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NEW
YORK - Laurie Anderson, Joan Osborne and
Suzanne Vega will unite to perform a one-night-only
benefit concert for the NEA-rejected Women's Project, the
32-year-old theater company dedicated to producing the work
of female theater artists, on International Women's Day,
Monday, March 8, at 6:30pm at the Women's Project's home,
the 199-seat Julia Miles Theater, 424West 55th Street.
The three icons of New York City and
the world of music will be receiving the 2010 Women's
Project Women of Achievement Award, which pays tribute to
the remarkable accomplishments of women in a variety of
disciplines. Following the concert and awards presentation,
the celebration will continue with feasting and dancing,
with food prepared by six of the City's top female chefs.
"Laurie Anderson, Joan Osborne and
Suzanne Vega are legends in the music world," said Julie
Crosby, the Producing Artistic Director of Women's Project.
"I'd be first in line to hear these three gobsmackingly
talented artists perform together anywhere. But that these
three women -- with their world-wide reputations, gigantic
fan base, and busy global touring schedules -- have found
the time to come together on my stage to create an evening
of music for the benefit of Women's Project is beyond
imagining."
Laurie Anderson, who originally
trained as a sculptor, is known throughout the world as the
experimental performance artist and musician who plays
violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental
music and art rock styles. She has 11 albums to her credit.
www.laurieanderson.com
Joan Osborne has ten albums on
her resume. She is best known for her song One of Us,
and for her work with members of The Grateful Dead.
www.joanosborne.com
Suzanne Vega is a songwriter and
singer known for her highly literate lyrics and eclectic
folk-inspired music. She has seven albums to her name.
www.suzannevega.com
Tickets for the Women of
Achievement Benefit Concert begin at $550. For details,
contact Women's Project at 212.765.1706 or click
www.womensproject.org.
25th Anniversary of Women of Achievement Award
This year's Women of Achievement
Award, co-chaired by Arlene Scanlan and Cassandra Del Viscio,
marks the 25th anniversary of the award. Past recipients
include Estelle Parsons, Toni Morrison, Beverly Sills, Diane
Sawyer, Gloria Steinem, Donna Karan, Susan Sarandon, Barbara
Walters, Rosie O'Donnell, Katie Couric, Lauren Bacall, Maya
Angelou, Dame Judy Dench, Joan Didion, Eveyln Lauder, Whoopi
Goldberg, Twyla Tharp, Susan Lucci, Eve Ensler and Kerry
Washington, among many others. In 1999, the late Gerald
Schoenfeld of the Shubert Organization became the first and
only male recipient of the award.
The 2009-2010 three-play season of
Women's Project boasts of the widely-acclaimed Or, by
Liz Duffy Adams; the upcoming Smudge by Emmy-winner
Rachel Axler, directed by Pam MacKinnon; and Lascivious
Something by Sheila Callaghan, directed by Daniella
Topol.
32 Years of Presenting Women Theater Artists
Founded in 1978 by Julia Miles,
and now under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director
Julie Crosby, Women's Project provides a stage for women
playwrights and directors, who even today receive fewer than
20% of professional production opportunities nationwide.
Women's Project (WP) produces theater
created by women, providing a forum for women's perspectives
on political, social, and cultural topics. During its 32
years, countless artists have achieved significant
recognition through WP productions, including Anne Bogart,
Eve Ensler, Maria Irene Fornes, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori
Parks, Leigh Silverman, and Anna Deavere Smith, among the
many. WP has produced staged over 600 mainstage productions
and developmental projects, and published ten anthologies of
plays by women. In 1998, WP purchased a historic
off-Broadway venue on Manhattan's West 55th Street, making
WP the first and only women's theater company to hold the
keys to its own stage.
The National Endowment for the Arts
in Washington, D.C. is no longer funding Women's Project's
development of female playwrights and directors, perhaps
figuring that Women's Project, coming off its most
successful seasons in recent history (Freshwater,
Aliens with Extraordinary Skills, crooked,
Sand) and this year's hit, extended by popular demand,
Or, by Liz Duffy Adams, can create great
theater by women without Federal support or stimulation.
(Women's Project was also rejected for NEA stimulus money
and therefore no woman's job was saved by the Federal
government.) Have no doubt, Women's Project will present
women theater artists no matter how the winds blow in
Washington.
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