling Kabul (2017 Kilroys List, Noor Theater's Highlight Reading Series, La Jolla Playhouse's DNA Reading Series). She is a member of the 2016-2018 Womens' Project Lab, EST/Youngblood, and a 2015-2016 Dramatists' Guild Fellow. BA, Columbia University; MFA, New School for Drama. She is currently a student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Director: Tyne Rafaeli is a New York based director of new plays, classics and musicals. Recent productions include the world premiere of Michael Yates Crowley's The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Grace B. Mattias with Playwright's Realm, the New York premiere of In A Word by Lauren Yee with Lesser America and the world premiere of Anna Ziegler'sActually A at The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles (Ovation nominated). Her work has also been seen at: Classic Stage Company, The Atlantic Theatre, Roundabout Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Two River Theatre, New York Stage & Film, PlayMaker's Rep, Goodspeed, Julliard, Great Lakes Theatre, American Players Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, The O'Neill Playwright's Conference and PlayPenn, amongst others. Tyne is a 2016-2018 Time Warner Directing Fellow at the Women's Project Theatre and was awarded the 2013-14 SDCF Sir John Gielgud Fellowship for Classical Direction. She previously served as Bartlett Sher's Associate Director on various Broadway and West End productions. Tyne trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and Columbia University. Upcoming projects include Ironbound by Martyna Majok at The Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles.

Producer: Laura Ramadei is a Founding Member of The Nola Project, a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, a current Time Warner Producing Fellow at Women's Project Theatre, and Producing Director and Co-Founder of Lesser America, which recently wrapped an inaugural company residency at Cherry Lane Theatre. Ramadei also serves as the Director of Creative Development for the American Playwriting Foundation, created in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman. A graduate of Denver School of the Arts and NYU, Tisch, she's performed and worked behind the scenes at The Public Theater, HERE Arts Center, Theater for the New City, Theater 80, Ensemble Studio Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Fault Line Theatre, The Barrow Group, and with LAByrinth, among others.

TWO MILE HOLLOW

(April 26 - April 28)

Playwright: LEAH NANAKO WINKLER is a Japanese-American playwright from Kamakura, Japan and Lexington Kentucky Plays include Kentucky. (2015 Kilroys List, World Premiere: Ensemble Studio Theatre in coproduction with Page 73 and the Radio Drama Network), Two Mile Hollow (2017 Kilroys List, 2017-2018 Simultaneous World Premiere at Artists At Play in La, Mixed Blood/Theater Mu in Minneapolis, First Floor Theater in Chicago and Ferocious Lotus in SF) and God Said This (World Premiere: 2018 Humana Festival). She a member of the Ma Yi lab, the Dorothy Streslin New American Writer's Group at Primary Stages and EST. She was awarded the first-ever Mark O'Donnell Prize from The Actors Fund and Playwrights Horizons and is currently one of the inaugural playwrights to receive a commission from Audible's emerging playwrights fund. She is the 2017-2019 recipient of the Lark's Jerome New York Fellowship.

Director: Morgan Gould is a playwright and director. She is currently in the playwriting program at Juilliard, a New Dramatists resident playwright, a 2017-18 Dramatist Guild Foundation Fellow, a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, a member of the Women's Project Lab, the former Associate Artistic Director of Young Jean Lee's Theatre Company (co-creator Untitled Feminist Show), and the Artistic Director of Morgan Gould & Friends - her theater company with 9 actors, 3 designers, and a filmmaker (www.morgangouldandfriends.com). In 2016, she directed Leah Nanako Winkler's Kentucky (P73/ EST) and her play I Wanna f-ing Tear You Apart won the 2016 Beatrice Terry/ Drama League Award and premiered the next winter at Studio Theatre in DC (with Morgan directing), where DC Theatre Arts said Morgan "shows every bit as much promise as Edward Albee's early work, arguably more." Upcoming directing: God Said This by Leah Nanako Winkler (Humana Festival 2018) and Straight White Men by Young Jean Lee (Marin Theatre Company).

Producer: Sally Cade Holmes is a New York-based creative producer. Credits include: Anastasia (Broadway), Puffs (off-Broadway), Boy Gets Violent (Ars Nova's AntFest), Summer Valley Fair (NYMF), Hi, Are You Single (2016 Under The Radar), and Here's Hoover! (Les Freres Corbusier & Alex Timbers). She is the Associate Producer at Tom Kirdahy Productions (White Rabbit Red Rabbit, The Visit, It's Only A Play) and prior to that served as Producing Associate at Williamstown Theatre Festival. She also works with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as a Line Producer for their Play On! initiative. BFA: University of Evansville.

