InProximity Theatre Company, a New York City-based theater production company, is proud to present the first edition of Project W Theatre Festival, a multi-day play reading event featuring new plays written and directed by women. Taking place over five days (June 6 – 10, 2017), the Festival will include a distinctive group of plays, all written and directed by women. Cherry Lane Theatre, located at 38 Commerce Street, will serve as the exclusive venue for all readings.

The Festival is produced by InProximity founders and Co-Artistic Directors Jolie Curtsinger and Laurie Schaefer Fenton; and Managing Director Lisa Dozier King. The entire event will be managed and executed by women theatre professionals. The festival aims to be a celebration of women in theater, from the creative side to the business itself.

“What makes Project W so exciting is the convergence of the female creatives and business side of theater,” says Curtsinger. “From the producers, writers and directors to our stage management and PR, Project W is truly a female force. This new undertaking will introduce our audiences to exciting new female voices. It will bring together women artists and theater businesswomen to create opportunities for everyone involved. We are honored to be part of a growing movement calling attention to the gender disparity on our stages and in our industry.”

Admission to all performances during the Festival will be free, but donations are welcome as they will be contributed to Planned Parenthood of New York City, an organization that provides sexual and reproductive health care and information and advocates for reproductive rights.

Project W Theatre Festival’s programming, curated by Curtsinger, Fenton and Dozier King, includes:

Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at 8:00p.m. – THE CLUB, written by Amy Fox, directed By Suzanne Agins – When a group of former college roommates gather to celebrate one of their own, they test their increasingly superficial connection, and force each other to face what is really going on in their grown-up lives. To RSVP for THE CLUB, please visit web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/973857

Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at 8:00p.m. – HALCYON, written by Danielle Mohlman, directed by Maureen Monterubio – When Annie arrives in Seattle for the weekend, she has two objectives: watch her brother Will graduate from the MBA program at the University of Washington and hook up with that piece of man meat she’s been objectifying for the last two years. It’s mutual, or so she thinks. Without warning, Ben is proposing marriage — citing latent Judaism and a lucrative new job. And Annie isn’t totally opposed to the idea. But then again, neither of them has really thought this through. Utilizing a percussive personification of anxiety’s relationship to technology, Halcyon explores long distance friendship, hasty decisions, moral grey areas, and — oh yeah — the 2016 election. To RSVP for HALCYON, please visit web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/973852

Thursday, June 8, 2017 at 8:00p.m. – STILL LIFE, written by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich, directed by Shelley Butler– Lydia’s daughter hasn’t returned home since a series of subway bombings in an unnamed city. Now Lydia’s joined at the hip with her annoying son-in-law, Donald, as they wait for news. Meanwhile, a mysterious 20-something photographer keeps following her and snapping her picture. The photos soon become part of a groundbreaking exhibit on what society has lost to terrorism. But, all Lydia can think about from one day to the next is the terrifying prospect of a ringing phone and word of her daughter’s fate. A darkly comic look at the way we adjust to life and loss in a terrorist age. To RSVP for STILL LIFE, please visit web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/973856

Friday, June 9, 2017 at 8:00p.m. HONOR KILLING, written by Sarah Bierstock – Allisyn Davis, an American reporter for the NY Times, heads to Pakistan to cover the honor killing of a young woman. Denied entrance- but armed with the most current technology- she conducts her investigation remotely from Dubai. Through a series of cultural collisions, candid interviews, and dangerous encounters she learns the horrifying details of this murder. These circumstances cause Allisyn to re-examine a traumatic incident back in the United States. One culture mirrors the other, asking questions about forgiveness, self-worth and justice. To RSVP for HONOR KILLING, please visit web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/973855

Saturday, June 10, 2017 at 8:00p.m. – THE FLORA AND FAUNA written by Alyson Mead, directed by Stefanie Sertich – Ginnie and Adele¹s friendship was forged under a dark secret. But 28 years later, an inescapable event puts them both in jeopardy again. Can they help each other move on from loss before it’s too late? To RSVP for THE FLORA AND FAUNA, please visit web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/973850

As seats are limited, Festival goers are encouraged and required to RSVP for each play with the individual links. For the full schedule, please visit web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/33005/1496289600000.

For more information on Project W Theatre Festival and to process online donations to Planned Parenthood of New York City, please visit www.InProximityTheatre.org. Follow InProximity Theatre Company on Facebook via @InProximity and Twitter @inproxtheatre.

NYC theater production company InProximity recently announced the line up for Project W, a theatre festival featuring five days of play readings written, directed, and produced by women. This celebration of women in theater extends even to the management and press teams, all of which are women as well. Shortly before Project W launches, InProximity’s co-founder and co-artistic director Jolie Curtsinger took a moment to chat with us about how this project came about, why she and fellow co-director Laurie Schaefer founded InProximity, and shifting the societal paradigm to feature more women in theatre: both on the creative and business side. So first of all, I wanted to ask how Project W came about. A reading series is something we’d talked about over the last few years. We’ve started developing new plays and working with writers, and part of that process is obviously a reading. And so it’s something we’ve been kind of mulling over. And then watching the movement to showcase more works by women recently has been exciting and something we wanted to be a part of. The response when we started reaching out to people was really encouraging. So we decided to not stop at presenting female w …Read more