From August 18 – 24, 2008, NPT will produce a festival of new short plays developed by writers in our Women’s Work Lab, all addressing
the theme of GIRL POWER. The Lab began on March 9th as a new form of the Women’s Work Project, which had been a residency program for one or two women writers each season since 1994. The program had been suspended for 2006-07, and since we were rebuilding all of our activities after the loss of our space, we took this opportunity to re-envision what we could do for women playwrights.

We decided to expand the number of writers served each season and created a monthly Lab environment that would maintain the existing goal of the program - to foster the voices and styles of women playwrights while bringing their work to production quality - but at the same
time allow us to grow the program and increase its power and impact. In addition to writers, we invited three guest directors/dramaturges to join the group. In this way, we maintained our practice of pairing the playwrights with a dedicated partner who would help shepherd each
script to a finished product ready to be put on its feet. After reviewing 25 applications, we invited a diverse and accomplished group of eight writers to join us.

Lab members were challenged on the first day to create a short script speaking to a theme selected by Lab Director Melody Brooks and to work to have these plays ready for public performances in August. Melody was prompted to choose the theme of GIRL POWER after reflect-ing on Hillary Clinton’s Primary candidacy, and the implications - perceived and real - of how she was being portrayed and dealt with by
media as a woman of power, seeking power. The theme provoked a lively and charged discussion in which each writer shared her thoughts and feelings about this theme/phrase. Some members found the theme offensive, referring to “girl power” as a pseudo-feminism in which girls are overtly sexualized and women are made girls. Others took the theme literally and wrote about the freedom and strength young girls have before they learn to be “feminine” and deferential. An ardent debate over whether women should or should not use their sexuality to
gain power or prestige ensued. The experience of gay women and their relationship to traditional female sexuality added another fascinating aspect to the conversation. The resulting plays are as passionate, diverse, funny, and painful as the subject itself. A schedule of performance
days and times will be posted on our Web site at the end of July.

Plays included in the festival are:

• Dyke Patrol by Andrea Lepcio
• "Ever See a Fat Chinese?" by Christine Toy Johnson
• Girl in the Mirror by Kim Merrill
• Power Girl Support Group by Michele Miller
• 9 Steps from St. Anne's Street by Carolyn Nur Wistrand
• GIRL / POWER by Zetta Elliot
• The Waiting Room by Kate Bell

See schedules below:

Program A: "Ever See A Fat Chinese?" The Waiting Room 9 Steps from St. Anne's Street	Program B: Dyke Patrol Girl in the Mirror Power Girl Support Group GIRL / POWER
Monday, August 18, 2008	Opening Reception: 6:00 pm Program A: 7:00 pm
Tuesday, August 19, 2008	Program B: 12:00 pm Program A: 4:00 pm
Wednesday, August 20, 2008	Program B: 7:00 pm
Thursday, August 21, 2008	Program A: 4:00 pm Program B: 8:00 pm
Friday, August 22, 2008	Program A&B: 4:00 pm

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Founding company member Dawn Greenidge (Post Mortem, Macbeth, Richard III, among other shows with NPT) relocated to L.A. a few years ago to pursue her acting career in a warmer climate. After several stage and television appearances over those years, Dawn is now bringing Sona Tera Roman Hess to the stage with NPT serving as co-producer. Named for its four main characters, Sona Tera Roman Hess is the story of a family struggling to reconstruct itself in the aftermath of a strange infidelity. In the midst of this turmoil the gypsy circus arrives, bringing music, magic and predictions of the future. Sona Tera Roman Hess weaves together elements of magical realism and Greek tragedy as it explores a fantastic and deeply passionate world. In language that is in turn grandiose and quietly poetic, playwright Dennis Miles has redrawn archetypal characters desperately grasping for connection and purpose. The show is directed by Kiff Scholl, one of
L.A.’s most lauded young directors. Performances run from August 15th to September 21st at the Lounge Theatre, 6301 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood. Tickets are $20, with a special preview price of $10 on the 15th and gala opening night for $25. Visit the Web site at www.sonaterala.com to find out more.

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The 2007-08 Season has been an important one for NPT in many ways. We celebrated 16 years of producing innovative and quality theatre,
supporting minority and women artists and bringing a range of programs to NYC children and families. It is also significant that this past
season began only 18 months after our long-time home and performance space at 750 8th Avenue had been demolished. By the end of June
2008, we had affected an astonishing recovery from that loss.

Much of our focus for this past season has been on rebuilding, especially our school and developmental activities. We also made investments in work that will continue to evolve and go forward, presenting pieces in various stages of development and rethinking the format of existing programs. This was a departure from mounting full productions on a regular basis for three- and four-week runs - necessitated in part by the loss of our black box theatre. Without a permanent performance space (and its attendant resources), it is too difficult and costly to produce a regular schedule of mainstage shows. Instead, we opted for shorter runs, works-in-progress and collaborations and expanded the number of artists whose plays we are nurturing. This speaks not only to our loss of performance space, but also to the changing landscape of Off-Off Broadway and the very real need for NPT to maintain its distinctive voice and style while trying to move work out into the wider world.

Much of what we were able to accomplish this season was possible because of an expanded Board of Directors and a dedicated, tireless and largely volunteer staff. This allowed us to plan the whole season in advance and then pull off everything that we had set out to do - most of it very successfully. Along the way, we managed to double our budget for the year, make important and valuable connections with the business community, and expand our reach to the West Coast, with NPT’s first L.A. co-production coming up in August!

