WP THEATER Announces 15 Artists for 2020-22 WP LAB

WP THEATER has announced the 15 artists selected for the 2020-2022 WP Lab. The two-year residency begins now and culminates with the biennial WP Pipeline Festival.

The 2020-2022 WP Lab is:

PLAYWRIGHTS: Gethsemane Herron-Coward (she/her), Nambi E. Kelley (she/her), Haruna Lee (they/them),

Zizi Majid (she/her), Daaimah Mubashshir (she/her)

DIRECTORS: Miranda Haymon (they/them), Chika Ike (she/her), Sophiyaa Nayar (she/her),

Machel Ross (she/her), Katherine Wilkinson (she/them)

PRODUCERS: Iyvon Edebiri (she/her), B.J. Evans (she/her), Kristin Leahey (she/her),

Ayana Parker Morrison (she/her), Cynthia J. Tong (she/her)

"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 Lisa McNulty. "We feel so grateful to welcome them into the WP family, and to grow with them over the next two years."

The artistic heart of WP Theater, the two-year Lab residency provides rising stars in the industry with a vital professional network, entrepreneurial and leadership training, rehearsal space, and most significantly, tangible opportunities for the development and production of bold new work for the stage. As the culmination of the Lab, the Pipeline Festival provides a unique opportunity for audiences and industry to access five new plays at various stages of development, ranging from staged readings to full-length workshop productions. True to its name, the WP Pipeline Festival serves as a pipeline to funnel talented women+ artists and their work to the forefront of American theater. The WP Playwrights Lab is led by WP Producing Artistic Director Lisa 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 Award-nominated director Leigh Silverman, and Working Theater Co-Artistic Director and Lab Alum Tamilla Woodard; and the Producers Lab is led by Lab Alums Roxanna Barrios (Associate Producer of Artistic Programs, Public Theater) and Nidia Medina (Associate Producer and Director of the Studio, Theatre for a New Audience).

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Pipeline Festival shifted to a virtual celebration called #pipelineonline with each director/producer/playwright pod creating their own unique presentations of the work - including live conversations with the teams, readings from the plays, behind-the-scenes looks at the creative process, and design inspirations. The plays highlighted in the festival were: Phases of the Moon (written by Bryna Turner, directed by Rebecca Martínez, produced by Stephanie Rolland; sandblasted (written by Charly Evon Simpson, directed by Victoria Collado, produced by Ilana Becker); Tobias: A Novel in Performance (written by Christina Quintana (CQ), directed by Arpita Mukherjee, produced by Marie Cisco); Grace, Sponsored By Monteverde (written by Vanessa Garcia, directed by Sarah Hughes, produced by Alyssa Simmons); and My Baby (written by Sukari Jones, directed by Candis C. Jones, produced by Lucy Jackson).

The 2018 Pipeline Festival took place March 29-April 29, 2018 at WP Theater (2162 Broadway) and featured work from writers Donnetta Lavinia Grays, MJ Kaufman, Sylvia Khoury, Zoe Sarnak, Leah Nanako Winkler, directors Melissa Crespo, Morgan Gould, Ellie Heyman, Tyne Rafaeli, Mo Zhou, and producers Roxanna Barrios, SallyCade Holmes, Nidia Medina, Laura Ramadei, and Yuvika Tolani. Four of the five plays in the inaugural 2016 Pipeline Festival were included in the 2016 Kilroys List, an annual industry survey of extraordinary new plays by female and trans playwrights: Cygnus by Susan Soon He Stanton; Kings by Sarah Burgess; The Rug Dealer by Riti Sachdeva; and queens by Martyna Majok. Work from the Pipeline Festival regularly goes on to production at major theaters in New York and beyond, including: Kings by Sarah Burgess (Pipeline 2016) at The Public Theater, queens by Martyna Majok (Pipeline 2016) and Power Strip by Sylvia Khoury (Pipeline 2018) at Lincoln Center Theater.

