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WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater) is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater based in New York City. It is the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of Women+ theater artists of all kinds at every stage in their careers. Lisa McNulty serves as the Producing Artistic Director and Michael Sag serves as the managing director.

Background

WP Theater was founded in 1978 by Julia Miles to address the conspicuous under representation of women artists working in the American theater. Miles was producing at The American Place Theatre, an Off-Broadway theater dedicated to produce new work by American writers. Miles began as Assistant Manager at The American Place Theater in 1964 and advanced in the ranks to associate director. During this time, she noted the lack of plays written by women being produced by The American Place Theater in comparison to those written by men. Under a grant from the Ford Foundation, Miles created The Women's Project under the umbrella of The American Place Theater to encourage the development of female playwrights and directors and to provide a forum for their work. For its first nine years, WP Theater staged its productions in the basement of The American Place Theater. In 1987, the project left The American Place Theater and became an independent organization, known today as WP Theater. In 1998, the project bought a church at 424 West 55th Street, also the site of Theater Four, which was named the Julia Miles Theater in 2004.

WP Theater aims to empower artists who have historically been marginalized for their gender or gender expression to reach their full potential. The fundamental components of WP Theater are the Main stage Season, the WP Lab and Pipeline Festival, and the annual Women of Achievement Awards gala.

WP Theater artist alumni include Billie Allen, Anne Bogart, Pearl Cleage, Eve Ensler, María Irene Fornés, Pam MacKinnon, Dominique Morisseau, Lynn Nottage, Joyce Carol Oates, Diane Paulus, Sarah Ruhl, Anna Deavere Smith, and Rebecca Taichman.

Actors who have performed in WP Theater productions include Tony Award winners and nominees Michael Cerveris, Kathleen Chalfant, Colleen Dewhurst, Tammy Grimes, Cherry Jones, Tonya Pinkins, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Thomas Sadoski, and Frances Sternhagen, Academy Award winners and nominees Linda Hunt, Kim Hunter, and Mary McDonnell, and Emmy Award winners and nominees Ruby Dee, America Ferrera, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jimmy Smits, and John Spencer. Other actors who have performed in WP Theater productions include Adrienne C. Moore, Pedro Pascal, and Tracie Thoms.

Alumni of the WP Lab include JoAnne Akalaitis, Tea Alagić, Rachel Chavkin, Quíara Alegria Hudes, and Anne Kauffman. Many Lab alumni have served as artistic directors at other theater companies, including Akalaitis (New York Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theater), Emily Mann (McCarter Theatre), and Carey Perloff (A.C.T.).

WP Theater founder Julia Miles died on March 18, 2020.

Productions

Since 1978, WP Theater has produced more than 600 Off-Broadway plays and developmental projects and has partnered with a number of other New York theater companies for co-productions, including Playwrights Horizons and The New Group. Often, WP Theater produces plays that are New York premieres or world premieres. These include Bright Half Life written by Tanya Barfield and directed by Leigh Silverman, Stuffed by Lisa Lampanelli, Or, by Liz Duffy Adams, and Virginia Woolf's only play, Freshwater, directed by Anne Bogart.

WP Theater's first production was Choices, a one-woman show that was adapted from the works of Colette, Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Parker, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Plath, Adrienne Rich, and Joan Didion, among others. It was conceived by writer Patricia Bosworth and adapted by Bosworth, director Caymichael Patten, and actress Lily Lodge. Choices ran from November 30 to December 17, 1978, in the American Place Theater basement. Julia Miles said the production "explores the choices that women have. Hopefully, there are now more of those choices and women are more definite about what they are." After the production opened, Mel Gussow of The New York Times wrote, " Choices serves as a brief introduction to the artistic energy of literary women. Given the variety of versatile people who are engaged in the 'Women's Project', we look forward to the plays, playwrights, and directors that should emerge from the American Place."

In 1981, WP Theater produced Still Life, a documentary-style play about the aftermath of the Vietnam War written and directed by Emily Mann. The production featured Mary McDonnell, Timothy Near, and John Spencer and earned four Obie Awards, including the award for Best Production.

