2025-2026 SEASON
A WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION
SEPTEMBER 9 – OCTOBER 4, 2026
Theatre at the 14th Street Y
344 East 14th Street, NY NY 10003
as part of Femme Collective – plays in repertory
This production is part of the UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) Healing Arts Week NYC: September 19-26, 2026 (in conjunction with the Jameel Arts and Health Lab at NYU in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).The UN also sponsors ClimateWeek2026 which runs Sept. 20-27, 2026, which we have an affinity with.
TICKET LINK
ReproEco is about our world and ourselves — our health, our bodies, our communities, our future — and our need for clean air, soil, and water that is free of toxins. Through humor and pathos, these six plays range from Afro-Futurism and virtual reality to a slave castle in Ghana, activists in a new land that is perpetually in autumn, a backyard in Colorado haunted by an environmental spectre, a waterless town in Texas where a girl dreams of a future, a couple in crisis in the hills of West Virginia, and a young teacher visited by whacky figments from her dreams. Accompanying the plays are four modern dances that explore the natural elements of Fire, Earth, Water and Air. With original music and immersive projections, we will take you on an incredibly sensual and introspective journey.
PERFORMANCE DATES:
Wed Sept 9 at 7 pm (preview), Thurs Sept 10 at 7pm (preview), Wed Sept 16 at 2 pm, Thurs Sept 17 at 7 pm, Sat Sept 19* at 2 pm,
Wed Sept 23* at 7 pm, Fri Sept 25* at 7 pm, Sat Sept 26 at 7 pm, Sun Sept 27* at 2 pm, Thurs Oct 1* at 7 pm, Sat Oct 3 at 7 pm, Sun Oct 4 at 2 pm
TICKETS
*TALK BACKS:
Sat. Sept 19, 2 pm – Cassandra Medley, award-winning playwright, and writer of the Afro-futurism piece, ‘We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living,’ will share her inspiration for the writing.
Wed. Sept 23, 7 pm — Tina Rosenberg, the co-founder of Solutions Journalism, which supports the global coverage of today’s environmental challenges through solutions-based reporting; former NY Times writer, winner of Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award
Fri. Sept 25, 7 pm — Lynn M. Paltrow, a lawyer and founder of Pregnancy Justice (formerly called National Advocates for Pregnant Women), now an activist with the Beacon for Democracy
Sat. Sept 26, 7 pm – Dr. Jacqui Patterson, founder of The Chisholm Legacy Project, which works with Black women on the frontlines of climate justice (including in Sandbranch, Texas); former director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice program; Time Magazine Woman of the Year in 2024.
Thurs. Oct 1, 7 pm – Margie Kelly, Strategic Communications Manager with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Chicago, formerly a media manager with Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families; the Breast Cancer Fund; the Center for Reproductive Rights and an activist with Greenpeace; lead consultant to ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now
Sat. Oct 3, 7 pm – Leonne Tanis, CNM, WHNP-BC: a midwife and reproductive health nurse practitioner in New York City who identifies as a Black, Haitian-American lesbian; formerly on the board of National Association to Advance Black Birth (NAABB)
(If you wish to attend a free talk back, please arrive 2 hours after showtime.)
CURRENT PRODUCTION – Peggy Ryan Photographer
MEET THE COMPANY
ReproEco Playwrights:
(L-R top) Diane Breeser, Cindy Cooper, Alinca Hamilton,
(L-R bottom) Mildred Inez Lewis, Cassandra Medley & Laura Shamas
ReproEco Actors
James Alton, Gena Bardwell, Jean Brookner*, Darlenis Duran, Joyce Griffen*,
Pernell Walker*, Brielle Webb, Becca Worthington.
*appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association; Approved AEA Showcase
DANCES
Created and Danced by Jennifer Chin of JenniferChinDance
ARTISTIC COMPANY
Jan Hartley, Projection Design; Sun Hee Kil, Sound Design & Original Music (w/ featured drummer Paul Peress); Kia Rogers, Lighting Design; Lisa Renee Jordan, Costume Design; Jennifer Varbalow, Scenic/Property Design; A.J. Muhammad, Historical Dramaturgy; Allison Astor-Vargas, Assistant Director. Production directed by Lorca Peress.
THE REPROECO (R) EVOLUTION:
This project began with playwright, activist and co-producer Cindy Cooper of ReproFreedomArts.org who commissioned six playwrights to spend several months in 2024 meeting online with experts in the fields of reproductive rights and environmental justice. After these dialogues, the six writers created the new works known as ReproEco.
MultiStages joined ReproFreedomArts.org to co-produce a developmental reading series in 2024 and 2025. Lorca Peress, MultiStages Artistic Director, is collaborating with her team of designers and choreographer to envision a multidisciplinary imagining of the works.
Six short plays connect our reproductive health and the environment. With humor, mythology, Afro-futurism, drama and dance, our stories look at toxins, forever chemicals, plastics, water and air, and the effects on our bodies, our communities and our futures.
“ReproEco: Tomorrow Is Now”
“REPRO” (reproductive rights, health, safety)
“ECO” (ecology / environmental justice, safety)
“Tomorrow is Now,” as coined by Eleanor Roosevelt:
“Tomorrow is Now. It is today that we must create the world of the future.”
This project is made possible in part with funds from:
Creative Engagement, a regrant program supported by the funding agencies The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) in partnership with the City Council and The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by LMCC (Lower Manhattan Cultural Council).
Grants from NYSCA-A.R.T./ New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program), N.W. Dible Foundation, and Distracted Globe Foundation.
MultiStages & ReproFreedomArts 2025-2026 supporters:
MULTISTAGES STARS ($1000 and Up): Creative Engagement Fund (LMCC, NYSCA, DCA), NYSCA-A.R.T./ New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program), N.W. Dible Foundation, Richard Appelgren & Peter Kolonia, Bruce Baumer, Lisa Cahill Esq. and Mark Peress, Leonard Fusco AIA, Gloria Vando Hickok, Gail Kriegel, Renée Berliner Rush, Maurice Singer, Bruce Tenenbaum, Fred Wilshushen. LEADS ($500 – $999): Paula Cizmar, Mary Gail, Maryann Mazzacaro, Valorie Niccore. PRINCIPALS ($250 – $499): Stephen Doran, Tamara & Bruce Watkins. SUPPORTING PLAYER ($100 – $249): Gena Bardwell, Laura & Joel Bassin, Michael Closter, Douglas E. Davidson, Clara Fusco, Lesley McBurney, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Anika Paris, Cynthia Strauss, Richard Streiter and Vikki Barbero, What’s the Big Idea Gertrude. (Up to $99): Claudia Barnett, Melody Brooks, Carlos Fittante, Fran Handman, Warren Kass, Michael Knatt, Claire Panke, Susan Yankowitz.
ReproFreedomArts / Words of Choice Donors: ($1000 – $5000): Distracted Globe Foundation, Margie Kelly, Puffin Foundation. ($500 – $999): Jennifer Clarke. ($250-$499): Barbara Becker and Dave Bolotsky, Cindy Cooper, Dr. Jessica Heymeyer and Well Empowered, Melissa Merickel, Bernice Rohret, Charlotte Taft and Shelley Oram. ($100 – $249): Marcy Bloom, Kathy Chavez and Peggy Merickel, Michele Dremmer, Joan Goldfrank, Julie Morgenstern, Martha Richards, Laura Shamas, Adina Taubman. (Up to $99): Janis Astor del Valle, Micki Coppel, Ginger Grace, Deborah Merickel, Sharon Mellon Mermelstein, Jann Rosen Queralt.