PLAYWRIGHTS:

GETHSEMANE HERRON-COWARD (she/her) is a playwright from Washington, D.C. She has developed work with JAG Productions, The Hearth, The Ice Factory Festival at the New Ohio Theatre, Classical Theatre of Harlem, The Fire This Time Festival, The Liberation Theater Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, and Ars Nova, where she is a member of Ars Nova's Play Group. Additional residencies from VONA and the Millay Colony, where she was the recipient of the Yasmin Scholarship. Winner of the Columbia@Roundabout Reading Series. Winner of the 45th Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. Semi-Finalist for the Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Finalist for Space on Ryder Farm's Creative Residency, the Dennis & Victoria Roth Playwright's Program, and the Van Lier New Voices Fellowship at the Lark. MFA: Columbia University. Proud member of the Dramatist's Guild. She's enamored with Sailor Moon, witches and other magical girl warriors. She writes for survivors.

Award winning playwright and actress NAMBI E. KELLEY, (she/her) was chosen by literary legend Toni Morrison to adapt her novel, Jazz, for the stage (Marin Theater Company, Baltimore Center Stage) and penned an adaptation of Richard Wright's Native Son which has been seen across the country, including Off-Broadway Premiere at The Duke on 42nd Street (Acting Company) Yale Repertory, and the world premiere at Court Theatre in Chicago where it is the highest grossing production in the theatre's 65 year history. Nambi is a former playwright in residence at the National Black Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, and Steppenwolf. She most recently served in residence at New Victory Theatre and as a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. She's been recognized with several awards and nominations including the Prince Prize 2019, Writers Alliance Grant (Dramatists Guild Foundation), the Francesca Primus Award 2015, 2019 (finalist); and The Kevin Spacey Foundation Award (finalist). Current notable commissions include a play based on the life of Stokely Carmichael (Prince Prize/Court Theatre), and African American icon Dr. Maya Angelou (North Carolina Black Repertory Theatre) which is embarking on a pre-Broadway run in Spring 2021. Nambi's just completed work as a season three writer on Showtime's "The Chi", and is in development on a feature film project with an Oscar winning production company in Los Angeles, TBA. Nambi earned a BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University, and an MFA in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College. www.nambikelley.com

HARUNA LEE (they/them) is an Obie award-winning Taiwanese/Japanese/American theater maker, educator, facilitator and community steward whose work is rooted in a liberation-based healing practice. They are committed to promoting arts activism and emergent strategies for the theater through ethical and process-based collaborations that challenge systems and legacies of power, while inviting the fullness of marginalized bodies and the complexity of lived experiences to this practice. Their play Suicide Forest (Bushwick Starr & Ma-Yi Theater Company) is published by 53rd State Press. Lee is a Mohr Visiting Artist Fellow at Stanford University, a recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship, The Map Fund grant, Lotos Foundation Prize for Directing, a New Dramatists Van Lier Fellowship, and has received support from the Mental Insight Foundation, FCA, NYSCA, and the NEA. They were a member of the 2019 artEquity cohort, and is the lead facilitator for the Women-Trans-Femme-Non Binary Asian Diasporic Performance Makers Potluck. harunalee.com

ZIZI MAJID (she/her) is a playwright based in New York City whose plays advocate for a shared humanity. Plays include How To Gild An Eagle (Finalist, Columbia@Roundabout New Play Reading Series; Semi-Finalist, Athena Project); Return To Fall (Finalist, Blue Ink Playwriting Award; Semi-Finalist, National Playwrights Conference; Semi-Finalist, Bay Area Playwrights Festival; Reading, Valdez Theatre Conference. Being In Time (International Human Rights Arts Festival, NYC), Coast (Climate Change Theatre Action, NYC), Zulfiqar (Semi-finalist, Red Bull Theatre Short New Play Festival, NYC), How Did The Cat Get So Fat? (nominated Best Play, Life! Theatre Awards, Singapore); Not Counted (World Premiere, Journey@Beijing Festival) and Yusof (Festival Commission, Pesta Raya, Singapore). For five years, Zizi was Artistic Director of Teater Ekamatra (Singapore), successfully breaking into the mainstream during her tenure, tripling audiences and garnering multiple awards. Awards: Young Artist Award (National Arts Council, Singapore). Member: Cut Edge Experimental Theatre Collective, NYC. MFA: Columbia University.

