WP Theater Announces Reading Series; ANTIGONE PROJECT, AYE, AYE, AYE I'M INTEGRATED, and More

WP Theater, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Michael Sag, is thrilled to announce the inaugural WP Theater's 40th Anniversary Reading Series. In the first outing of this annual series, past meets present as WP shares staged readings of five extraordinary plays from throughout its history, directed by recent alums and current members of the WP Theater Directors Lab. The 5-night free series will launch on Monday, March 25 and run through Friday, May 3, 2019 at WP Theater, 2162 Broadway at 76th Street.

WP Theater's 40th Anniversary Reading Series

ANTIGONE PROJECT - Monday, March 25 at 7 PM

Conceived by Sabrina Peck and Chiori Miyagawa

Written by Tanya Barfield, Karen Hartman and Chiori Miyagawa, Lynn Nottage and Caridad Svich

Reading directed by Victoria Collado and Rebecca Martinez (2018-2020 WP Lab Directors)

Originally produced at WP Theater in 2004, Antigone Project is a collection of short plays written by 5 celebrated women playwrights. Inspired by Sophocles'Antigone, these plays examine moral courage in the face of unbridled power and tackle themes of civic, state and familial responsibility through the lens of one of dramatic literatures most well-known heroines.

STILL LIFE - Monday, April 1 at 7 PM

Written by Emily Mann

Reading directed by Arpita Mukherjee (2018-2020 WP Lab Director)

First produced at WP Theater in the 1980 season, Emily Mann's Still Life went on to win the Obie for Best Production. Inspired by interviews Mann conducted at the conclusion of the Vietnam War, Still Life remains a layered masterpiece and potent interrogation of love, family, home and war as seen through the intertwined lens of a Combat Veteran, his wife and his Mistress.

ABINGDON SQUARE - Monday, April 22 at 7 PM

Written by María Irene Fornés

Reading directed by Melissa Crespo (2016-2018 WP Lab Director)

María Irene Fornés' Abingdon Square, first produced by WP Theater in 1987, remains a relevant exploration of passions that erupt from a marriage between a young girl and an older man. Set in pre-WW1 Greenwich Village, this play exhibits a rich and incisive study of a young woman's sexuality.

ON FRIDAY, APRIL 26 AT 7 PM:

Readings directed by Tamilla Woodard (WP Associate Artistic Director, 2014-2016 WP Lab Director)

AYE, AYE, AYE I'M INTEGRATED

Written by Anna Deavere Smith

Originally Produced in 1992

&

CHAIN

Written by Pearl Cleage

Originally Produced in 1984

In a reading of their little-known short plays, Anna Deavere Smith's Aye, Aye, Aye, I'm Integrated and Pearl Cleage's Chain, one evening will celebrate the voices of two powerful African American women of the theater.

THE EXACT CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE - Friday, May 3 at 7 PM

Written by Joan Vail Thorne

Reading directed by Sarah Krohn (2014-2016 WP Lab Director)

"I never interfere! I intervene!" insists Vada Love Powell - Southern doyenne, adoring mother, and force of nature. Vada's small-town universe is shaken to its core when her devoted son Apple follows his heart instead of his mother's expectations. Gossip whirls, barbs fly, and secrets emerge in this comedy, first produced at WP Theater in 1999, about a mother, a son, and the woman who dares come between them.

Tickets are free, but RSVP is required at WPTheater.org.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski