New Perspectives Theatre Co Announces 11th Annual Women's Work Short Play Festival

New Perspectives Theatre Company (NPTC) announces Approval Pending, the 11th Annual Women's Work Short Play Festival, running Monday, August 5 to Saturday, August 10, 2019. The Festival performs in two programs on an alternating schedule of 4:00pm and 8:00pm, with a combined program on August 10th at 2pm and 5pm. All performances are at NPTC Studio, 458 West 37th Street (at 10th Avenue.)

The festival is comprised of six plays in two programs. Program A includes: It's Not So Bad in My Brain by Amalia Oliva Rojas, directed by Chanon Judson; Abundance of the Heart by Breana C. Venable, directed by Jenny Greeman; Thank You and Good Night by Alyssa Haddad, directed byKarin Creighton. Program B includes Riptide by Alisa Zhulina, directed by Mary Hodges; Terroir by Allison Zajac-Batell, directed by Kimberly Loren Eaton; and Jennifer's Coming Out Party by Sherry Friedman, directed by Julie Ann Lucas.

Now celebrating its 11th season, NPTC's Women's Work LAB offers a festival each summer with plays created from scratch in a unique process that begins anew each February. LAB Program Manager Jenny Greeman provided a theme to 2019 members, then resident directors collectively dramaturged the scripts to bring them to production quality over a five-month period. The festival provides the critical development tool of putting scripts on their feet, fully rehearsed in a simple production style. The theme of Approval Pending was inspired (as all themes have been) by the social and political discourse percolating in the U.S. at the start of a new LAB. In selecting this year's theme, we were highly aware of the continuing struggle for acceptance across all segments of the population as well as the increased difficulty for some groups to achieve it. After an intensive and wide-ranging discussion of the topic each writer found her own take on this theme-and discovered that "approval" can take many forms. The resulting plays are as unique and diverse as the talented writers who created them.

Program A begins with It's Not So Bad in My Brain, Amalia Oliva Rojas' poetic look at a near-future apocalypse and an unexpected reunion at the end of the world. Abundance of the Heart by Breana C. Venablé sets an African American family against an indifferent medical system. The program concludes with Thank You and Good Night by Alyssa Haddad, offering a comic take on pursuing one's dreams.

Program B opens with Riptide by Alisa Zhulina who ventures into the realm of magical realism to explore a dysfunctional marriage. . Terroir byAllison Zajac-Batell questions whether our roots really do determine destiny and Sherry Friedman's farce Jennifer's Coming Out Party gives us the baby's point of view on her arrival into a Trumpian world.

The plays are directed by Karin Crighton, Kimberly Loren Eaton, Jenny Greeman, Mary Hodges, Chanon Judson, and Julie Ann Lucas. Meganne George is Production Designer. Rychard Curtiss is Lighting Designer.

$20 /$15/students and seniors w/ID; TDF accepted for select performances; FESTIVAL PASS $30 (both programs):

Advance Sale at www.nptnyc.org/buy-tickets