Daaimah Mubashshir (she/her) is based in NYC. Awards include a 2019-2022 Core Writer Fellowship (Playwrights Center, MN), a 2018 Audrey Residency (New Georges), a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, a Catwalk Institute Residency, and a Foundation of Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant. Published works include Molasses and A Blue Coat - Kenyon Review Online, The Zero Loop (No Tokens Journal), Come with Me - Solve for X in The Occasional 2, edited by Will Arbery (53rd State Press), and The Immeasurable Want of Light (3 Hole Press). Selected full length plays include The Immeasurable Want of Light (3 Hole Press), Room Enough (Magic Time @ Judson Church, Clubbed Thumb), The Chronicles of Cardigan and Khente (Soho Rep) and Emily Black is A Total Gift (New Georges). For upcoming presentations visit www.daaimahmubashshir.com.

DIRECTORS:

Miranda Haymon (they/them) is a Princess Grace Award/Honoraria-winning director, writer and deviser of performance. Recent projects include Really, Really Gorgeous (The Tank), Everybody (Sarah Lawrence College), In the Penal Colony (Next Door @ NYTW, The Tank) and Mondo Tragic (National Black Theater). Miranda is a Resident Director at Roundabout Theatre Company and The Tank, a New Georges Affiliate Artist, a Space on Ryder Farm 2019 Creative Resident, member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, and the Wingspace Mentorship Program. Miranda has held directing fellowships at New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company and Arena Stage. BA Wesleyan University. Upcoming: Exception to the Rule (Roundabout Underground). www.mirandahaymon.com

CHIKA IKE (she/her) is a theatre director, dramaturg, and teaching artist based in New York and Chicago. Recent productions include Everybody (Atlantic Theatre School/ NYU), Kentucky, A Swell in the Ground (The Gift Theatre), Franklinland (Jackalope Theatre Company), In the Blood (Red Tape Theatre), No Child (Definition Theatre), Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (First Floor Theatre). She has also worked with A.R.T., Signature Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Playmakers Repertory Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens, Faultline Theatre, The Lark, Vagabond School, About Face Theatre Company, Chicago Inclusion Initiative, and Chicago Dramatists. Upcoming work includes Antigone (Atlantic Theatre School/ NYU) and Revolt. She Said. Revolt (DePaul University). Achievements include Drama League New York Fellow, SDCF Gielgud Directing Fellow, the Bret C. Harte Directing Fellow, and member of Victory Garden's Directors Initiative. She is an ensemble member of the Gift Theatre, where she also serves as the director of the 4802 New Play Residency. www.chikavike.com

SOPHIYAA NAYAR (she/her) is interested in creating interdisciplinary and genre-bending work that places (im)migrants and POC at the center of the narrative. Recent work includes, Dream Projects Series with Milwaukee Rep, Being Julia Roberts by Abbas Salem (Director, Jackalope Theatre), MLK Project by Yolanda Androzzo (Director, Writers Theatre), EthiopianAmerica By Sam Kebede (Director, Definition Theatre) which won BTA Awards for Best Play, Featured Actor and Actress and a Jeff award for Fight Choreography, Big Little Eyes with Stir Friday Night (Director, Steppenwolf LookOut Series), Nollywood Dreams by Jocelyn Bioh (Assistant Director, MCC Theatre) and A Doll's House, Part 2 (Assistant Director, Steppenwolf Theatre). Sophiyaa is an ensemble member with Definition Theatre, member of Director's Lab Chicago 2017, and a resident in Milwaukee Rep's 2017/18 season. She is part of the SDC Foundation's Observership Class, through which she worked on Soft Power by Jeanine Tesori and David Henry Hwang at The Public.

MACHEL ROSS (she/her) is a Dominican American director and creative collaborator based in NYC, who specializes in the development of new work and aesthetic world building. She's developed work with Aziza Barnes (NANA), PigPen Theatre Company (Phantom Folktales), Ellen Winter (This House Is your Home), and directed the world premiere of Jeremy O. Harris' Black Exhibition at the Bushwick Starr this past fall. She's worked as an associate for Lileana Blain Cruz (Marys Seacole, The House that Will not Stand), Drew McOnie (King Kong), Lila Neugabauer (Mrs. Murray's Menagerie, The Antipodes, The Wolves) and Annie Baker. Machel was a 2020 Sundance Theatre Lab Fellow, as well as a 2019 grant recipient of the Women's Fund for Film, TV and Theatre for her short film Signs He Made at Home. BFA - NYU Playwrights Horizons Theater School.