The season began with a 15th Anniversary Open House, which welcomed old friends and new acquaintances to our new location and
re-introduced them to many of our programs. We also created a new World Voices play, The Adventures of Rubbish in the Hood, commissioned by a Brooklyn Block Association with a grant from the City Parks Foundation and performed July-September. We also created The Fall From Paradise: A Modern Adaptation of an Ancient Sumerian Fable to perform in Confluence Theatre’s re-Cycle Play Festival in September. At the same time, we began the second year of the Apprentice Actor training program, which meets every Saturday morning for 12 weeks in the fall and spring. October saw a successful fundraiser, and the reinstitution of Voices From the Edge, our festival of new works by African American writers and performers. We also began rehearsals for a 90-minute Macbeth which was performed for school audiences in November and December, including a performance at Harlem Stage. This marked a reunion for NPT with the staff of Harlem Stage, who also operate Aaron Davis Hall where we had presented a number of our Shakespeare productions to schools in years past. In December, we mounted The Ritual, a co-production with Banana Boat Productions that received enormously positive feedback. (We will be reviving this production this coming fall for high school and adult audiences.) We ended December with a wonderful Holiday Party for which long-time NPT artist Amanda Maud was able to train apprentices and staff in Renaissance Dance to offer a demonstration to our guests.

On January 5th, with almost no time off, we began intensive rehearsals for Everyday Somewhere Here: Letters from Palestine and Israel, a multimedia piece we presented as a work in progress at the end of that month. Although we only had five public performances, the feedback
exceeded all expectations, and we will be doing a full production in the fall or early 2009. In the week following ESH, we opened a Commedia
Dell’arte-based production of The Cherry Orchard as our first mainstage presentation in two years, which ran through February 22nd. On
February 24th, we began a six-week session of The Shakespeare Bootcamp for Educators, which was granted Professional Development
Credit by the Department of Education for the first time this year. Also in February, we toured our popular World Voices show Steal Away: The
Living History of Harriet Tubman to schools including three performances in Connecticut.

On March 9th, we convened the first monthly meeting of the Women’s Work Lab, a revamping of our 12-year-old Women’s Work Project,
which had been suspended after the move. We welcomed eight playwrights and three guest directors to the Lab and set to work
immediately to create short plays on the theme of “Girl Power,” which will be produced in August. In April, we rehearsed Romeo & Juliet and
performed for school audiences throughout May. Our last three performances were at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, our neighbor and a
valuable new relationship. We took some time to celebrate on May 15th with a Super Sweet Sixteen Party appropriately themed to coincide
with Romeo & Juliet. Regular Saturday meetings of the Apprentice Program ended on April 19th and we began rehearsals for the scene
showcase, which performed June 5 - 8th, again to very positive feedback. Out of the blue, we were given a very special opportunity to present
two plays by the Irish Traveller Wagon Wheel Theatre at our studio space in June. These had received rave reviews in Ireland and England and so perfectly fit our mission of bringing unheard voices to American audiences that we were delighted to host them. It also brought a fitting
end to this season, which has been one of great growth, but more significantly, a year of unlooked for and serendipitous opportunity -
including the arrival in June of four amazing young women. These gifted ladies found us on the Internet and are interning with us this
summer and helping to prepare for next season. We are deeply thankful for these gifts, and the continuing validation we receive from so
many unexpected sources.

The Ritual Esther Bigord, Heather-Sky McField, Omrae Smith, Yolanda Griffith, Shykia Fields	Romeo and Juliet Counter-clockwise from top right: Bernardo Cubria, Ziad Ghanem, Colleen Jasinski, Bill Blechingberg, Debora Balardini, Johnnie Mae, Kwasi Osei, Daren Taylor, Fabio Pires, Jenny Greeman	Steal Away Cynthia Osuji, Rob Welsh, Daren Taylor, Jenny Greeman, Omrae Smith
The Adventures of Rubbish in the Hood Yolanda Griffith, Jenny Greeman, Sameerah Harris, Beth Starkin, Fabian Perez, Shykia Fields	Everyday Somewhere Here Michael Pauley, Ziad Ghanem, Brandon D’Augustine, Keon Mohajeri, Jenny Greeman	Voices from the Edge Festival Melissa Maxwell, Patricia Janvier, Marcella Lowry, Sandra Parris and Sharon Hope. Not pictured: Mark Hackett
Fall from Paradise Esther Bigord, Heather-Sky McField, Omrae Smith, Yolanda Griffith, Shykia Fields	Macbeth James Blanshard, Shykia Fields, Athena Masci, Kerry Watterson, Jared Morgenstern, Laura Rikard, David Gandy, April Simpson, Jenny Greeman, Rob Welsh, Baris Tuncer, Yoshiro Kono	The Cherry Orchard Counter-clockwise from left: Julio C. Peña, Ben Ballarin, Débora Balardini, Ray Rodriguez, Susan Spain, Omar Chagall, Selena Nelson, Danielle Devine, Michele Richardson, Patrick Mitchell, Ariel Estrada, Rafael Jordan, Bridgid Ryan, Julio Neira

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Open School Night @ NPT
Tuesday, October 2, 2008
4:30 - 7:30 pm

Educators and Parents please join us for an Open House to learn more about our Youth & Community Programs

Talented Actors Perform Excerpts

Enjoy Food & Drink

Act Shakespeare with Us

Classroom Packets & Lesson Plans Available

Have Fun! It's FREE

Everyone, including children, welcome

RSVP: jenny@newperspectivestheatre.org

Halloween Happening
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
7:00 - 11:00 pm

• A Hair-Raising Fund-Raiser to benefit NPT
• Ghost Stories
• Authentic Medieval Soul Cake

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