Regina Taylor and Karen Ziemba Join La Femme Theatre Productions As They Inaugurate Two Developmental Initiatives

La Femme Theatre has announced two initiatives - Women on the Verge, The Gladys and Mary Dohmen Reading Series, which will showcase emerging female artists, and A Woman's Storyland, a script development program that will develop diverse stories about the universal female experience. The actress Carmen Berkeley, the director Kyla Kantor, and the playwright Phanésia Pharel are the three female artists whose work La Femme is honored to showcase in these two initiatives.

Women on the Verge: The Gladys and Mary Dohmen Reading Series, created to showcase the work of promising female artists on the verge of national recognition, will debut with Megan Mostyn-Brown's play GIRL., directed by Kyla Kantor and featuring Carmen Berkeley.

Girl. - An inventive, sensitive rendering of the female adolescent experience and its ramifications, Girl. reveals how the butterfly effect can reverberate from mother to daughter and beyond.

Girl. will have a public presentation at the Pershing Square at the Signature Center on West 42nd Street on Monday, April 11 at 7 PM. The event is FREE. Tickets can be reserved by visiting Eventbrite.

The cast of Girl. includes Carmen Berkeley (NY: Our Dear Dead Drug Lord), Erica Camarano (TV: "The Equalizer"), Jade Krickstein, Sarah Linares (NY: Sorry for Your Loss), and Marquis Rodriguez (TV: "Queen Sugar"). The production stage manager is Skylar Jean; the technical producer, Ruby Locknar; and the video editor, Seth Walters.

A Woman's Storyland, established to shepherd female writers and their stories, will launch with the work of Phanésia Pharel, a rising Haitian-American playwright. To develop her exciting new play, Black Girl Joy, La Femme will hold an Equity workshop under the direction of the award-winning Regina Taylor.

Black Girl Joy - At a housing center for vulnerable youth in Miami, Trina, JT, Squeaks, and Donna come together to share their evocative stories. Lyrically moving between memory, choreopoems, and a mystical plot, Black Girl Joy is a ritual play for black girls/women to heal from intimate partner violence, a loss of girlhood, and the death of friends.

After two weeks of development, Black Girl Joy will culminate in a rehearsal/presentation on April 17 for an invited audience. The cast includes Jerusha Cavazos (Broadway: The Prom), Michael Chenevert (Film: Eugenia and John), Diata Coleman (Film: Pretenders), Andrea Jones-Sojola (Broadway: The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess), Esco Jouley (Sundance TV's "State of the Union"), Imani Lewis (TV: "First Kill"), Lauralie Ashley Mufute (Tada's Wide-awake Jake), Kimber Elayne Sprawl (Broadway: Girl from the North Country), and Tony winner Karen Ziemba (Broadway: Prince of Broadway, Contact). Production stage manager is Gwen Gilliam; casting director, Erica Hart; musical coordinator, Bill Toles; and choreographer, Adesola Osakalumi. Both initiatives are general managed by LDK Productions.

"La Femme Theatre has always embraced plays with strong central female characters and perspectives. Over the past two years, we have expanded our mission not only to embrace up-and-coming female playwrights and directors, helping them develop their work for the stage, but also to showcase promising female artists. We are so fortunate to launch our two new initiatives with the talents of Carmen Berkeley, Kyla Kantor, and Phanésia Pharel." - Jean Lichty, La Femme Executive Director

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