KATHERINE WILKINSON (she/they) is a queer director based in Brooklyn. Katherine has spent the last decade creating new ensemble-driven performance throughout the US and abroad. She has developed work in Australia, India, Japan, Greece, Mexico, and England. Katherine uses imagination, intuition, and chest-pounding-jump-squatting energy to build trusting communities and invigorating transformative experiences. Katherine's theatrical work questions how we can transform our fears and silences into a mutual language of action. And how we can uplift each other with both radical tenderness and rigor. Katherine has developed work with The New Ohio (Ice Factory 2019), Classical Theatre of Harlem, Juilliard, Signature, Columbia Stages, The Atlantic, Magic Theatre, Corkscrew Festival, SITI Co., Zen Zen Zo, Medea Electronique, Fusebox Festival, The Watermill Center, The VORTEX, The Oklahoma Contemporary, among others. Katherine has Associate/Assistant Directed for Anne Bogart, Sam Gold, Whitney White, Christopher Renshaw, and Robert Wilson. MFA Columbia University.

PRODUCERS:

Iyvon Edebiri (she/her) is a Nigerian-American independent creative producer, company manager, and dramaturg hailing from Brooklyn, NY. Iyvon is the co-founder, Artistic Director and Host of The Parsnip Ship, a radio-play podcast series. Iyvon is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship, Gilman International Scholarship, and The DO School's Future of Audio Entertainment Fellowship in Berlin. Iyvon was the recipient of the 2019 Mark O'Donnell Prize awarded by The Actors Fund and Playwrights Horizons for emerging, anomalous theater artists. Iyvon has worked at Joe's Pub, Sundance Institute Theater Program, The Public Theater and as the Associate Producer at ArKtype. B.A. Brandeis University. M.A. Baruch College (CUNY) Arts Administration. @iamiyvon

B.J. EVANS (she/her) is the Senior Producer for Performing Arts at BRIC in Brooklyn where she is the manager of the BRIClab Residency Program and producer for BRIC's theater and dance programs and short-term and long-term performing arts residencies. She has worked with 80+ artists at BRIC across a spectrum of disciplines; from theater and dance, to poetry, non-fiction and visual art. Her creative producing career spans nearly a decade and includes producing and serving in the artistic departments at The Dallas Theater Center, Working Theater, The Public Theater, Our Town (off-Broadway), and Sleep No More. B.J. is also a freelance dramaturg specializing in participatory, experimental, and devised performance, and holds an M.A. in Applied Theatre.

KRISTIN LEAHEY (she/her) served as the Director of New Works at Seattle Repertory Theatre, the Resident Dramaturg at Northlight Theatre, and, prior to that post, the Literary Manager at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. She has freelanced as an artist with the O'Neill Theater Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Play On Shakespeare, Arizona Theatre Company, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Primary Stages, Classical Stage Company, the Playwrights' Center, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater, Village Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, The Lark, The Kennedy Center, The Old Globe, the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Victory Gardens Theater, American Theatre Company, Collaboraction, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Redmoon, New Repertory Theatre, Actors' Shakespeare Project, Galway Arts Festival, Teatro Luna, Teatro Vista (artistic associate), Steep Theatre Company (ensemble), and A Red Orchid Theatre, among others. She is an Assistant Professor, Dramatic Literature & Dramaturgy at Boston University and holds a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin.

AYANA PARKER MORRISON (she/her) is a digital and theatrical Creative Producer. After graduating from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in Acting and a minor in Africana Studies, she shifted her focus to develop new projects that speak to the spectrum of stories from the African Diaspora. Ayana was the inaugural Producing Fellow with New York Theater Workshop's 2050 Administrative Fellowship. Afterwards, she went on to freelance produce shows throughout New York City. Some of her producing credits include Joan with Colt Coeur, Tender Napalm at HERE Arts Center, Saints Of Failure, a solo show performed in Fort Greene's Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, and NY Times Critic's Pick Eureka Day with Colt Coeur. She has also served as Creative Producer at Checkmark Productions for the past two years developing the work of the theater industry's most exciting emerging artists and is currently the Manager of Artistic Production at MCC Theater.

