The ROO Residency, inspired by Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, is designed to remove the systemic and financial barriers that often sideline feminist writers. Bechdel Project , the feminist new play incubator, is proud to announce that acclaimed Broadway playwright Sandy Rustin has been selected as the 2026 ROO Resident . The announcement coincides with Women’s History Month and the anniversary of a watershed moment in feminist history: the 1970 Ladies’ Home Journal Sit-In . During her two-year residency, Rustin will develop a new farce centered on this radical act of defiance, bringing the high-stakes, 11-hour takeover of the magazine’s editorial offices to life for modern audiences. In March of 1970, a coalition of nearly 200 women from Media Women, New York Radical Feminists, the National Organization of Women (NOW), the Redstockings, and Barnard College Students staged a tactical occupation of the Ladies’ Home Journal offices. Protesters targeted the magazine becaus...

Learn more about them and their projects! Ania Upstill - ELLA, ANNIE, & STELLA Long before Ru Paul’s drag race and drag queens ruled the lands of gender performance, male impersonators triumphed on the American and British variety stages. In the late nineteenth century, the hype wasn’t about men dressing as women - it was about women (or at least, female people), dressing as men. These performers were some of the best paid and most in demand of all performers on the variety stages, and their stories have mostly disappeared - until now. Melisa Tien - ANTIDOTES TO PATRIARCHY After travelling to Yunnan, China, and Sumatra, Indonesia, to learn about two thousand-plus-year-old matrilineal societies, how might one create a participatory cultural event that gives rise to a natural inclination—nay, compulsion—to place women at the center of society, that is at once theatrical and authentic, and unique to our corner of the world? Kimberly Senior - THE REINVENTION OF ANNIE BESANT Annie Be...

  Out of nearly 400 applicants from 23 states and 22 countries, comprising TONY and Emmy (and other) award winners as well as those new to playwriting - covering subjects from Cannibalism to Nude Dinner Parties, Drag Kings to Godhood, Birthwork to Assassinations, our 2026 ROO Applicants have it all!  We are thrilled to introduce the 2026 ROO semifinalists! Adina Aaron - Textiles Lindsay Bourne - Some Place You Don't Have to Take Your Body with You  Ella Rose Chary - The Wrong Question Jayne Deely - Legacy Steph Del Rosso - Damage Control Penelope Gould - Untitled Women's House of Detention Play Zoë Kim - Famished Megan Medley - I'm God Mamie Parris - The Circle Sandy Rustin - Ladies Home Journal Project M.D. Schaffer - Untitled White Woman Militia Play Kimberly Senior - The Reinvention of Annie Besant Melisa Tien - Antidotes to Patriarch - A Series of Theatrical Events Ania Upstill - Ella, Annie, and Stella - a Drag King Musical Liza Wyles - The Raft

Return of the ROO Residency This two-year residency offers a combination of financial investment, physical space, and curated mentorship. We are once again opening applications for its signature  Room of One's Own (ROO) Residency . Inspired by Virginia Woolf's seminal assertion that a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write, this residency is designed to provide exactly that. This two-year residency offers a combination of financial investment, physical space, and curated mentorship to empower feminist writers to develop bold, innovative work for stage or screen. "I am thrilled that we get to continue supporting the creation of innovative works, investing in emerging talents, and creating inclusive spaces for artistic expression through our ROO Residency program," says Maria Aparo, Co-Creative Director at Bechdel Project. "By providing platforms, resources, and support, we strive to nurture the voices that are often silenced through systemi...

One-night festival of art and advocacy  comes to LaGuardia Performing Arts Center on October 25th A powerful coalition of artists and advocates will come together for My Body, My Voice: A Night of Performance and Activism, a vibrant one-day festival dedicated to celebrating and protecting reproductive freedom. The event will take place Saturday, October 25, 2025, from 5–10 p.m. at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC) in Long Island City. Proceeds will benefit The Brigid Alliance, a nonprofit that helps people across the country access safe abortion care. Presented by Bechdel Project in partnership with LPAC, My Body, My Voice will feature live performances, music, and conversations highlighting the power of art as activism. The centerpiece of the evening is the NYC premiere of The Pavement Kingdom: a clinic escort play by acclaimed playwright Courtney Bailey, directed by Rachel Tibbetts and featuring Marcy Wiegert as “Charon.” Based on Bailey’s three years as a clinic e...

Premiere reading set for August 15 on LPAC’s mainstage. Bechdel Project will launch a new partnership with LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC) on August 15 with an in-house reading of INVISI(BILITY) by Nikki Brake-Sillá, directed by Lori Parquet (Suffs). The collaboration will provide crucial support for Bechdel Project artists and programs, including ADA-accessible rehearsal space through its Free Community Space Program. The new partnership will also extend to future events and initiatives, ensuring artists and activists doing mission-aligned work have free, accessible space for creation. Brake-Sillá’s INVISI(BILITY), developed through her ROO Residency, explores whether Blackness could legally qualify as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The play follows Gabriela Johnson, a Black attorney with rheumatoid arthritis, as she argues for Blackness to be recognized as a protected disability—sparking a challenge from Marcus, a fellow Black Harvard Law gradu...