One of WP Theater's most heralded productions is A...My Name is Alice, a revue of songs and sketches conceived and directed by Julianne Boyd and Joan Micklin Silver. The production earned the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Revue in the 1983/84 season and featured songs and scenes penned by Cassandra Medley, Winnie Holzman, Marta Kauffman, Anne Meara, and others.

WP Theater has worked closely with Cuban-American playwright, María Irene Fornés, since its inception. Fornés, a Pulitzer Prize nominee and nine-time Obie Award winner, is known for her avant-garde and experimental plays. WP Theater has produced three Fornés plays, including Abingdon Square, which earned the 1988 Obie for Best New American Play.

The Lab

The Lab is a two-year residency for female-identified playwrights, directors, and producers. Members of the Lab are selected through a highly competitive application and interview process. The Lab provides its members with a vital professional network, entrepreneurial and leadership training, rehearsal space, and opportunities for the development and production of bold new work for the stage.

The Lab began as the Directors Forum, created in 1983. In 1992, WP added the Playwrights Lab. The Producers Lab was added in 2006 to enhance the collaborative nature of the residency.

The Lab has two main goals: to cultivate the work of the participating artists and to give them the tools they need to succeed in the industry. In addition to developing their own unique work, Lab artists collaboratively create a culminating residency production. Since 2016, Lab members' work has been showcased at the biennial Pipeline Festival. For the month-long Pipeline Festival, groups of three—one writer, one director, and one producer—come together to collaborate on a piece.

Prior to 2016, Lab members would devise new work, showcased in a production at the end of the residency term. These productions include The Architecture of Becoming (2014), We Play for the Gods (2012), Global Cooling: The Women Chill (2009), Corporate Carnival (2008), and Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$ (2007).

Prior to 2004, the Lab did not function on a two-year rotation.

Under the auspices of WP Theater, the 2008/2010 Lab Playwrights published Out of Time and Place, a two-volume anthology of plays, including contributions from 11 Lab playwrights and an introduction by Theresa Rebeck.

Many Lab artists continue to work together long after their official residency ends, and WP Theater continues to advocate for its Lab alumnae by brokering agents, providing references, and submitting their work to theaters around the country. WP Theater also hires many Lab artists for main stage productions.

WP Lab alumnae

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Playwrights Lab members 1992–2004

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• Liz Duffy Adams
• Janet Allard
• Taylor Barton
• Neena Beber
• Tish Benson
• Chantal Bilodeau
• Kitty Chen
• Paula Cizmar
• Cynthia L. Cooper (Cindy)
• Cheryl L. Davis
• Margie Duffield
• Linda Faigao-Hall
• Catherine Filloux
• Daisy Foote
• Juliana Francis
• Aimee Gallin
• Barbara Goldman
• Dana Leslie Goldstein
• Daphne Greaves
• Monika Gross
• Susan Eve Haar
• Lisa Humbertson
• Michael angel Johnson
• Jake-Ann Jones
• Mona Koppelman
• Carson Kreitzer
• Michele Aldin Kushner
• Margaret Lamb
• Ji Hyun Lee
• Stephanie Lehmann
• Lucy Lehrer
• Andrea Lepcio
• Patricia Lin
• Jessica Litwak
• Nancy Lubet
• Carol Mack
• Julie McKee
• Cassandra Medley
• Kim Merrill
• Lyssa Miller
• Rachelle Minkoff
• Debbie Mitchell
• Chiori Miyagawa
• Lesli-Jo Morizono
• Laura Quinn
• Elizabeth Scales Rheinfrank
• Carmen Rivera
• Kate Robin
• Alva Rogers
• Sharyn Rothstein
• Sarah Ruhl
• Gail Sheehy
• Jane Shepard
• Marina Shron
• Lynda Sturner
• Judy Tate
• Tracy Thorne
• Alexandra Tolk
• Sheri Wilner
• Beth Windsor

