New Perspectives Theatre Company Renames Annual Short Play Festival

New Perspectives Theatre Company will rename its annual Short Play Festival of pieces created in the Women's Work LAB to reflect the contributions of late and dearly beloved Meganne George to the success of the festival over 14 years.

Meganne served as the Resident Production Designer at NPTC for 19 years and, since 2008, was instrumental in creating the structure and design elements of the festival. The LAB takes writers from the first impulse for their plays to a rehearsed and staged performance for live audiences. There is no other program of its kind in New York City, and the company has been able to showcase the work of 66 writers since the LAB's creation, largely due to Meganne's innovations in creating a format that allows for "representative" design elements using projections and a "sculpture set" to fit within the small studio space. The George Family has committed to providing special support for the festival to continue Meganne's legacy and dedication to mentoring young design talent.

The 2020 plays were not able to receive a live performance last year due to COVID, but with a recent grant from the Restart NY program the company is pleased to present Now or Never, running Monday, December 6th through Saturday, December 11, 2021.

NPTC's Women's Work LAB develops plays created from scratch in a unique process that begins anew each February. The theme of Now or Never 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. The 2020 theme was influenced by impeachment hearings, climate disasters and the danger posed by increasing anti-democracy forces. Although selected pre-pandemic, the theme became even more relevant as we headed into March. As always, each writer found her own take on this theme, and the resulting plays are as unique and diverse as the talented writers who created them. The Festival is comprised of six plays in two programs with alternating performance times.

Program A begins with Cold Turkey by Yuliya Tsukerman, a study of two misfits who find hope in the fleeting nature of the modern news cycle in the face of personal tragedy. Brett & Ashley by Jennifer Rowland imagines a different outcome to the Kavanaugh Supreme Court appointment by examining the actions of his wife, an overlooked figure in that confirmation circus. The Empress of Jupiter by Laura Zlatos is an absurdist farce which asks, "how far will one woman go to find the change she is seeking?"

Program B opens with Running Out Of Time, Zakeia Tyson-Cross' dark comedy set in the near future where escape from Planet Earth is the only option for survival. One African American family must heal their internal wounds before they can overcome their external reality. In Foul Line, K. Alexa Mavromatis juxtaposes the early days of the COVID lockdown with two high school seniors' struggle to come out. Finally, Uma Paranjpe offers a heart-breaking example of the NOW OR NEVER theme with Frosting on Top, in which two best friends and soul mates are forced to confront a future without each other, in a world that is literally crumbling around them.

Directors are Melody Brooks, Karin Crighton, KM Jones, Kubbi and Dani Ortiz. Rychard Curtiss is production designer.

For more information, visit www.nptnyc.org.