WP Theater has announced the 15 artists selected for the 2020–2022 WP Lab, a two-year residency that culminates with the biennial WP Pipeline Festival.
The new cohort of artists includes playwrights Gethsemane Herron-Coward (she/her), Nambi E. Kelley (she/her), Haruna Lee (they/them), Zizi Majid (she/her), and Daaimah Mubashshir (she/her); directors Miranda Haymon (they/them), Chika Ike (she/her), Sophiyaa Nayar (she/her), Machel Ross (she/her), and Katherine Wilkinson (she/them); and producers Iyvon Edebiri (she/her), B.J. Evans (she/her), Kristin Leahey (she/her), Ayana Parker Morrison (she/her), and Cynthia J. Tong (she/her).
The two-year residency, already underway, provides rising playwrights, directors, and producers with a professional network, entrepreneurial and leadership training, rehearsal space, and opportunities for the development and production of new stage work. The Pipeline Festival provides an opportunity for audiences and industry to access five new plays at various stages of development.
"In this time of isolation and division, it is such a gift to be able to enter into community with these 15 exceptional writers, directors, and producers,” says Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty. “We feel so grateful to welcome them into the WP family, and to grow with them over the next two years."
The WP Playwrights Lab is led by WP Producing Artistic Director McNulty and Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence Cori Thomas; the Directors Lab is led by WP Associate Artistic Director and Lab Alum Rebecca Martínez, Tony-nominated director Leigh Silverman, and Working Theater Co-Artistic Director and Lab Alum Tamilla Woodard; the Producers Lab is led by Lab alums Roxanna Barrios and Nidia Medina.
