EMERGENCE: the 13th Annual Women's Work Short Play Festival
New Perspectives Theatre Company (NPTC) is pleased to announce EMERGENCE, our 13th Annual Women's Work Short Play Festival, running Monday, August 9 to Saturday, August 14, 2021. The Festival performs in two programs on an alternating schedule of 4:00pm and 8:00pm, with a combined program on August 14th at 2pm and 5pm. All performances are at NPTC Studio, 458 West 37th Street (at 10th Avenue.)
The theme of EMERGENCE 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 2021 theme was influenced by a new Democratic Administration and the then hoped for end to the pandemic. 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.
Program A includes: That's What Happened by Queen Esther, directed by Melody Brooks; Bad Koreans by Rebekah Lopatto, directed by Dani Ortiz; and Candy Girls by Jeana Scotti, directed by Lola Lopez Guardone. Program B includes: Earthshine by Makaela Shealy-Sachot, directed by Karin Crighton, and Anarchy by Mary Glen Fredrick, directed by Maggie Monahan.
Program A begins with That's What Happened by Queen Esther, which interweaves the experiences of an African American Capital police officer and a participant in the January 6th insurrection for a look at the two realities in contemporary America. Rebekah Lopatto's Bad Koreans is set on a college campus and farcically spotlights the dilemma of a group of young women struggling to claim their own identity in the face of cultural dictates from all sides. Jeana Scotti's absurdist Candy Girls tackles the question of workplace sexual harassment through a generational lens and the infestation of the "male gaze" in all aspects of women's lives.
Program B features Earthshine by Makaela Shealy-Sachot is a mystical fairytale set in a closed religious community. Anarchy by Mary Glen Fredrick is a highly theatrical romp in a futuristic world where "paying the rent" is truly worse than hell.
Read about the event on Broadway World!
SEATING IS EXTREMELY LIMITED; SEATS GUARANTEED ONLY VIA ADVANCE PURCHASE.
PROOF OF VACCINATION REQUIRED
COVID SAFETY PROTOCOLS
All NPTC Staff, Crew and Actors are fully vaccinated.
All Audience members must provide proof of vaccination for admission and remain masked while on the premises.
Audience members will also be asked to complete a brief COVID questionnaire when they pick up their ticket.
schedule
MONDAY, AUGUST 9:
4 PM: Program A
8 PM: Program B
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11:
4 PM: Program A
8 PM: Program B
Friday, AUGUST 13:
4 PM: Program A
8 PM: Program B
TUESDAY, AUGUST 10:
4 PM: Program B
8 PM: Program A
Thursday, august 12:
4 PM: Program B
8 PM: Program A
SATURDAY, AuGUST 14:
2 PM: Program B
5 PM: Program A
directors
MELODY BROOKS
Read about Melody here.
Karin crighton
KARIN graduated from Towson University Magna Cum Laude with a concentration in directing. After producing and directing plays in Baltimore, she moved to New York to join the larger theatre community. She has studied at the Tom Todoroff Studio and School of Visual Arts, directed at the DeSotelle Studio and Theatre54, and producing short films and plays on her own around the city. She is looking forward to her third year with the Short Play Lab program at NPTC.
LOla lopez-guardone
LOLA was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but her soul always belonged in NYC. She's thrilled to tell this story of compassion, hope, and community healing. Her previous work includes Next Thing You Know (2020), Silent Movie Dreams (2019), Before the Fall (2018, London Fringe Festival, Canada, Best Drama and Outstanding Cast Awards), These Little Ones Perish (2017 Winterfest - Best Director Award), Neil Simon's I Ought to be in Pictures at The
Producer's Club NYC and ElemenoPea by Molly Smith Metzler, among others. She is a consulting artist for Woodshed Collective and was part of the team that produced Empire Travel Agency (New York Times Critics Pick, named by The Guardian as BEST OF 2015). Training: Sergio Lombardo, Ruben Szchumacher, Mikhael Tara Garver, Tim Carol, Seth Barrish and the Tom Todoroff Conservatory. Website: www.lolalopezguardone.com
Maggie Monahan
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., MAGGIE is a theatre artist dedicated to confronting the most difficult questions in the public sphere through art. Her work has been seen in New York at the Tank, Theatre Row, 54 Below and Lucid Body House; in Chicago at Collaboraction, Rivendell Theatre, Victory Gardens, and Clockwise Theatre; and internationally in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has assisted at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the National Theater of Sarajevo, Audible Theater at the Minetta Lane, and the first national tours of Escape to Margaritaville and School of Rock. BA Northwestern. SDC Associate.
Dani Ortiz
DANI has loved theater since her first day at Performing Arts camp. In high school, her ten-minute play, Learning to Trust, was a finalist in the Fidelity Future Stage playwrighting contest which was published by Samuel French in a collection of student plays. She graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BA in Theater Performance and Arts Management. She currently works at a community-based organization supporting after-school programs throughout NYC. Dani served as the Women’s Work Short Play LAB Directing Apprentice for two years and then made her directing debut with Foul Line at the recent virtual 2020 Women’s Work Short Play Festival, NOW OR NEVER.
discover the playwrights featured in the festival here.
EMERGENCE is made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the NYS Legislature via the Restart NY Program and the Creative Engagement program administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Public funds in support of the full Women's Work Project are also provided by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.
