WELCOME HOME Theatrical Audio Tour presents WP Theater’s past, present and future

By Claudie Benjamin

Welcome Home, or Ten Tiny Snapshots of WP, presented by WP Theater, is an original work of theater in the form of an audio tour celebrating WP’s past, present and future, and grapples with the question–what does it mean to return to theater?  What does it mean to feel at home in physical space again? The project encourages audiences to come to the theater in a gentle way that honors concerns about returning to indoor events while celebrating the act of coming together in a safe way.

Rebecca Martinez, WP’s Associate Artistic Director and Director of Welcome Home, called the project a celebratory assemblage of thoughts, interviews, and sound bites that represent the many achievements of the 44-year theatre’s history, WP’s future, and also offers participants a chance to consider what it means to feel at home in a theater again. The audio tour is designed to welcome audiences to explore the stage, backstage, and secret parts of WP’s Upper West Side theater via “small snapshots” of audio and interactive work throughout the space.  Over a period of 40 minutes, tour participants will hear the voices of artists who have history or current ties to WP, including original WP staff member and The Affair star Kathleen Chalfant, Tony Award-Winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein, legendary Cuban-American playwright Maria Irene Fornes, and WP founder Julia Miles.  Audio Tour participants also have access to online content that provides additional details and enriches the audio with selected images.

WP Theater, devoted to developing and producing new work by Women+, first opened in 1978 as part of the legendary American Place Theater, but has made its home at 2162 Broadway since 2015.  Once a skyscraper church, the building has undergone multiple renovations, been named and renamed and experienced ups and downs in reputation along with the modern history of the UWS.  WP’s Producing Artistic Director, Lisa McNulty, believes that the WP Theater space on the building’s third and fourth floors was once the unusual church building’s gymnasium.  Anthony Riccio, building superintendent said he has the original plans in his office in the basement, and that early use seems reasonable.

The WP website details more than 600 productions by women since its inception. There is no question that WP has showcased works by well-known women, including Pulitzer Prize winners Lynn Nottage (Sweat), and Martyna Majok (Cost of Living), Tony Award-winning directors Pam MacKinnon (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf), Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown), and Rebecca Taichman (Indecent), among many, many others, and has supported the work of many extraordinary actors.  Most importantly, WP proudly thrives as a significant innovator in the evolution of theater in the United States.  “We are the oldest and largest theater in the country presenting works by Women+ and devoted to a focus on gender expression,” said Lisa.

WP has a longtime presence on the UWS, and is eager to have locals know it’s back onstage following the disruption of Covid restrictions.  As Lisa expressed it, “We want to be back in the eyes of the neighborhood.”  To extend the welcome as broadly as possible, tickets available on the web cost only $5.  Smartphones are required to access the audio tour via QR code and participants are encouraged to bring headphones. Audiences of up to four at a time are required to be masked and vaccinated to attend.  Welcome Home runs from September 24 through October 1 — the full tour schedule is available on the WP website.