CYNTHIA J. TONG (she/her) is an Asian-American creative producer working across commercial (Broadway and off-Broadway), non-profit, and regional theatre. Her artistic roots are in dance; she spent the first 22 years of her life in the studio. Rich collaborations with artists feed her soul, where process matters as much as product. Currently, she is the Producing Associate for Tom Kirdahy Productions, Line Producer for 600 Highwaymen, and a founding member of The Industry Standard Group. Highlights from past independent producing projects include Playbill's Women in Theatre Concert (Virtual, 2020), LORDES (New Ohio Theatre, 2019), Dishwater Blonde (Torn Page, 2019), If Sand Were Stone (NYMF, 2018), and Noah Wise (independent feature film). Based on her fast talking and walking, most people don't believe this, but she's originally from a laid-back sunny beach town called Rancho Palos Verdes in California. She now lives in a place much better suited to her anxieties: New York City. Education: Wesleyan University (B.A., Sociology) www.cynthiajtong.com

LAB LEADERSHIP BIOGRAPHIES:

ROXANNA BARRIOS (she/her) Roxanna Barrios resides at The Public Theater as the Associate Producer of Artistic Programs, supporting projects within Joe's Pub, the Mobile Unit, Public Works, Under the Radar, Public Forum, and Public Shakespeare Initiative. She is the former Associate Director of the Mobile Unit, which brings theater and music to community centers, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, and more. As a producer, she has worked with globalFEST, LAByrinth Theater Company, WP Theater, The Cherry Lane Mentor Project, and UglyRhino Productions. Prior to her time in New York, she did a brief stint in film in Los Angeles and spent just under a decade working for a children's performing arts training company in South Florida. She is a graduate of the University of Florida and a South Florida native.

REBECCA MARTÍNEZ (she/her) Rebecca Martínez is a director, choreographer, deviser, facilitator, ensemble member of Sojourn Theatre, and BOLD Associate Artistic Director at WP Theater. Originally from Denver, Colorado with deep ancestral roots in the Southwest, she's now based in Brooklyn, NY. Recent projects include: I Am My Own Wife (Long Wharf Theatre); Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Miss You Like Hell (Baltimore Center Stage), Wolf at the Door (Milagro Theatre, NNPN rolling world premiere), Anna in the Tropics (Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, Henry Award for Outstanding Direction). Member of: Sol Project Collective, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, INTAR's Unit52, SDCF Observer, Latinx Theatre Commons Advisory Committee, 2019 Audrey Resident, New Georges Affiliated Artist, 2018-2020 WP Lab, 2017 Drama League Directing Fellow, Member of SDC. She is the recipient of four Portland, Oregon Drammy Awards and the Lilla Jewel Award for Women Artists. Rebecca is an artist with the Center for Performance and Civic Practice. rebeccamartinez.org

Lisa McNulty (she/her) is an award-winning Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theater producer in her seventh season as the Producing Artistic Director of WP Theater. Lisa comes to WP from Manhattan Theatre Club, where she served as Artistic Line Producer for eight seasons, working on more than 30 productions both on and off Broadway, including plays by Lynn Nottage, Sarah Treem, Harvey Fierstein, and Tarell Alvin McCraney, among many, many others. Lisa has a long history with WP Theater. She was originally hired by the company's founder, Julia Miles, as the Literary Manager from 1997-2000, where she dramaturged work by María Irene Fornés, Julie Hébert, and Karen Hartman, among others, and in 2004, she returned to WP as its Associate Artistic Director, working on projects with artists including Diane Paulus and Dierdre Murray, Rinne Groff, and Lisa D'Amour. From 2000-2004 she was McCarter Theater's Producing Associate, and her independent producing career includes projects with Sarah Ruhl, Todd Almond, Lucy Thurber and Lear deBessonet. Lisa's leadership is underwritten by the BOLD Theater Women's Leadership Circle, an initiative to support and promote women's theater leadership funded by The Pussycat Foundation.

