Applications Now Open for WP Theater's 2027 Space Program

Applications are now open for WP Theater's 2027 Space Program and will close on April 6, 2026. The Space Program is an initiative from WP Theater offering subsidized space at their home at 76th & Broadway — to provide affordable producing options to mission-aligned individual artists and small budget not-for-profit companies, who might otherwise not be able to produce because of the financial constraints of renting performance spaces. Subsidized rates include access to WP’s brand new lighting and sound equipment package, all utilities, cleaning, and marketing and front of house consultations. Applications are available here. 

This summer, the 2026 Space Program will take place at the theater with The Betrothed running July 12-August 2, and ISLA running August 8-29. The Betrothed is written by Scarlett Grace McCarthy (Poor Men Love The Outdoors) and directed by Sarah Connolly (Appetite). The production is produced by Literally Broke, Natalie Rine, and Dani Turner. ISLA is created by Hit The Lights! Company (DUNGEON) and will make its World Premiere at WP Theater.

The Betrothed is an anachronistic, absurdist comic play set in the 19th century, performed entirely by Women+ actors. Kitty is determined to secure a husband in her dashing but penniless childhood friend. But when her brother’s fiancée mysteriously breaks off their engagement, Kitty’s plans to capture a suitor of her own are thrown off course. Forced to confront the rigid expectations placed upon her, she schemes to restore order and ensure everyone gets their happily ever after. As romantic entanglements unravel and betrayals come to light, The Betrothed queers the classic marriage plot, satirizing power, ambition, and resistance with theatrical excess and spectacle. This is not your typical rom-com. 

ISLA is a bilingual shadow puppet play with music which explores the realities of exile, the strength of family, Cuban mythology, and the spirit of sisterhood. Inspired by the true story of Co-Artistic Director Samantha Blain’s mother and aunts’escape from Cuba in 1969 during the Freedom flights, the piece blends magical realism and documentary theater through puppetry, original music, recorded interviews, and poetry by Maria De Lourdes Blain to to explore what it means to be torn from one’s home and the journey to create another. Set on an island unraveling under political revolution, ISLA follows three sisters whose once-vibrant world is collapsing under surveillance and isolation. Guided by visions of a magical manatee spirit from Cuban mythology, they face impossible choices about loyalty, survival, and the meaning of home. Their journey builds toward a daring nighttime escape across the ocean, where they risk everything for the chance at freedom. ISLA will feature Daniela Delahuerta, Samantha Blain, Tiffany Iris, as well as Mikayla Stanley, Erica Knight, Casey Scott Leach as Puppeteers and Musician Claron Hayden. ISLA is supported by the Jim Henson Foundation and  NYC Women’s Fund by MOME and NYFA

The 2026 Space Program was selected by Kristin Leahey, Hannah Sgambellone, and Michael Valladares.