OUR MISSION
We’re creating a sustainable model of artist-led theater production that breaks down the current processes and puts playwrights at the helm – in support of one another and making way for diverse storytellers of tomorrow.
Each cohort of The Pool produces three plays in rep; the playwrights are empowered to take matters into their own hands as they lead the production of their original work – from the page to the stage.
This year, Mona Mansour
Vickie Ramirez & Pia Wilson
continue the legacy.
The world is spinning real fast these days. Changes everywhere. Theater is changing too, especially our institutions. We artists? Still gotta artist. As artists (Mona, Vickie, and Pia), we believe that theater still can be nimble and serve the immediate questions of our time. We believe in the simple act of bringing our communities together to witness our words. We believe in making a space where all are welcome. Following in the footsteps of prior Pool Play collectives, we will be bringing three plays into the world, running in repertory. We are The Pool 4.0!
Mona: what i CAN say
Mona's absurd & dark two-hander with music leads us down the twisted rabbit hole of political (dis)engagement, detachment, and brazen honesty.
Pia: BLACK BEE
Pia's play swims in the murky waters of class and Black celebrity using strokes of poetry and commedia dell'arte.
Vickie: YUCHWAHKÉNH (Bitter)
Vickie takes us on a surreal, dreamlike journey that explores the connection between generational trauma and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis.
FROM MONA, VICKIE & PIA:
We met at The Public Theater in 2009. Pia was wrapping up her year as a member of the very first Emerging Writers Group when there was a mixer to introduce the next cohort, which included Mona and Vickie. We hit it off right away — not just as artists and human beings but as bourbon fans. We've supported each other through the ups and downs, wins and losses, and everything in between. We continue to be each other's biggest fans. We enter this next phase of our creative lives wanting to create a challenge for ourselves — to produce three plays in repertory — that will also be a meaningful experience for our audiences.
Our Journey So Far
THE POOL 3.0
About
Following the success of the first two iterations of The Pool Plays, three distinct individuals with incredibly specific cultural stories found one another through The Pool's open submission process. Our plays coalesced in profound and unexpected ways, and we eagerly accepted the mantle of this bold pop-up theater company from its second iteration's inhabitants.
We are Jessica Charles, Andrea Stolowitz, and Naren Weiss. We are The Pool 3.0.
Plays: GREAT KILLS (Princess Grace Award), A PATRON OF THE ARTS (Cherry Lane Theatre), ONE MORE LESS (NYFA, Relentless finalist), LOVE (Sky Cooper New American Play Prize, Kilroys List, Marin Theatre Co.), CITIZENS UNITED (KeenTeens Theater) & IS EDWARD SNOWDEN SINGLE? (The Jungle Theater, Single Carrot Theater, Dorset Theatre Fest). Commissions: Playwrights Horizons, Keen Co., South Coast Rep. Resident playwright at New Dramatists & Huntington Playwriting Fellow.
Plays: GREAT KILLS (Princess Grace Award), A PATRON OF THE ARTS (Cherry Lane Theatre), ONE MORE LESS (NYFA, Relentless finalist), LOVE (Sky Cooper New American Play Prize, Kilroys List, Marin Theatre Co.), CITIZENS UNITED (KeenTeens Theater) & IS EDWARD SNOWDEN SINGLE? (The Jungle Theater, Single Carrot Theater, Dorset Theatre Fest). Commissions: Playwrights Horizons, Keen Co., South Coast Rep. Resident playwright at New Dramatists & Huntington Playwriting Fellow.
Plays: GREAT KILLS (Princess Grace Award), A PATRON OF THE ARTS (Cherry Lane Theatre), ONE MORE LESS (NYFA, Relentless finalist), LOVE (Sky Cooper New American Play Prize, Kilroys List, Marin Theatre Co.), CITIZENS UNITED (KeenTeens Theater) & IS EDWARD SNOWDEN SINGLE? (The Jungle Theater, Single Carrot Theater, Dorset Theatre Fest). Commissions: Playwrights Horizons, Keen Co., South Coast Rep. Resident playwright at New Dramatists & Huntington Playwriting Fellow.
