7th Annual Women In Theatre Festival to Return Virtually

Project Y Theatre Company commissioned 5 female playwrights to write "Hybrid 2-Handers" as the centerpiece of this year's hybrid Women in Theatre Festival, a festival of new work written and created by women, originally conceived to be written for and performed to an in-person and streaming audience simultaneously. Due to the latest Omicron surge, the producers quickly shifted the audience experience - the actors performed the pieces in the theatre to the crew and company, and the performances have been captured to be released streaming on-demand. The Festival will stream February 4-March 18th via link. Streaming tickets ($25) will go on sale Tuesday, January 18th at www.witfestival.projectytheatre.org.

The Women in Theatre Festival seeks to broaden the opportunities for women in the entertainment industry by producing new work by women with more than 50% female representation of all artists involved. The 7th Annual Women in Theatre Festival will feature 9 commissioned plays including five fully staged World Premiere short plays and 4 longer plays by women playwrights of the African diaspora.

The Hybrid 2-Handers

Embracing the new era of theatre-making, Project Y Theatre commissioned 5 talented women playwrights to create short plays for a hybrid theatre. Playwrights Eliza Bent (Toilet Fire, NY Times Critics Pick), Kaaron Briscoe (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Georgina Escobar ("Then they forgot about the Rest" at INTAR), Amina Henry (P.S. at Ars Nova, Ducklings at JACK), and Erin Mallon (The Net Will Appear Off Broadway starring Matilda Lawler). were asked to write plays that invite in an audience of simultaneously streaming and in-person audiences. The other requirement - that they be "2 Handers" and feature a cast of just 2 actors.

Plays include:

Blackbox, by Amina Henry

Two actors break into an empty during a pandemic and try to remember how to play.

#GirlPowerHour, by Kaaron Briscoe.

Two women host an online show. Stuck in a world not of their making, one of them decides to break the rules.

Middle C, by Erin Mallon.

A piano teacher overcomes her fear of technology to capture the moment before saying good-bye to the one student who helped her make sense of the world.

Rigged, by Georgina Escobar.

A man plays his life for the super's camera. A woman plays her life for her Instagram followers. What happens when two New York City neighbors are forced to speak to each other.

In Service of Memory, by Eliza Bent.

Two people hold a memorial service for all the things we want to forget, no longer need to remember.

The cast includes Starr Kirkland, Timiki Salinas, Natalie Nankervis, Erin DeWard, Emily Ma, Joachim Boyle and Yadira De La Riva.

Directed by Michole Biancosino (Planet of the Grapes Live!; Trump Lear) & Andrew W. Smith (Three Musketeers:1941)

Monologue Slam

A collection of monologues written by women playwrights for today.

The Playwrights:

Suzanne Bradbeer, Rachael Carnes, Alexis Craig-Hart, Catalina Florescu, Julienne Hairston, Judith Leora, Francesca Pazniokas, Sally Seitz and Lia Romeo.

All Hands On Deck

The ALL HANDS ON DECK series is back with a new session! The festival shares new works by Female Playwrights of the African Diaspora. Featuring work by award winning playwrights Julienne Hairston, Lisa Strum, Bleu Beckford-Burrell, and up-and-comer Mahalet Tegenu, the short plays are directed by Celestine Rae and Dennis Allen II. Conceived by Antu Yacob, the series explores different perspectives of the Black experience in America. This session's theme is "Lifestyles of the Strong & Black Female". What does it mean to be strong and Black and female in 2022? By whose standards? Join us as we explore.

Buy a Streaming Pass for the week you want to begin watching the Women in Theatre Festival.

Your Streaming Pass Gives you Access to all of the Hybrid 2-Handers and the Monologue Slam beginning February 4th, 2022. After the virtual opening on February 4th, there will be a post-show discussion where audience can speak in the Zoom room with the artists, available with your streaming pass.

Want to see our online Program and Bios? Get more info at our website:

http://www.witfestival.projectytheatre.org

Tickets Available Here: https://witfestnyc.eventcombo.com