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...

  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...

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...

Nikki will utilize the ROO Residency to delve into her thought-provoking new project, Invisi(bility). This powerful play confronts the complex intersection of race and disability in the United States. Invisi(bility) centers on Gabriela Johnson, a Black attorney with rheumatoid arthritis, who embarks on a legal battle to have Blackness recognized as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Through Gabriela's fight, the play compels audiences to critically examine the concept of a "post-racial" America and the enduring presence of racial prejudice within the legal and medical systems. A seasoned artist with a distinctive voice, Brake-Sillá is stunningly accomplished. She is the founder of DrAW (Dramatists At War) and has been commissioned by EST/Sloan, Elevate Theatre, RECPhilly, Revolution Shakespeare, and Philadelphia Women’s Theater. She has received funding from The MAP Fund, The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, RECPhilly, The Puffin Foundation, Jody Fa...

November 5th & 6th at Bechdel Project Headquarters. By:  Chloe Rabinowitz  for Broadway World Oct. 16, 2023 Bechdel Project , in developmental partnership with  Atlanta Reclamation Studios , presents staged readings of Mavens of St. Catherines Island, part of the newly launched Interstate Program, November 5th (5pm) and November 6th (7pm) at Bechdel Project Headquarters in Greenpoint, Brooklyn (252 Green St. 3rd Floor)  Click Here Written by Catherine Mew and SR Gentry and featuring Tanyah Hope Anderson, Denise Arribas , LaLa Cochran , Tamalyn Meller, Eden Mew , and Kiersten Wallace, Mavens of St. Catherines Island is a new full-length ghost play from an all Atlanta based team with unique arrangements of folk music in its second year of development with support from the Nexus Fund and The Warhol Foundation. On Christmas Eve 1901, the third massive hurricane in a decade threatens Georgia's northern barrier islands. With all the ships of a diminished fleet on the r...

BECHDEL PROJECT and Ensemble Studio Theatre Announce the   World Premiere Reading of Jeanne Dorsey’s play, THE KIT: MADE BY MARTHA, as Part of the Alfred P. Sloan 2023 First Light Festival. Bechdel Project and Ensemble Studio Theatre will present the world premiere reading of Jeanne Dorsey’s play, The Kit: Made by Martha, directed by Jackson Gay, on May 7th (3pm)  and 8th (7pm) in New York City at Alchemical Studios ( 50 W 17th St.) Reserve tickets here. Commissioned by the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project , and developed with support from Bechdel Project’s year-long ROO Residency , The Kit: Made by Martha explores the life and work of Martha Goddard, inventor of the first standardized rape kit. While working a crisis hotline for runaway teenage girls in 1972 Chicago, Goddard ponders how rape could be investigated as an actual crime rather than a made-up story. At a time when sexual violence in America is rarely prosecu...