WP Theater is looking for early to mid-career Women+ playwrights, directors, and producers, who crave an artistic home, a cohort of collaborators, professional support, and the resources to launch them into the next phase of their careers to join the WP Lab. 

When we say Women+ we mean: cis women, trans, non-binary, or gender-nonconforming people and all gender identities which have been systematically oppressed throughout history in the theater and beyond.

The Lab provides up to fifteen artists with community, a vital professional network, entrepreneurial and leadership skills, free rehearsal space, and, most significantly, tangible opportunities for the development of bold new work for the stage. 

Is the WP Lab the right fit for you?

The WP Lab is for early to mid career theater professionals, who are eager to deepen their understanding of how to develop new work, using collaboration skills while also learning how to best leverage given resources.
 

• As a director, this program is for you if you have an appetite for play, a commitment to dramaturgy at all stages of a work’s development, and you look forward to crafting stories with a team of artists. This program is for you, if you are looking to join a community of directors at a similar stage of their career and excited for seasoned mentors to share industry knowledge, resource, and skills.

• As a producer, this program is for you if you enjoy working in teams, imagining new systems of storytelling, and are eager to build those systems with others. This program is for you if you have an appetite for creating balance between the resources a story needs in order to be told and the tangible/ financial resources of the production.

• As a writer, this program is for you if you crave dramaturgical input and creative collaboration both from a director and producer, and if you’re ready to collaborate with storytellers in other mediums to deepen your work. This program is for you, if you’re looking for practical skills in how to strategically and holistically develop your work.
   

LAB STRUCTURE

Meetings:
The lab consists of two monthly meetings–one full Lab meeting for all three cohorts on the first Monday evening of the month, and a separate, discipline-specific meeting, usually on the second Monday of the month.  These meetings are mandatory, and attendance at all meetings is the optimum means  to get the most out of your Lab experience.

You will be given the full Lab meeting and Pipeline Festival schedule at the time of your interview, if you are selected.

Year One:
Participants will spend the first six months of the lab engaging in cohort- building activities to allow the artists to get to know one another as individuals and artistic practitioners, including collaboration work, skills-building, and career strategy sessions. It is imperative that participants prioritize attendance in these monthly lab meetings, as multiple absences will result in participants missing key building components that would prevent them from gaining the most from  the lab experience.

In the second half of the first year, we will sort the Lab into writer/director/producer pods, and devote significant time to building the bonds and collaborative skills within each pod. 

Year Two/Pipeline Festival:
Each pod will spend the remainder of the lab developing a new work together that will culminate in  a showing in the Pipeline Festival reading series. The goal of the festival is to give producers, directors, and playwrights the collaborative tools to successfully develop new work in the theater industry. The resulting Pipeline Festival reading series will present this new work to New York audiences and industry professionals. The producers, in partnership with directors and writers, will shape the festival based on the artistic development needs of each project, with budgetary and in-house physical resources from WP, under the AEA 29 Hour Reading Guidelines.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBILITY:

• Must be a Woman+ artist living within 90 minutes of WP Theater via car or rail.
• Must be able to attend evening meetings at WP Theater twice a month from October 2024 to May 2026, as well as other events throughout the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 seasons, such as previews, performances, retreats, and other special events at WP. 
• Must be available for the 2026 Pipeline Festival (March - May, 2026).
• Regular attendance is mandatory and therefore applicants should view the program as a two-year-long commitment. Lab meetings will be held in person.
• Must have received COVID-19 vaccinations (including eligible boosters).
• Must be aged 21 or over.
• Must be available for either an in person or virtual interview.

