A Simple Herstory presents in conjunction with Tribeca Festival, July 2026.

"The current season charts the political fortunes of Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995) who stood up to Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare and sought the Republican nomination for President in 1964 (losing to Barry Goldwater). Smith bridged two world wars and the birth of civil rights and modern feminism. She was a New England conservative who reminded the nation that freedom of speech is inviolable and McCarthy was a creep. She was the first woman to campaign for a major political party’s nomination. But what really, the Simple Herstorians ask, did Smith stand for? What power did she crave behind the Resolute desk? You’ll have to listen to A Simple Herstory to find out."

Buy Tickets.

​Learn more.

A Simple Herstory has been awarded a second Anthem Award, 2025! 

"The Anthem Awards is the largest and most comprehensive social impact award. The Anthem Awards honors the purpose & mission-driven work of people, companies and organizations worldwide. "

​Thank you to the Webby Awards and the Anthem Awards and IADAS, and congratulations to everyone who has worked on, contributed to, and supported this project!

​Learn more.

A Simple Herstory goes to Powerhouse, July 2025.

"Since 1985, Powerhouse has welcomed artists and students of the highest caliber to the Vassar College campus, including Lynn Nottage, John Patrick Shanley, Taylor Mac, Sarah DeLappe, and more. ...A workshop presentation of Jocelyn Kuritsky’s Webby Award-honored podcast A Simple Herstory will be staged in a workshop presentation July 5 and 6. It will be led by Cecil Baldwin (Welcome to Night Vale), Jake Hart, Kate MacCluggage (Left on Tenth), and Colleen Werthman (The Daily Show with Trevor Noah)." 

Thank you to Powerhouse for hosting us AGAIN and helping us bring a devoted community back for Season 2!

​Learn more.

The Muse Project has been awarded an NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund Grant! 

"The Creative Opportunity Fund provides general operating support grants to small professional theatres working throughout New York State."

​Thank you so much, NYSCA and A.R.T./New York!
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​Learn more.

The Muse Project has been awarded a Pay Your People Grant from IndieSpace's The Big Give! 

"The Big Give is IndieSpace's annual event that celebrates indie theater and gives grants to indie theater companies, fiscally sponsored collectives/productions, and indie theater venues."

​Thank you so much, IndieSpace!
​
​Learn more.

A Simple Herstory has been awarded a  2024 Anthem Award! 

"The Anthem Awards is the largest and most comprehensive social impact award. The Anthem Awards honors the purpose & mission-driven work of people, companies and organizations worldwide. "

​Thank you to the Webby Awards and the Anthem Awards and IADAS, and congratulations to everyone who has worked on, contributed to, and supported this project!

​Learn more.

The League of Independent Theater honors the 2024 New York Independent Theater Award Recipients.

​The Muse Project is this year's Ellen Stewart Award recipient. 

"After a complete reimagining of the award process and a tripling of engagement over previous years, a committee of 35 community members evaluated over a hundred nominations to come to a consensus around the 6 Honorary Award Recipients. These Honorees exhibit outstanding leadership, service, artistry and commitment to the indie and off-off broadway theatrical landscape."

​Thank you to the Indie Theater League and the NYIT Awards, and congratulations to all the honorees and finalists.

Learn more.

A Simple Herstory goes to Powerhouse, July 2024.

"Since 1985, Powerhouse has welcomed artists and students of the highest caliber to the Vassar College campus—from Lynn Nottage to John Patrick Shanley and from Taylor Mac to Sarah DeLappe [...] Jocelyn Kuritsky (KPOP) and her writing partners present episodes in progress of the Webby Award-honored podcast A Simple Herstory, in collaboration with The Tank and directed by Meghan Finn." 

Thank you to Powerhouse for hosting us and helping us develop Season 2!

​Learn more.

A Simple Herstory is a 2024 Official Webby Awards Honoree!!! 

"Hailed as the 'Internet’s highest honor' by The New York Times, The Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), is the leading international awards organization honoring excellence on the Internet. Established in 1996, The Webby Awards received 13,000 entries from all 50 states and over 70 countries worldwide this year." 