NIDIA MEDINA (she/her) is currently the Associate Producer and Director of the Studio at Theatre for a New Audience, bringing classic and contemporary works to life on TFANA's Brooklyn mainstage and working hand-in-hand with artists on theatrical experiments in The Studio. Other producing positions include being a Line Producer at The Public Theater, Associate Producer at INTAR, and producing internationally touring one-woman show The God Box that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities across the United States and beyond. Independent producing projects include off-off Broadway shows, fundraiser performances, and some wacky variety shows. She's held a variety of other positions in the theater, and has spent the past ten years backstage, onstage and in the offices of some great NYC theater companies - including Cherry Lane, Ars Nova, MCC, MTC, and LAByrinth Theatre Company. She holds a BFA in Acting from Emerson College and a Master's degree in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute.

Leigh Silverman (she/her) was a WP intern in 1995 and directed Neena Beeber's Jump/Cut in 2006 and Tanya Barfield's Bright Half Life in 2015. BIO: Broadway: Grand Horizons (2ST; Williamstown Theater Festival); The Lifespan of a Fact (Studio 54); Violet (Roundabout; Tony nomination); Chinglish (Goodman Theatre; Longacre); Well (Public Theater; ACT; Longacre). Recent Off-Broadway: Soft Power (Public Theater; Ahmanson Theater/ Curran Theater; Drama Desk nom); Harry Clarke (Vineyard Theatre/Audible, Minetta Lane; Lortel nom); Tumacho (Clubbed Thumb); Hurricane Diane (NYTW); Wild Goose Dreams (Public Theater; La Jolla Playhouse); Sweet Charity (New Group); All The Ways To Say I Love You (MCC); No Place To Go and The Outer Space (Public Theater). Encores: Violet; The Wild Party; Really Rosie. 2011 Obie Award and 2019 Obie for Sustained Excellence.

Cori Thomas (she/her) is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, and WP Theater's Mellon Playwright in Residence. Produced plays: Lockdown; When January Feels Like Summer; Citizens Market; My Secret Language of Wishes; Pa's Hat and more. Produced and Developed at: WP Theater; Rattlestick Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Page 73, Ensemble Studio Theatre; City Theater Co. Pittsburgh; The Goodman Theater; Pillsbury House Theater; Mixed Blood; Horizon's Theater, Mosaic Theatre Co.; and others. She has won the American Theater Critics Osborn Award; Edgerton Foundation Prize; Was a 2017 runner up for The Dramatist Guild Horton Foote Playwriting Award; is a two-time Theodore Ward Prize winner. Cori is a New Dramatists Resident. She has been awarded Fellowships at O'Neill National Playwrights Conference; Sundance Theater Lab; MacDowell Colony; Bogliasco Foundation; Baryshnikov Arts Center; and more. Film and TV Projects include: Original screenplay for HBO Films and Tribeca Productions; JuVee Productions; and more. Cori is presently co-writing the memoirs of Sex Trafficking victim Sara Kruzan for Knopf/Random House. Founder: The Pa's Hat Foundation a 501c(3) in 2012. Pa's Hat is an organization focused on helping former child soldiers and other marginalized citizens of Liberia, West Africa with educational and work-related assistance. Ongoing volunteer at San Quentin State Prison with the anti-violence program No More Tears. Board of Directors: of New Dramatists, Pa's Hat Foundation, Project FEEL, and No More TearsSQ. Cori is represented by Leah Hamos and Vernalis Co at The Gersh Agency, Kirsten Jacobson at Good-Fear Eve MacSweeney at Fletcher and Co. LOCKDOWN is scheduled for Spring 2021 at Milwaukee Rep.

Tamilla Woodard (she/her) is the Co-Artistic Director of Working Theater, former BOLD Associate Artistic Director at WP Theater, and the co-founder of PopUP Theatrics. She also served as the associate director of Hadestown on Broadway. This season her work includes the Lucille Lortel Award nominated Where We Stand by Donnetta Lavinia Grays for WP Theater and Baltimore Center Stage, Caryl Churchill's Top Girls at American Conservatory Theater and direction and co-conception of Warriors Don't Cry, a co-production of The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and TheaterWorksUSA. Recently named one of 50 Women to Watch on Broadway, Tamilla is a graduate of Yale School of Drama, where she currently teaches. She is also a recipient of the Josephine Abady Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women.