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Phillip James Brannon and Maria Dizzia in Amy Herzog's "Belleville" at New York Theatre Workshop in 2013. (Photo by Joan Marcus)

NYTW Announces Female-Directed Season, Diverse Fellows

The lineup features new plays by Amy Herzog and Hammaad Chaudry, a Caryl Churchill revival.

NEW YORK CITY: New York Theatre Workshop has announced its 2017-18 season, in which women will direct all the offerings.

The season will open with the New York premiere of Amy Herzog’s Mary Jane, about a single mother in New York struggling to care for her chronically sick child. Anne Kauffman will direct.

Next up will be Hundred Days, with a book by Shaun and Abigail Bengson and Sarah Gancher and music and lyrics by the Bengsons. The folk-punk musical explores what would happen if you only had 100 days to live. Kauffman will direct and Sonya Tayeh will movement-direct.

The new year will start with the world premiere of An Ordinary Muslim, by Hammaad Chaudry. The show follows two siblings struggling to balance their Pakistani heritage and their British upbringing. Jo Bonney will direct.

A revival of Caryl Churchill’s Light Shining in Buckinghamshire will be next. Set in 1647 England, the 1976 play follows revolutionaries seeking a new future amid chaos. Rachel Chavkin will direct.

Marcus Gardley’s The House That Will Not Stand will follow. The play is set in Louisiana in 1813 after the state passed from France to the U.S., and four free women of color contemplate their future. Lileana Blain Cruz will direct.

The theatre also announced six new artistic fellows as part of the 2050 Artistic Fellowship Program, named for the U.S. Census Bureau’s projection that there will be no single racial or ethnic majority in the U.S. by 2050. The new fellows are Eleanor Burgess, Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, Shayok Misha Chowdhury, Tatiana Pandiani, Whitney White, and Nia Ostrow Witherspoon.

Founded in 1979, New York Theatre Workshop aims to produce plays the expand the boundaries of theatrical form and address current critical issues.

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