​Thank you to IADAS for this recognition.

​Learn More.

On March 21st, 2024 Scripps Presents featured A Simple Herstory. It was a night filled with engaging discussion by the creators of the podcast — Jocelyn Kuritsky, Jonathan Goldberg, and Jennifer Hall. 

"Scripps Presents is an electrifying mix of storytellers and artists, policymakers and musicians—and everything in between. From the iconic to the emerging, join Scripps Presents as we host eye-opening, mind-bending writers and performers, and exhilarating thinkers and doers whose passion and perspective are changing the way we see the world. Recent guests have included Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin, author Megan Phelps-Roper, political strategist Ana Navarro."

​Thank you to Scripps Presents for hosting us!

​Learn more.

A Simple Herstory had a workshop at The Tank in October, 2023. Thanks to all who came out for our Season 2 Workshop!

The second season is written by the award-winning playwright Jonathan A. Goldberg and Peabody Award winner Jenny Turner Hall. The workshop cast featured Ashlie Atkinson, Tony nominee Maria Dizzia, Kate MacCluggage, Cecil Baldwin, Varín Ayala, & Sharina Martin. The presentation was also followed by a panel discussion with Turner Hall and Webby Award winner, Pia Wilson. 

Big tanks to The Tank!​

Learn more. ​

A theatrical installation with the first season of The Muse Project's A Simple Herstory is in development. Season 1 was featured in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2022 Quills Fest, which won a 2023 Telly Award.

"The Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television across all screens. Founded in 1979 to honor local, regional and cable television commercials, with non-broadcast video and television programming added soon after, the award has evolved with the rise of digital video to include branded content, documentary, social media, immersive and more."

We extend a huge thank you to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and The Merchant's House Museum, and thank you to the Telly Awards for recognizing our work!
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Learn more.

Muse website updates on their way!
​In the meantime, visit A Simple Herstory here.

About.

The Muse Project shifts the traditional theater paradigm by centering women stage actors as creators and content generators. Our Muses have included an array of accomplished and burgeoning actresses, including the late Lynn Cohen, Florencia Lozano, Déa Julien, Vanessa Aspillaga, Kyra Miller, Jessica Frances Dukes,  Jocelyn Kuritsky (Artistic Director), Tina Benko, and more. We have partnered with leading New York theater companies — including New Georges, The New Group, Abingdon Theatre Company, The Tank, The Flea Theater, The PIT, Theaterlab, & Torn Page — to incubate our work.

Project Of The Moment.

Please visit asimpleherstory.com to learn more about our project of the moment.

Post-pandemic we continue to navigate the theater's changed landscape. If you wish to donate to our work, please get in touch. 

it takes a village...
​here are our friends & lovers.

The Muse Project thanks the following theaters, foundations, & individuals for their support of our mission to empower women actors through the development of challenging, actor-driven theater works.  

