NEW YORK CITY: The Lillys announced today that 3Views on Theater, their new artist-driven publication, will serve as a free-to-view digital archive for productions and theatremakers affected by the current pandemic.

3Views was initially intended as a mission-driven journal, to not only broaden the scope of theatre-related writing, but to provide three diverse perspectives on one piece of theatre at a time. With a slew of significant names on deck⁠—Alison Bechdel, Cassie da Costa, Alexander Chee, Eve Ensler, Roxane Gay, John Guare, Jessica Hagedorn, John Lahr, Paul Muldoon, Cynthia Nixon, Mary Louise Parker, Claudia Rankine, James Shapiro, Kathryn Schulz, Zadie Smith, Wally Shawn, Alisa Solomon, Gloria Steinem and Monique Truong⁠—the publication was prepared to launch this spring. However, with theatres now closed and no productions to review, 3Views has shifted its purpose to that of a virtual space where theatre can re-emerge online. Each week, the site will feature three canceled productions; viewers will be able to read script excerpts and production history, watch videos, browse photos, explore designs, and more.

“Theatre has always been ephemeral, of the moment, and a practice for loss. But never has our community felt that as keenly as we do now,” said 3Views co-founder Sarah Ruhl in a statement. “We wanted to shine light on the theatrical-almosts across our country, and the theatrical moments cut short, to celebrate them, in the hopes that they can be resurrected after COVID. I think of it as a kind of collective practice to mark this time.”

3Views‘s first features will be TFANA’s production of Gnit by Will Eno; Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Intimate Apparel, with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and libretto by Lynn Nottage; and Playwright Horizon’s production of Unknown Soldier, with book and lyrics by Daniel Goldstein and music and lyrics by Michael Friedman.

Future features will include Victory Gardens Theater’s production of Dhaba on Devon Avenue by Madhuri Shekar, the Magic Theatre’s production of Don’t Eat the Mangos by Ricardo Perez Gonzalez, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s production of There’s Always the Hudson by Paola Lazaro, with more to be announced soon.

In keeping to their original mission, 3Views will publish reflections of the current moment by a vast group of voices in theatre. Right now, readers can view elegies, secular prayers, thoughts, and rants by Julia Cho, Paula Vogel, C.A. Johnson, and more. Additionally, 3Views will highlight urgent and helpful initiatives within the theatre community, its first being the Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation, along with this year’s 2020 grant recipients⁠—80 playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists whose professional productions have been affected by COVID-19.

As 3Views is free to the public, inclined viewers can make donations to the Lillys Direct COVID Grants, which support individual theatre artists during this time. Viewers can also join in the organization’s virtual launch celebration and toast on Wednesday, May 27 at 6pm EST; RSVPs will open soon on Signature Theatre’s SigSpace website.

Founded in 2010 by Julia Jordan, Marsha Norman, and Theresa Rebeck, the Lillys began as the Lilly Awards, an effort to honor women in theatre. The organization is named for Lillian Hellman, a pioneering American playwright who famously said, “You need to write like the devil and act like one when necessary.”