2024 COLLECTIVE
7TH: NOT FORGOTTEN PLAY FESTIVAL
AUGUST 16-18TH, SI PLAYHOUSE
* denotes founding member of WPC
Catherine Crimmins is a New York based theater artist from Westford, Massachusetts. Catherine received her BFA in Acting from The Pennsylvania State University. Some of her favorite roles include Webster from Bonnets, Titania/Hippolyta from A Midsummer's Night Dream, Hannah/Rabbi from Angels in America, and the Narrator of Every Brilliant Thing. When Catherine was younger, she would rally her classmates to put on a play during recess. Catherine would act as the star, playwright, and director. When a classmate asked her, 'Maybe you can pick one job instead of three?’; she replied, in earnest, “Oh, I’ve got it! Thanks!” Since then Catherine has kept this sentiment alive by serving in multiple theatrical roles such as fight choreographer, producer, intimacy coordinator, design coordinator, actor, and more recently playwright. Her play God’s Favorite, will premiere at the New York Theater Festival July 2024. She is thrilled to join WPC and fulfill its mission of uplifting female voices.
Kseniya Ignatova-Yates * (2018, 19, 20, 21, & 22) is a poet and playwright living and working in New York City. She has been an active member of the WPC since its inception in 2018. Her work with the collective includes one-act plays Yaffa (2018), Orbit (2019), as well as her first video piece, Perpetuum Mobile (2020), 7.05 (2021) and Beso (2022).
Emma Y. Lai (she/her) is a Taiwanese new works director, playwright, and producer based in Minneapolis. Her first play, Who You Kiss for Fun, has had readings with Jersey City Theatre Center (dir. Seonjae Kim) and her company, Picnic Basket Theatre (dir. Eric Sharp). Her other play, Manifest Destiny, was a finalist for Pipeline Theatre Co.’s 2024 PlayLab. She was also one of four members of Theatre Mu’s inaugural Emerging Playwrights Cohort in 2022. Topics she is fascinated by include: afterlife, deities, deep sea creatures, queer stories, Asian stories, theatre for young audiences, world-building, music, and intimacy. Emmaylai.com
Ariana Nicoletta* (2018, 19, 20 & 21) is an artist and educator from Staten Island, New York. An avid playwright, she has had her works produced and published. Her original short play, “The Time Traveler’s Daughter,” was produced by the Sundog Theatre Company. Her one woman show “Joiamia” was published by Penguin Random House as a part of their Creative Writing anthology. She is also a member and co-founder of Women Playwright’s Collective, with which she produced, directed, and wrote her play “Over a Cup of Coffee” in June 2018, as well as her one-woman show “The Female Conundrum” in September 2019 and wrote/directed“Little Light in a Nimbus” August 2020.
Besides the arts, Ariana holds a Bachelor of Science in Communicative Sciences and Disorders and a Master of Education in Adolescent Education. She teaches English and AP Literature and Composition to high school seniors and holds an Education Residency with the Roundabout Theatre Company, with which she assistant teaches the Roundabout Youth Ensemble (RYE) of Manhattan.
Sarah Sterling (2022) (she/her) was born and raised in Stittville, NY, about a fifteen-minute walk from nine-mile creek, past the big red farmhouse on Railroad Street. She is now a working multidisciplinary theatre artist in NYC.
Brianna Weng is an Asian American based in New York and is so eager to be given this opportunity. Currently, Brianna is enrolled at Wagner College and double majoring in Theater Studies and Sociology (Criminal Justice). Brianna would love to do more hands-on things within the industry and will always be willing to learn more about it.