 Shawn Aebi + Anna Weissberger Foundation + Freddie Ashley + Amy Ashton + Vanessa Aspillaga + Varin Ayala + Erin Badillo + Mark Baumohl + Helen Banner + Sam Barkati + Sara Barker + Sarah Bernero + Susan Bernfield + Susan Bernofsky + Laurie Berube + Nick Binkley + Pepper Binkley + Kaitlin Binnie + Ken Blumberg + Frank Boudreaux + Nadia Bowers + Lisa Box + Allison Fay Brown + Renee Calarco + Jessica Carmona + Geneva Carr + Ron & Lynn Cohen + Matthew Corcoron + The Creative Fund + Elz Cuya + Adriana Damiani + Lisa D'Amour + Kovács Róbert Daniel + Jill Delsigne + Ella Dershowitz + Jess Johnston & Alek Deva + Jason Dirden + Monika Dominici + Lila Donnolo + Nicole Dukatt + Emma Dweck + Jamie Effros + Amelia Felbinger + Anne Nolan Fellows + Bob Feltman + Sandy Ferko + Juliana Finch + ​Katherine Fleming + Meg & Joe Flippin + Foundation For Fairer Capitalism + Joseph Franchini + Rebecca L. Frank + Andrea Frankle + Gibson Frazier + Elyssa Gaffin + Tim Gillette + Beth Gittleman + Kate Grant + Abe Greenwald + Ellen Gould + Bob Gower + Nicolle Kuritsky & Colin Gray + Jenny Turner Hall + Brian Herndon + Diane Himmelbaum + Patton Hindle + Amy Boyce Holtcamp + Colin Hovde + Jill & Bob Jaffe + Eileen Jamieson + Susan & Jim Kasten + Lindsay Katt + Dan Klatzkin + Austin King + Jonathan James Kirolos + Klein Family Foundation + Martha Konetzka + Roberta Krumholz + Sandra Wilcox & Joel Kuritsky + Neil LaBute + Michael Ethan Landau + Beney Lee + Jamie Lehrer + Margaret Leiberan + Phoebe Lett + Mark Loewenstern + Robert Emmet Lunney + Connor Lyons + Anita Anya Gisch + Mariah MacCarthy + Alexis Macnab + Catherine Madden + Erin Mallon + Elyse Mallouk + Janet Cohen Mandel + Moti & Emily Margolin + Jonathan Martin + Dani Martineck + Jessica Massart + Michelle Memran + Grace McLean + Megan McQuillan + Cynthia Medina + Paul Megna + Nana Mensah + Jenny Mercein + Lillian Meredith + Steven E. Metze + Matt Meyer + Pete Miller + Rebecca Louise Miller + Winter Miller + Missing Bolts Productions + Diane Moroff + Pamela Muldoon + Patrick Mulryan + Dori O'Dea + Anna O'Donoghue + Carol Ostrow + Michael Padden + Alexandra Panzer + Casey Daniel Payne + Alexandra Peters + Kim Phifer + Jessica Pohly + Marco Ramello + Jon Reynolds + Kelly Reynolds + Chantal Ribeiro + Kendall Rileigh + Tlaloc Rivas + Stephanie Emma Roberts + Kerry Roland + Anna Rooney + Mark Rosenblatt + Cindy Rosenthal + Hallie Pohly Rosenbloom + Lisa Rothe + Eric Ruben + Sharon Rudy + James Rutherford + Mark Sahba + Debbie Saivetz + Karima Sal + Seret Scott + Brian R. Sekinger + Barbara Goldman-Sherman + David Shih + Derek Sidi + Franny Silverman + Monique Skruzny + Robert Snow + Sonya Sobieski + Johanna Thelin + Alison Walters - Short + Allyson Currin Stokes + Chelsea Strachan + Sherri Sutton + Jen Taher + Reed Thodeson + Jennifer Gordon Thomas + RJ Tolan + Monica Villanueva + Marisa Viola + Laura Waggoner + Lisa Waldstein + Claire Wan + Joe Wang + Rob Warren + Daan De Weerdt + Tom & Alison Wilcox + Teresa Weaver + Gary Winter + Rea Winter + Jocelyn Wise + Maiken Lozano-Wiese + Woodshed Collective + Rob Yang + Douglas Yoshinaga + Zalami Yawar + Perri Yaniv + Linda Zarate + Lanie Zipoy + Steve Zwolinski + and many more.
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Thank you!

some of our 2018 Muse Kickstarter contributors.

These are just some of the wonderful folks who supported our KSR campaign in 2018, and we threw in complimentary adjectives next to their names for a little extra spice! They are delicious and we are grateful for their support.