THE POOL 2.0
About
THE POOL 2020 was a consortium of playwrights presenting three arresting plays in rep.
Carrying on The Pool's legacy of artist-driven production, KATE CORTESI, BRENDA WITHERS,
and EMILY ZEMBA joined forces to bring their works to life at the NEW OHIO.
Fewer than a third of plays produced in the US are written by women. The Pool battles this inequity with exuberance by putting female voices into conversation - rather than competition - with each other.
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Plays: GREAT KILLS (Princess Grace Award), A PATRON OF THE ARTS (Cherry Lane Theatre), ONE MORE LESS (NYFA, Relentless finalist), LOVE (Sky Cooper New American Play Prize, Kilroys List, Marin Theatre Co.), CITIZENS UNITED (KeenTeens Theater) & IS EDWARD SNOWDEN SINGLE? (The Jungle Theater, Single Carrot Theater, Dorset Theatre Fest). Commissions: Playwrights Horizons, Keen Co., South Coast Rep. Resident playwright at New Dramatists & Huntington Playwriting Fellow.
Brenda is a writer, actor & co-founder of the Harbor Stage Company. Plays: JORDAN (Northern Stage), THE KRITIK, STRING AROUND MY FINGER (Portland Stage, Clauder Prize), NORTHSIDE HOLLOW (Urbanite Theatre), and MATT & BEN. Dev't & Productions: Hudson Valley Shakespeare, HERE, Amphibian Stage, Two River. Huntington Playwriting Fellow, Dartmouth College grad.
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Plays: DEER AND THE LOVERS (First Floor Theater), CLOCKWORK (Local Lab), ON LOSS AND MICE AND MONSTERS AND LOVE (LPAC), HAVE YOU BEEN THERE (F*ck!ng Good Plays Festival); Dev't: ANT Fest Ars Nova, Exquisite Corpse, GPTC. Commissions & Memberships: 2019 Theater Masters Visionary Playwright Commission, 2020 Two River Theater Emerging Playwright, Society, Playwrights Center, New Georges, Middle Voice at Rattlestick. MFA: Yale School of Drama
About
The first Pool Plays were produced at THE FLEA in New York City November 14 - December 16 2017
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READ about The Pool in The Brooklyn Rail!
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Susan Bernfield's TANIA IN THE GETAWAY VAN
directed by Portia Krieger
Annie McNamara, Caitlin Morris, Courtney G. Williams, Madeline Wise
time travel through TANIA with Susan and Portia
Our production team: taking on the whole rep are set designer Devin August Petersen, lighting designer Christina Watanabe, co-costume designers Lillian Prentice & Ilana Breitman, props designer Peter McNally, line producer Aaron Rossini, production manager Corinne Woods, associate production manager Joyce Miller & intern Mylan Gray.
TANIA is "thoughtful and tender!"
WASHED UP is "snappy" and "sharp!"
RAFA has "campy pleasures" and "hothouse performances!"
"Acting as producers, the authors certainly have done elegantly by their plays." -- The Village Voice
THE RAFA PLAY
directed by Morgan Gould
Juan Arturo, Olli Haaskivi, Tommy Heleringer, Annie Henk,
Megan Hill,
Tommy Russell swing it like RAFA with Peter and Morgan!
RAFA has sound design by Mark Van Hare and is stage managed by Fatimah Amill, while TANIA features composer Rachel Peters, sound design by Fan Zhang, assistant director Dylan Zwickel and PSM Elizabeth Emanuel and shares projection designer David Bengali with WASHED UP -- which has original songs by Matt Schatz, sound design by David M. Lawson, dramaturgy by Sarah Lunnie, and is stage managed by Kaila Galinat.
THE POOL 1.0
Lynn Rosen's WASHED UP ON THE POTOMAC
directed by José Zayas
Austin Blunk, Crystal Finn,
Adam Green, Jennifer Morris,
Debargo Sanyal, Jacque Emord-Netzley are WASHED UP's
cubicle dwellers with
Lynn and José
The Pool 1.0 press Rep: David Gibbs/DARR Publicity. david@darrpublicity.com