Directors Lab/Directors Forum members 1983–2004

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• Joyce Aaron
• Josephine Abady
• JoAnne Akalaitis
• Merry Alderman
• Billie Allen
• Marcella Andre
• Cecelia Antoinette
• Marcy Arlin
• Alexandra Aron
• Linda Atkinson
• Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
• Mirra Bank
• Lisa Barnes
• Sue Batchelor
• Jessica Bauman
• Meghan Beals
• Alma Becker
• Suzanne Bennett
• Melia Bensussen
• Jackie Berger
• Randee Mia Berman
• Hilary Blecher
• Donna Tomas Bond
• Robin Bowers
• Julianne Boyd
• Veronica Brady
• Yanna Kroyt Brandt
• Celia Braxton
• Margot Brier
• Brooke Brod
• Page Burkholder
• Carolyn Cantor
• Juliette Carrillo
• Laurie Carlos
• Kay Carney
• Lenora Champagne
• Allyn Chandler
• Tisa Chang
• Linda Chapman
• Linda Cholodenko
• Nancy S. Chu
• Marya Cohn
• Michelle Coleman
• Beatriz Cordoba
• Lee Costello
• Sarah Davie
• Diane L. Dawson
• Lenore DeKoven
• Heather de Michele
• Peg Denithorne
• Judy Dennis
• Liz Diamond
• Toni Dorfman
• Annie Dorsen
• Imani Douglas
• Anne D'Zmura
• Mary Beth Easley
• April-Dawn Gladu
• Carol Goodheart
• Andra Gordon
• Jennifer Uphoff Gray
• Monika Gross
• Robin Guarino
• Denise Hamilton
• Dana Iris Harrel
• Ludovica Villar Hausar
• Yvette Hawkins
• Rosemary Hay
• Catherine M. Head
• Elizabeth A. Herron
• Amy Holston
• Beth Howard
• Lisa Jackson
• Meachie Jones
• Melanie Joseph
• Zoya Kachadurian
• Mia Katigbak
• Sonoko Kawahara
• Anne Kauffman
• Rasa Allan Kazlas
• Francoise Kourilsky
• Rachel Kranz
• Ari Laura Kreith
• Kati Kuroda
• Mahayana Landowne
• Renee LaTulippe
• Sue Lawless
• Susan Leaming
• Sondra Lee
• Karen Lordi
• Kathryn Long
• Karen Ludwig
• Jill Mackavey
• Pam MacKinnon
• Emily Mann
• Jamie Marcu
• Elysa Marden
• Marya Mazor
• Tricia McDermott
• Kate Mennone
• Maria Mileaf
• Mary Louise Miller
• Vernice P. Miller
• Kym Moore
• Isis Saratial Misdary
• Kathryn Moroney
• Ariel Julia Nazarian
• Timothy Near
• Renfreu Neff
• Deborah Nitzberg
• Gail Noppe-Brandon
• Elisabeth Omilami
• Sharon Ott
• Sheila Page
• Shirley Parkinson
• Passion
• Rebecca Patterson
• Carey Perloff
• Livia Perez
• Victoria Pero
• Lisa Peterson
• Renee Philippi
• Lynn Polan
• Joanne Pottlitzer
• Kate Powers
• June Pyskacek
• Shelly Raffle
• Lisandra Maria Ramos
• Elinor Renfield
• Nancy Rhodes
• Joumana Rizk
• Mary Robinson
• Nancy Rogers
• Barbara Rosoff
• Bevya Rosten
• June Rovenger
• Susan Rowlands
• Barbara Rubin
• Deborah Saivetz
• Eva Saks
• Nancy Salomon
• Amy Saltz
• Kristen Sanderson
• Elyse Singer
• Lynne Singer
• Anna Deavere Smith
• Elaine Smith
• Shelley Souza
• Hilary Spector
• Maurya Swanson
• Judy Stewart
• Shilarna Stokes
• Alison Summers
• Sarah Cameron Sunde
• Melanie Sutherland
• Carol Tanzman
• Lynne Taylor-Corbett
• Beatrice Terry
• Joan Vail Thorne
• Laura Tichler
• Virlana Tkacz
• Susana Tubert
• Ching Valdez-Aran
• Valeria Vasilevski
• Jean Wagner
• Marianne Weems
• Claudia Weill
• Adrienne Weiss
• Iona Weissberg
• Helen White
• Melanie White
• B.J. Whiting
• Julia Whitworth
• Maurya Wickstrom
• Rachel Wineberg
• Bryna Wortman
• Evan Yiounoulis
• Gloria Zelaya
• Alison Eve Zell