The juicy jovial Josh Adler + The really rad R. Spencer Alcorn + The jiggy jazzy Jonathan Anders + The merrily magical Mia Barron + The contagiously courageous Caroline Blackwood + The magnanimously magnetic Mary Burrell + The crazy captivating Candace Hudert + The totally talented Troy Deutsch + The noteworthy noble Natalie Grand + The jammy jolly Jessica Guadalupe + The most magnificent Michael Harren + The damn delectable Dorothy Hayes + The absolutely awe-inspiring Averi Israel + The lovingly luminous Landen Jones + The kool keen Kicklix + The indescribably incredible Ilona Köles + The tastefully tantalizing Therese Lindström + The always appealing Arwen Lynch-Poe + The jingly jangly just-right John J. Matta + The so scintillating Stacey Raymond + The very vivacious Valerie Reynolds + The super sensational Savannah Ritz + The simply sassy Scorpio Rising + The purely passionate Paul Ryan + The mega majestic Megan Shiplett + The robustly radiant Rachel Sussman + The thrillingly trendy Tasha Turner +The tremendous tremendous Team Hope Speaks + The amazingly admirable Ashley Toth + The jubilantly jocose Jennifer W. + The rapturously rousing Richard Wright + The completely cosmic Cindy Womack

​Thank you!

our 2018 mid campaign Muse panel @ The Tank.

Midway through our KSR campaign, we had a Gathering of Muses at The Tank in NYC. A panel discussion was held with 5 awesome panelists, all performers and theater makers.

Crystal Arnette + Alyssa May Gold + Sharina Martin + Dani Martineck + Rebecca Louise Miller

​Thank you!  

our 2018 Muse Ambassadors...

Our Muse Ambassadors are artists and professionals who went online throughout the 2018 fundraising campaign via Facebook Live to explain why they, personally, believe in The Muse Project. They are part of our army of allies. Many of them also offered up rewards during the campaign, including: passes to Abingdon Theatre Comany's 2018-2019 season, signed copies of Always Anjali, signed copes of Baby Feminists, signed vinyl copies of God & the Girl, a signed guitar from Duncan Sheik, screening passes with the cast and crew to It's Freezing Out There, signed copies of Women, Food, & Desire (and some gorgeous Alex Jamieson watercolors, too). We are so thankful for their support!

Vanessa Aspillaga (Muse) + Teddy Bergman + Pepper Binkley + Geneva Carr + Lynn Cohen (Muse) + Alek Deva + Amanda Duarte + Jessica Dukatt (Muse staff) + Sasha Eden + Jamie Effros + Gabriel Hainer Evansohn + Jack Fellows + Alyssa May Gold + Bob Gower + Bob Jaffe + Jimmie James + Alex Jamieson + Landen Jones + Olivia Kasten (Muse staff) + Libby Babbott-Klein + Zac Kline + Robert Emmet Lunney + Kyra Miller (Muse) + Zainab Musa (Muse) + Alfredo Narciso + Anna O'Donoghue + David Poe + Jessica Pohly + Erin Reynolds (Muse staff) + Duncan Sheik + Sheetal Sheth + Tony Speciale + Sherri D. Sutton + RJ Tolan + Joe Wang + Kim Yaged 

​Thank you!

Here are some clips from the campaign! We are trying to cut more!

In Memoriam.

The Muse Project mourns the loss of our friend and colleague, Lanie Zipoy. Lanie was seriously injured in a car accident in June, 2022, and she succumbed to her injuries shortly thereafter. Lanie was a champion of and advisor to The Muse Project from its inception. She was simultaneously filled to the brim with a full, elastic heart and awesome ambition: an artist's artist and woman's woman. We miss her terribly. If you have the means, you can still make a contribution to Lanie's GoFundMe, and you can view Lanie's film, The Subject here. The Subject was Lanie's feature film directorial debut.

The great Lynn Cohen passed away on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2020 at her home in NYC. Lynn was a veteran stage and screen actor, and a pillar of the New York theater community. She was best known for playing Magda on Sex and the City, Golda Meir in Munich, and Mags in The Hunger Games. She was a constant source of mentorship, support, and encouragement, and she loved women actors with a fierce camaraderie. Lynn was instrumental in launching and building The Muse Project. She and her husband, Ron Cohen, came to nearly every event, every performance, every reading, every moment that was Muse. We are forever grateful to Lynn and her belief in this project. 

Update: Ron Cohen passed in November of 2023. We also remember him with love and gratitude for his boundless support of Muse.