ABOUT THE WP LAB

The artistic heart of WP Theater, the two-year Lab residency provides rising stars in the industry with a vital professional network, entrepreneurial and leadership training, rehearsal space, and most significantly, tangible opportunities for the development and production of bold new work for the stage. As the culmination of the Lab, the Pipeline Festival provides a unique opportunity for audiences and industry to access five new plays at various stages of development, ranging from staged readings to full-length workshop productions. True to its name, WP Pipeline Festival serves as a pipeline to funnel talented female-identified and trans artists and their work to the forefront of American theater. The WP Lab is led by WP's Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty, Director Shelley Butler (Guys and Dolls - AD, The Most Deserving), and Producer Stephanie Ybarra (Director of Special Artistic Projects - The Public).

The Lab has two main goals: to cultivate the work of female-identified and trans theater artists and to give them the tools they need to succeed in the business. Most significantly, WP puts its money where its mouth is by hiring Lab artists for main stage productions, hiring WP Lab artists and alums regularly for its mainstage and staff.

Shelley Butler (Director's Lab Leader) is a New York-based director who has worked extensively with writers developing over two-dozen new plays and musicals. Recent productions include the world premiere and New York premiere of The Most Deserving by Catherine Trieschmann (Denver Center Theatre Company, Women's Project), world premiere production of This is Fiction by Megan Hart, starring Richard Masur at Cherry Lane (InViolet Rep).Shelley spent two seasons as artistic associate in charge of new play development for Hartford Stage, three seasons as artistic associate for Great Lakes Theater Festival and two years as Features Editor for the SDC Journal. Shelley has directed and developed new work for Hartford Stage, South Coast Repertory, Denver Center Theatre Company, Geva, New York Stage and Film, Primary Stages, E.S.T., Dallas Lyric Stage, PlayPenn, New Dramatists, Women's Project, the Lark, New Georges, Dixon Place, The Playwright's Realm, Urban Stages, Wellfleet Harbor Actor's Theatre, Keen Company, Terra Nova, GroundUp, InViolet Rep, and NYU's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Shelley is the recipient of a Drama League Directing Fellowship, a 2005 Director's Guild of America Trainee with rotations on E.R., BONES, THE UNIT and multiple pilots and a member of SDC, the Lincoln Center Directors' Lab and the Women's Project Directors Lab. Next season Shelley will direct the Bulgarian premiere of Avenue Q in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Stephanie Ybarra (Producer's Lab Leader) is a native Texan who still owns - and often wears - a pair of cowboy boots. With almost 15 years of experience under her belt (which matches her boots), Stephanie is currently putting her skills to work as Director of Special Artistic Projects at The Public Theater. When she's not leading the Mobile Shakespeare Unit, and producing the Public Forum series for The Public, Stephanie serves as the Producer's Lab Liaison for the Women's Project, as well as the Curator and Casting Director for Two River Theater's Crossing Border's Festival. Her career started in her home state, working in Marketing and Development with Dallas Theater Center and Dallas Children's Theater. She then spent time as the Deputy Director of Program Operations for Citizen Schools, a national after school program based in Boston. Stephanie made her New York producing debut in 2007 with the original production of Tarell McCraney's The Brothers Size at The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival, for which she received the inaugural Producer's Chair Award from the Foundry Theater. Roles such as Associate Managing Director of New Play Production at Yale Repertory Theatre, and Interim General Manager for Two River Theater Company round out her tri-state credits. Since then she served as Producing Director for Playwrights Realm, and Producing Artistic Director for the Cherry Lane's Mentor Project. In 2012, Stephanie was awarded the Josephine Abady Award for producing from New York's League of Professional Theatre Women, and is an alumnae of the Women's Project Producer's Lab. She holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama, and a deep belief in the power of the post-it note.

WP THEATER (formerly known as Women's Project Theater) is the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of female-identified and trans theater artists at every stage in their careers. For nearly four 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 to a robust and thriving community of artists in theater and beyond.

WP empowers female-identified artists 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 female 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 Eve Ensler, María Irene Fornés, Katori Hall, Pam MacKinnon, Lynn Nottage, Leigh Silverman and Anna Deveare Smith. These powerful women found an early 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 two-year mentorship and new play development program for women playwrights, directors, and producers; the Domestic Partner residency program; the Developmental series; and the Main Stage series, which features a full season of Off-Broadway productions written and directed by extraordinary theater artists.

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