Project Number One
Project Number One was initially launched in 2020 as a job creation program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and record unemployment in our field. It was also an experiment in prioritizing living wages for artists, even when faced with extraordinary challenges.
As theaters across the City reopen, we are excited that the transformative experience of Project Number One will continue! During this time of cultural and civic recovery, the program will evolve to include: ongoing staff positions for artists, budget transparency, and significant increases to production fees and salaries. More details will be announced soon.
Current Residents
abigail jean-baptiste
Current Artist on Staff
Abigail Jean-Baptiste (she/her/any) is a theater maker, director, and writer who grew up in New York and London with roots in the American South and Haiti.  Her work intersects with critical race theory, disrupts conditioned rules of behavior, and reimagines understandings of the past. She’s particularly interested in activating the ways live performance and theater are as essential to our humanity as eating food. In 2020, she was named one of the “Powerhouse Women Directors Theatre Fans and Industry Pros Alike Need to Know” by Playbill. Most recently, she directed The Story of a Circle by David Ryan Smith for Soho Rep’s inaugural Project Number One. Currently developing projects that sift through history to unearth stories and humans who remain obscured. She is a part of the Roundabout Director’s Group, Bushwick Starr Reading Series, Classic Stage Company Associate Board and The New Georges Jam. A Proud Lilly Award Winner and New Georges Affiliated Artist. B.A. Princeton University.  abigailjeanbaptiste.orgÂ
Kimie Nishikawa
Current Artist on Staff
Kimie Nishikawa is a Japanese scenic designer based in NYC. Notable credits : Ain’t No Mo’ (The Public Theater), The Headlands (LCT3), Gnit (TFANA), Dr Ride’s American Beach House (Ars Nova), The Light (MCC) NYC upcoming; Morning Sun (Manhattan Theater Club), while you were partying (Soho Rep), Tambo and Bones (Playwrights Horizons) Along with Cha See and Rodrigo Muñoz, Kimie is one of the co-founders of See Lighting Foundation, a grassroots fundraiser committed to supporting immigrant theater artists during the global pandemic. Since October of 2020, Kimie now works as a design collective called dots with Andrew Moerdyk and Santiago Orjuela-Laverde. We approach every project with diversity of thought and burning curiosity and, above all, we believe in the value of the whole being greater than the sum of its individual parts. designbydots.com
Past Participants
Becca Blackwell
(2020-2021)
Shayok Misha Chowdhury
(2020-2021)
Stacey Derosier
(2020-2021)
David Mendizábal
(2020-2021)
Ife Olujobi
(2020-2021)
David Ryan Smith
(2020-2021)
Carmelita Tropicana
(2020-2021)
Jillian Walker
(2020-2021)
Sponsors
Thank you for the leadership support from the The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and from the following friends: American Express, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation.