NEW YORK CITY: WP Theater, formerly known as Women’s Project Theater, has announced its 2017-18 season, its 40th. The female-driven season will include a world premiere dance piece by Monica Bill Barnes & Company and a new play by Kate Benson.

The season will open in September with the world premiere of One Night Only (running as long as we can), from Monica Bill Barnes & Company. One Night Only is created by Barnes, Anna Bass, and Robert Saenz de Viteri, choreographed by Barnes, and designed by Kelly Hanson and Jane Cox. It will be performed by Barnes and Bass, who will “do everything they’ve ever learned how to do in just one night.” The show will be produced in association with New Neighborhood.

The second production of the season will be Kate Benson’s [PORTO] in January 2018. The show takes place in a bar and is about the romantic trials of a woman named Porto. [PORTO] will be directed by Lee Sunday Evans and will be co-produced with the Bushwick Starr in association with New Georges.

In addition to the productions, WP will produce a new-play reading series called Parity Plays in the fall.  Parity Plays was created by Colt Coeur and will be curated by the company and WP. It will feature readings of four plays written by female and trans writers.

In March 2018, WP will present its second biennial WP Pipeline Festival. It will include five new plays in various stages of development. The works will be written, directed, and produced by the 15 artists in the 2016-18 WP Lab of female and trans artists. The writers will be Donnetta Lavinia Grays, MJ Kaufman, Sylvia Khoury, Zoe Sarnak, and Leah Nanako Winkler. The directors will be Melissa Crespo, Morgan Gould, Ellie Heyman, Tyne Rafaeli, and Mo Zhou. And the producers will be Roxanna Barrios, SallyCade Holmes, Nidia Medina, Laura Ramadei, and Yuvika Tolani.

An additional special event will be announced at a later date.

Founded in 1978, WP Theater focuses on developing, producing, and promoting female and trans artists.