Women of Achievement Awards

Each year, WP Theater recognizes the extraordinary accomplishments of women from the worlds of entertainment, business, and philanthropy at the Women of Achievement Awards Gala. Since 1986, WP Theater has paid homage to dozens of women who have taken risks, pushed limits, and broken ground in a variety of fields. The event is typically emceed by a female celebrity, with a variety of performances and appearances by other artists. Past recipients of the Women of Achievement Award include Maya Angelou, Katie Couric, Whoopi Goldberg, Billie Jean King, Chita Rivera, and Gloria Steinem.

Women of Achievement Award recipients

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Full production history

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References

1. "The Women's Project & Productions, Inc". Archived from the original on 2017-08-29.
2. BWW News Desk. "MTC's Lisa McNulty Named New Producing Artistic Director of Women's Project Theater". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
3. "Michael Sag Joins WP Theater as Managing Director". Playbill. 10 January 2017. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
4. "Julia Miles: WPP's Founder Reviews Career". Backstage.com. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
5. "'Choices' Opens Women's Program". The New York Times. 1978-12-03. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
6. Julia Miles Theater / Theatre Four, michaelminn.net
7. Theater Four at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
8. Julia Miles Theater, nyc-arts.org
9. "Our Mission | WP Theater". wptheater.org. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
10. "Women's Project Theater Production History". American Theatre.
11. Pacheco, Patrick (1992-11-15). "'I'm Not Avant-Garde' : JoAnne Akalaitis, Joseph Papp's heir, faces the biggest challenge of her career: getting the public into New York's Public Theater". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
12. "Emily Mann, Artistic Director of McCarter Theatre". princetonol.com. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
13. "Benefit Bios & Headshots". www.theatrebayarea.org. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
14. Slotnik, Daniel E. (25 March 2020). "Julia Miles, 90, Dies; Pushed for Gender Parity in the Theater". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
15. "Julia Miles, Founder of WP Theater, Passes Away". Playbill.com. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
16. Gussow, Mel (1978-12-11). "Stage: Choices, Women's Anthology". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
17. "María Irene Fornés by Allen Frame". bombmagazine.org. Archived from the original on 2017-09-01. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
18. "Women's Project Showcases New Works at Pipeline | Playbill". Playbill. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
19. "Aliens with Extraordinary Skills, Freshwater and Global Chill Set for Women's Project Season | Playbill". Playbill. 23 July 2008. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
20. "We Play for the Gods, With Annie Golden and Erika Rolfsud, Debuts Off-Broadway | Playbill". Playbill. June 2012. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
21. Mcgee, Celia (2008-05-08). "At the World Financial Center, a Circus Breaks Out". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
22. Clements, Alexis; Evans, Christine (2010). Out of Time & Place: An Anthology of Plays by the Women's Project Playwrights Lab. Lulu.com. ISBN 9780578060163.
23. "Dana H. - Disneyland Paris | LinkedIn". www.linkedin.com.
24. "Women's Project to Honor Oscar Winner Estelle Parsons March 2 | Playbill". Playbill. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 2017-09-01.

External links

• Official website
• WP Theater Records at the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Special Collections

• Non-profit organizations based in New York City
• Arts organizations established in 1978
• Theatre companies in New York City
• 1978 establishments in New York City
• Off-Broadway
• Women in theatre
• Women in New York City