Theatre Alumnae Selected for 2020-2021 Women's Project Theater Lab

By
Amanda Breen
September 25, 2020

Theatre alumnae Daaimah Mubashshir ’15Gethsemane Herron-Coward ’19Zizi Majiid ’20, and Katherine Wilkinson ’19 have been selected for the 2020-2021 Women’s Project Theater Lab. The WP Theater Lab is a two-year residency program for playwrights, directors, and producers. Only five applicants are chosen for each of the three specializations: Mubashshir, Herron-Coward, and Majiid have been accepted as playwrights, and Wilkinson has been accepted as a director. 

The Lab’s primary objectives are to “cultivate the work of women+ artists” and to set them up for success in the theater industry. To that end, Lab members have access to an essential professional network, entrepreneurial and leadership training, and rehearsal space. Most importantly, Lab participants also have opportunities to develop and produce their own exciting work for the stage. 

Mubashshir’s published work includes Molasses and a Blue Coat (Kenyon Review Online) and The Zero Loop (No Tokens Journal), among others, and some of her full-length plays include The Immeasurable Want of Light (3 Hole Press), Room Enough (Fire This Time Festival, Pride Plays), The Chronicles of Cardigan and Khente (Soho Rep) and Emily Black is A Total Gift (New Georges). She has been awarded a Core Writer Fellowship, an Audrey Residency, a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and a Catwalk Institute Residency. 

Herron-Coward is a 2016 semi-finalist for the Rising Circle INK TANK, a 2016 finalist for the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, and a 2017 finalist for SPACE on Ryder Farm. Herron-Coward is also a 2016 Grant Recipient from the Puffin Foundation, which supported her residency with JAW Magic Time at Judson Memorial Church. Her short play, The Falling Man received a production in The Fire This Time Festival in 2018. Her work has been supported by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Millay Colony, where she was the 2018 Yasmin Scholarship Fellow. Her work has been seen in Atlanta Black StarThe Washington Post, and 24 Hour Plays: Nationals and Columbia University.

Majiid’s 13 original plays have been produced, which include The Hummingbird, YusofParadiseIn the Curve of the Wanton Sea, and Not Counted. She has directed 16 theater productions, and she has taught at Lasalle College of The Arts, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and School of The Arts Singapore. In 2012, the National Arts Council of Singapore awarded her the Young Artist Award. 

Wilkinson has developed work with Classical Theatre of Harlem, Juilliard, WP Theatre, Signature Theatre, Columbia Stages, The Magic Theatre, SITI Company, Suzuki Company of Toga, Zen Zen Zo, Deborah Hay, GenEnCo, Fusebox Festival, Movement Research, The Watermill Center, The VORTEX, and The Oklahoma Contemporary, among others. Wilkinson has Associate/Assistant Directed for Anne Bogart, Sam Gold, Whitney White, Christopher Renshaw, and Robert Wilson. Wilkinson is also the founder and producing artistic director of Gale Theatre Company.