Project Y Theatre 10th Annual WOMEN IN THEATER Festival Returns In June

Project Y Theatre will present the 10th Annual Women in Theater Festival, a festival devoted to presenting new work by women, at A.R.T./New York Theatres in The Gural Theatre (502 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019), June 13-29.

The problem with parity is it's not enough. Women are over-noticed and undervalued. The stats agree. Data from a three-year study of regional theaters across America (“The Count,” published by The Dramatist in December 2015) show that only 22% of plays produced were authored by women. While parity is a noble goal, it’s not enough. Theater needs more women. Women are not “half the human experience.” Women are an entire human experience unto themselves. Women’s stories are comic, tragic, violent and epic, and they belong to all of us. 

The Women in Theater Festival seeks to broaden the opportunities for women in the entertainment industry by producing new work by women with at least 50% female representation of all artists involved. Our festival is a model of going beyond parity, as we commission and produce new works by women+ writers, devisers, and creators, develop an audience interested in feminist theatre, and foster opportunities that center interdisciplinary practices and experimentation. 

The festival will include readings, workshops, and mainstage productions by women+ artists. Tickets ($25 General; $65 Season Pass) are available for advance purchase at https://womenintheater.org/.

Mainstage Productions

New York Premiere of

DOROTHY’S DICTIONARY

Written by E.M. Lewis, Co-Directed by Andrew W. Smith & Michole Biancosino

Sparks fly when Zan, an angry high school student, is forced to work off his community service assignment reading to Dorothy, an ailing librarian. But each of them might just have what the other lacks... if they can only find the words. Book by book, they begin to form an unexpected friendship… just when they need it most.

June 13, 14, 19, 21 & 28 at 7pm; Sun June 22 & 29 at 2pm Runtime: 75 minutes

DAVID AND KATIE GET RE-MARRIED

Warm Up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival! 

Written by David Carl & Katie Hartman, Directed by Michole Biancosino

Music direction by Jody Shelton

You are cordially invited to the second wedding of David and Katie. This confidently codependent couple will teach you how to love correctly through original music, exotic rituals, and a unity volcano. This time it'll stick! For realz tho! David and Katie Get Re-Married pairs David Carl (Gary Busey's One-Man Hamlet, Trump Lear, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Katie Hartman (Netflix’s The Week Of, The Other Two, Younger) in a slapdash wedding betwixt a star-crossed couple who has broken up and reunited more frequently than Spiderman has been rebooted. This dark comedy with original music features the worst couple in the world on the second happiest day of their lives after the first happiest day of their lives didn't work out. Check out this critically acclaimed show before it heads across the pond! 

June 20, 24 & 27 at 7pm Runtime: 60 minutes

THE ADVENTURES OF P. JONES

A New Devised Workshop Production

Written and Directed by Gab Cody

The Adventures of P. Jones is a “DaDa cabaret” and Artificial Intelligence* hallucination that utilizes ensemble-based physical theater practices in service of a comedy centered around the theme: “The Politics of Femininity.” When a theatre-creating A.I. is tasked with exploring this theme, it runs amok, resurrecting some of the 20th century’s greatest literary figures (James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Harper Lee) who in turn resurrect famed novelist Edith Wharton to unravel and catechize The Politics of Femininity for the benefit of their 21st-century audience. *no AI was used to create this piece

June 17 & 18 at 7pm Runtime: 90 minutes

POWERSUITS

Created & Performed by Lida Winfield and Michole Biancosino

Two women enter the space looking powerful. Don't worry. They're here to take care of you. This wild duet critiques normative gender roles and performances with exaggerated costumes, movements and gestures, depicting stereotypes of authority and beauty as absurd. In tandem, the piece calls out the alienation that comes from capitalist grind culture. 

June 26 at 7pm & June 28 at 2pm Runtime: 50 minutes

Readings

AT THE LIBERTY INN

Written by Emily Bice, Directed by Cameron King

Raf and Katie are in a toxic situationship (whether they know it or not), and they've just broken up AT THE LIBERTY INN: the last quickie motel in Manhattan. As the duo desperately avoids the end, they morph into different fantasy role-play scenarios of who they COULD be in this room, only to discover that they don't work no matter who, what, or when they are. At the Liberty Inn was workshopped at the Seven House Gallery Residency in 2023. 

Thu June 26 at 7pm (on a double bill with Power Suits) Runtime: 90 minutes

CANDY GIRLS

Written by Jeana Scotti, Directed by Ashley Bufkin

A candy and ice cream store has their annual health inspection coming up, but it's filled with more roaches than candy. The manager tries to get them in shape to get their A in the window, but the teenage girls who work there are more focused on college apps, licking pieces of candy and putting them back in the bins, and being watched on the new security cameras by the owner, Rick. When Tanya tries to report Rick, things only get messier because as we know, roaches can find their way into even the smallest crack.

Sat June 21 at 2pm Runtime: 90 minutes

SIX INCHES ABOVE THE KNEE

Written by Sally Seitz, Directed by Michole Biancosino

Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival 2025, Finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Festival.

Sat June 14 at 2pm Runtime: 90 minutes

HEARTBEAT OPHELIA

Written by D.L. Siegel, Directed by Rachel Dart

Ophelia finds herself marooned in Texas during unprecedented times…or is it Denmark? This radical deconstruction of Hamlet refocuses the story on a modern, scholarly, and pregnant Ophelia as her path is altered by personal tragedies and the red tape of a red state.

Wed June 25 at 7pm Runtime: 120 minute 

GRAHAM CRACKERS AND OATMEAL

By Chris Ulloth

A memorial pop-up showing of this 10-minute play written by Christopher Ulloth, playwright and producer of the WIT festival for 9 seasons, who tragically died this past year.  We will use this pop-up performance to raise money for a playwright fund in his name, to support the work of a woman or non-binary playwright award.

Special Events

FEMINIST CONNECTOR EVENT

Join us for a night of pop up feminist art and community. 

Thu June 19, following the 7pm performance of Dorothy’s Dictionary

PARENT-CAREGIVER PLAYWRIGHTS GROUP

Led by Playwrights Liz Appel and Lia Romeo

The Parent-Caregiver Playwrights Group is a selective playwrights' workshop for writers who exist at the difficult intersection of creativity and caregiving. The group meets monthly to workshop new plays, share industry knowledge, and provide support and community.

Developmental Work

Project Y Theatre produces new and innovative theatre by diverse voices, with a focus on women and queer artists, on a project-by-project basis. We commision, produce and support new plays and playwrights that appeal to an audience interested in such themes as feminism, race, sexuality, technology, family, and community. We embrace experimentation with new forms of technology as a way to connect to and expand our audience, as well as to expand the idea of what theatre is and can be. We support artists at all stages including emerging, mid-career and established. We support the creation of new plays at all levels including development (like our Caregiver/Parent Playwright Group), workshop (through small imprint workshop productions and limited runs), and fully produced world premieres. Project Y signature programming includes Women in Theater Festival, now embarking on our 10th year in New York City. Other programming includes Workshop Productions; Fully Produced World Premieres at established venues like 59E59 Theaters, ARTNY Theatres, TheatreRow, and Atlantic Stage 2; Yearly Themed Reading Series (past themes include LGBTQ, Race, Religion, Women, Technology); New Play Workshops; International Festivals; New Play Commissions (recent commission series The Visionary Commission, 4 seasons of All Hands On Deck, Zoom Plays, 5 seasons of Hrosthwitha Project); Video Series and 13 years of supported Playwrights Groups. Through our various programming, each year Project Y supports the work of anywhere from  20-50 playwrights. www.projectytheatre.com