THE PARTICIPATING ARTISTS WILL:

• Receive a stipend of $4,000 each year of Lab participation.
• Participate in a semi-monthly full lab meeting led by WP Artistic Staff and Lab Liaisons.
• Participate in a semi-monthly meeting of the five artists in their concentration led by a mentor in their field.
• Participate in events and conversations led by established artists and leaders in the field.
• Receive complimentary tickets to WP shows, invited dress rehearsals and other special events.
• Receive artistic support and professional development guidance from the artistic staff.
• Participate in The Pipeline Festival, a reading series of five new plays, written, directed and produced by the WP Lab, to be presented in the spring of the second year of the residency.
• Receive access to WP’s rehearsal space at no cost, when space is not in use
   

Is the WP Lab the right fit for you?

The WP Lab is for early to mid career theater professionals, who are eager to deepen their understanding of how to develop new work, using collaboration skills while also learning how to best leverage given resources. 

• As a director, this program is for you if you have an appetite for play, a commitment to dramaturgy at all stages of a work’s development, and you look forward to crafting stories with a team of artists. This program is for you, if you are looking to join a community of directors at a similar stage of their career and excited for seasoned mentors to share industry knowledge, resource, and skills.

• As a producer, this program is for you if you enjoy working in teams, imagining new systems of storytelling, and are eager to build those systems with others. This program is for you if you have an appetite for creating balance between the resources a story needs in order to be told and the tangible/ financial resources of the production.
  
• As a writer, this program is for you if you crave dramaturgical input and creative collaboration both from a director and producer, and if you’re ready to collaborate with storytellers in other mediums to deepen your work. This program is for you, if you’re looking for practical skills in how to strategically and holistically develop your work. 

LAB STRUCTURE

Meetings:
The lab consists of two monthly meetings–one full Lab meeting for all three cohorts on the first Monday evening of the month, and a separate, discipline-specific meeting, usually on the second Monday of the month.  These meetings are mandatory, and attendance at all meetings is the optimum means  to get the most out of your Lab experience.

You will be given the full Lab meeting and Pipeline Festival schedule at the time of your interview, if you are selected.

Year One:
Participants will spend the first six months of the lab engaging in cohort- building activities to allow the artists to get to know one another as individuals and artistic practitioners, including collaboration work, skills-building, and career strategy sessions. It is imperative that participants prioritize attendance in these monthly lab meetings, as multiple absences will result in participants missing key building components that would prevent them from gaining the most from  the lab experience.

In the second half of the first year, we will sort the Lab into writer/director/producer pods, and devote significant time to building the bonds and collaborative skills within each pod. 

Year Two/Pipeline Festival:
Each pod will spend the remainder of the lab developing a new work together that will culminate in  a showing in the Pipeline Festival reading series. The goal of the festival is to give producers, directors, and playwrights the collaborative tools to successfully develop new work in the theater industry. The resulting Pipeline Festival reading series will present this new work to New York audiences and industry professionals. The producers, in partnership with directors and writers, will shape the festival based on the artistic development needs of each project, with budgetary and in-house physical resources from WP, under the AEA 29 Hour Reading Guidelines.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBILITY:

• Must be a Woman+ artist living within 90 minutes of WP Theater via car or rail.
• Must be able to attend evening meetings at WP Theater twice a month from October 2024 to May 2026, as well as other events throughout the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 seasons, such as previews, performances, retreats, and other special events at WP. 
• Must be available for the 2026 Pipeline Festival (March - May, 2026).
• Regular attendance is mandatory and therefore applicants should view the program as a two-year-long commitment. Lab meetings will be held in person.
• Must have received COVID-19 vaccinations (including eligible boosters).
• Must be aged 21 or over.
• Must be available for either an in person or virtual interview.

THE PARTICIPATING ARTISTS WILL:

• Receive a stipend of $4,000 each year of Lab participation.
• Participate in a semi-monthly full lab meeting led by WP Artistic Staff and Lab Liaisons.
• Participate in a semi-monthly meeting of the five artists in their concentration led by a mentor in their field.
• Participate in events and conversations led by established artists and leaders in the field.
• Receive complimentary tickets to WP shows, invited dress rehearsals and other special events.
• Receive artistic support and professional development guidance from the artistic staff.
• Participate in The Pipeline Festival, a reading series of five new plays, written, directed and produced by the WP Lab, to be presented in the spring of the second year of the residency.
• Receive access to WP’s rehearsal space at no cost, when space is not in use
  

Is the WP Lab the right fit for you?

