Lisa McNulty, photo by Joan Marcus
Lisa takes the place of Julie Crosby, unjustly and surely illegally fired without reason by the board after nine years of extraordinary leadership. By spearheading the arduous and ultimately successful drive to rid the theatre of the cumbersome old church (founder Julia Miles and I had, mistakenly as it turns out, helped WP to buy the building a decade ago), she saved the important work of women playwrights and directors from failing under a burden of maintenance costs. Once again, Julie proved that the brilliant work of theatre creatives has nothing to do with bricks and mortar.
The new skipper, Lisa McNulty, has years of work at the WP’s project behind her and knows New York theatre well. How fortunate that she is able to bring her maturity and wisdom to what is sure to be a difficult time, given the board she must dead with. We on the advisory board had asked the current board to resign, to no avail, and so Lisa must find a way to work with the current members, until gradually over time—we hope!—they are replaced by women who understand and support Julia Miles’ vision and legacy, which Lisa surely does, and will.
We will all be watching to see what sort of season Lisa constructs, and how actively the deservedly renowned Playwrights’ Lab moves along its well-established course. Over time, the survival of the Women’s Project, the largest and oldest theatre in this country supporting the work of women, will depend on our ability as past and present and future supporters to believe in a restored vision.
Good luck, Lisa!
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