About the INKubator

Before I started WET Productions with Victoria, ten years ago, nearly every play or film I auditioned for, and every commercial I produced, was written by a man. Equal opportunity clearly still did not exist in the entertainment industry, and it began with the source material - the script. Men were being given the opportunity to share their perspective, tell their stories, and define who women were in pop culture. Men were more commonly hired, and more commonly heard. We built WET to challenge this status quo, with a vision and mission to both produce new plays written by women, and to elevate the careers of women playwrights. An essential key to ensuring that these writers would be seen as equally valuable artists, lay in the development of each script leading up to production. Without a good, strong script, without the base line of good material, a production does not stand a chance. This is true across all mediums, but in the theater, the playwright is the ultimate voice. Last year, we created a unique script development program to help each playwright fortify her script and promote her artistry, The INKubator.

Script development has always been an integral part of our production work beginning with our first play, written by Joyce Carol Oates. After a meeting with Ms. Oates, she generously sent us new material for her already published play, to support our production of her work, which we mutually agreed strengthened and updated her script. The INKubator series is a natural progression and expansion of our pre-production development work, allowing us to work with, support and develop multiple scripts by women writers each year.

When I am looking for material to develop or produce, I am always looking for a play that will allow me to ask the questions through art, that I am asking and living in my daily life. I am also looking for a piece that will awaken the passion, and challenge the apathy of my generation. Since 1999, we have been developing and producing premieres of material that does just that. The plays we have found to work on are written by women whom we believe are the next generation of Great American Playwrights: Sheila Callaghan, Julia Jordan, Lucy Thurber, Brooke Berman, Julia Jordan, Cusi Cram, Sarah Schulman, Francine Volpe, Anna Ziegler – these women are all wildly different talents, with brilliant voices, and not surprisingly, their processes have all required very different support to make their work as powerful as they dream it to be. The INKubator is designed to do just that through a unique support system implemented to empower each artist’s talents.

Each year, we choose 5-7 plays to develop, and over the course of the year, through unrehearsed readings, note sessions, and workshops we provide resources and attention specifically designed to serve the needs of each playwright. Last summer we created a partnership with Williamstown Theater Festival to provide Julia Jordan with a residency that would allow her to focus on her new play, in a creative but private environment. Currently, we have created a partnership with The National Theater Institute at The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and Cusi Cram will be enjoying a residency there in April. Each writer needs different actors, directors, dramaturgical notes, rehearsal space and writing space to identify her blind spots, celebrate her efforts, and challenge her development process.

A well produced play – one that has received development support, been matched with a complementary artistic team, and effectively helmed through production, brings an audience member into the center of a playwright’s soul, and invites an audience member the opportunity to explore a pressing question that all of the collaborating artists are also presently exploring. Through the INKubator, we are laying the foundation for achieving this kind of connection between artist and audience by developing scripts, so they may be production ready. We are expanding the production opportunities for each script and playwright by introducing other Artistic Directors, Agents, Literary Managers and Producers to these writers along with a finely tuned script. Ultimately, we are providing support for each artist to write her best play, and be produced throughout the country.

Sasha Eden, Creative Director