The WP Lab is for early to mid career theater professionals, who are eager to deepen their understanding of how to develop new work, using collaboration skills while also learning how to best leverage given resources. 

• As a director, this program is for you if you have an appetite for play, a commitment to dramaturgy at all stages of a work’s development, and you look forward to crafting stories with a team of artists. This program is for you, if you are looking to join a community of directors at a similar stage of their career and excited for seasoned mentors to share industry knowledge, resource, and skills.

• As a producer, this program is for you if you enjoy working in teams, imagining new systems of storytelling, and are eager to build those systems with others. This program is for you if you have an appetite for creating balance between the resources a story needs in order to be told and the tangible/ financial resources of the production.
  
• As a writer, this program is for you if you crave dramaturgical input and creative collaboration both from a director and producer, and if you’re ready to collaborate with storytellers in other mediums to deepen your work. This program is for you, if you’re looking for practical skills in how to strategically and holistically develop your work. 

LAB STRUCTURE

Meetings:
The lab consists of two monthly meetings–one full Lab meeting for all three cohorts on the first Monday evening of the month, and a separate, discipline-specific meeting, usually on the second Monday of the month.  These meetings are mandatory, and attendance at all meetings is the optimum means  to get the most out of your Lab experience.

You will be given the full Lab meeting and Pipeline Festival schedule at the time of your interview, if you are selected.

Year One:
Participants will spend the first six months of the lab engaging in cohort- building activities to allow the artists to get to know one another as individuals and artistic practitioners, including collaboration work, skills-building, and career strategy sessions. It is imperative that participants prioritize attendance in these monthly lab meetings, as multiple absences will result in participants missing key building components that would prevent them from gaining the most from  the lab experience.

In the second half of the first year, we will sort the Lab into writer/director/producer pods, and devote significant time to building the bonds and collaborative skills within each pod. 

Year Two/Pipeline Festival:
Each pod will spend the remainder of the lab developing a new work together that will culminate in  a showing in the Pipeline Festival reading series. The goal of the festival is to give producers, directors, and playwrights the collaborative tools to successfully develop new work in the theater industry. The resulting Pipeline Festival reading series will present this new work to New York audiences and industry professionals. The producers, in partnership with directors and writers, will shape the festival based on the artistic development needs of each project, with budgetary and in-house physical resources from WP, under the AEA 29 Hour Reading Guidelines.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBILITY:

• Must be a Woman+ artist living within 90 minutes of WP Theater via car or rail.
• Must be able to attend evening meetings at WP Theater twice a month from October 2024 to May 2026, as well as other events throughout the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 seasons, such as previews, performances, retreats, and other special events at WP. 
• Must be available for the 2026 Pipeline Festival (March - May, 2026).
• Regular attendance is mandatory and therefore applicants should view the program as a two-year-long commitment. Lab meetings will be held in person.
• Must have received COVID-19 vaccinations (including eligible boosters).
• Must be aged 21 or over.
• Must be available for either an in person or virtual interview.

THE PARTICIPATING ARTISTS WILL:

• Receive a stipend of $4,000 each year of Lab participation.
• Participate in a semi-monthly full lab meeting led by WP Artistic Staff and Lab Liaisons.
• Participate in a semi-monthly meeting of the five artists in their concentration led by a mentor in their field.
• Participate in events and conversations led by established artists and leaders in the field.
• Receive complimentary tickets to WP shows, invited dress rehearsals and other special events.
• Receive artistic support and professional development guidance from the artistic staff.
• Participate in The Pipeline Festival, a reading series of five new plays, written, directed and produced by the WP Lab, to be presented in the spring of the second year of the residency.
• Receive access to WP’s rehearsal space at no cost, when space is not in use