16th EstroGenius Festival Launches Today at 4th Street Theatre

Manhattan Theatre Source will present the 16th EstroGenius Festival, a multimedia performance festival showcasing female voices from a variety of disciplines, today, March 9, through March 27 at 4th Street Theatre (83 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery).

Different than past Estrogenius Festivals, 2016's Festival features a full-length play Steel Birds opening on March 9; development and readings for two more full-lengths, dance performances from the commissioned artists of Women in Motion (March 13 at 5pm), a visual art exhibit, a weekend of short plays (March 26-27) and special performances by Girl Be Heard, a teen program that uses theater as a vehicle to empower young women to become brave, confident, socially conscious leaders while exploring their own challenging circumstances.

All of these segments together support women's invention, development as artists and their paths as makers.

Founded at Manhattan Theatre Source in 2000 by Fiona Jones, EstroGenius is an annual celebration created largely in reaction to the many talented female artists in the downtown theatre scene without adequate opportunities to present their work. The festival is committed to showcasing art that explores deep and complex female characters and giving voice to women who aren't often heard in the theatre. As one of the most inclusive festivals of its kind, EstroGenius also accepts submissions from men, as long as their work features a strong female voice.

Previous EstroGenius playwrights have included Liz Duffy Adams, Bekah Brunstetter, Sheila Callaghan, Wendy Caster, Kara Lee Corthron, Cheryl Davis, Quirara Alegria Hudes, George Hunka, Andrea Lepcio, Melissa Maxwell, T.D. Mitchell, Mac Rogers, Crystal Skillman, and Saviana Stanescu.

MANHATTAN THEATRE SOURCE ("the Source") is a not-for-profit arts producing organization whose mission is to support the development of new works by emerging artists.

For 12 years, the Source operated a multi-use performance space in the heart of Greenwich Village. Beginning in 2000, the Source proudly honored Off-Off-Broadway's Greenwich Village roots by creating a home for artists of all disciplines and offering a playground for passion and mistakes, hard work and cooperation, big ideas and small budgets. At the end of 2011, we made the difficult decision to close our doors and become one of the thousands of passionate arts production companies that operate without owning a performance space. As hard as that decision was, it has freed us to focus on the creation of art and artistic opportunities, which has always been at the heart of what we do. Nurturing artists of all levels, the Source has been and continues to be a launching pad for dozens of successful artists, companies and projects, which have gone on to the Fringe, Off-Broadway runs and even the Great White Way - the 2006 Obie Award-winning musical [title of show] had its first ever production in our space, and went on to its Broadway debut in July 2008 at the Lyceum.

For more information, visit www.estrogenius.org.