founder of Ms. Magazine. In May, 1974, the Collective hired Nancy Rhodes as Administrative Director. Subsequently she founded the Encompass New Opera Theatre and has continued for the past thirty years as Artistic Director of that opera company. The Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective, was partially funded as a not-for-profit theater company by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts. The name of the group is derived from Westbeth Artists Housing – an affordable housing complex for artists in New York City, where most of the playwrights lived and worked, and which made accessible to the Collective free rehearsal space, and sometimes, production space. Rape-In, the playwrights’ first show, began as a workshop project at the suggestion of a male playwright in a then-mixed Westbeth playwrights' group. But it was the women who wrote on the theme, and when they did, they discovered they were all feminists. Productions and events May, 1971: Rape-In - produced at Crystal Field’s Assembly Theatre (later known as Theatre for the New City) Playwrights: Helen Duberstein, Helene Dworzan, Gwen Gunn, Patricia Horan, Ruth Herschberger, Christina Maile, Sally Ordway, Dolores Deane Walker February, 1972: Up - An Uppity Revue - produced at Westbeth Cabaret Playwrights: Gwen Gunn, Patricia Horan, Christina Maile, Sally Ordway, A. Piotrowski, Dolores Deane Walker, Susan Yankowitz Director: Marjorie Melnick Music and Lyrics: Cathy Heriza Cast: Danny DeVito. Rhea Perlman, Tom Fenaughty, R Douglas Friedlander, Eileen Gottermeyer, Leigh Hagen, Ilan Mamber, J H Murphy, Saul Fredericks, Cleve Roller, Faith Stanflied January, 1973: Wicked Women Revue – Produced at Theatre for New City (earlier previews at Rhett and Robert Delford Brown’s The Great Building Crackup Gallery) Playwrights: Gwen Gunn, Patricia Horan, Christina (Chryse) Maile, Dacia Maraini, Sally Ordway, Dolores Deane Walker, Susan Yankowitz Director: Kim Friedman Cast: Alix Elias, Tom Leo, Melissa Zollo, Helen Pugatch, Kathleen Tolan, Michael Darrow, Joel Simon May, 1973: ?! – A Musical Revue - Produced at Joseph Jefferson Company Playwrights: Gwen Gunn, Patricia Horan, Christina (Chryse) Maile, Sally Ordway, A. Piotrowski, Dolores Deane Walker, Susan Yankowitz. Director: Cathy Roskam Cast: Lois Beckett, Jane Burch, Kristen Christopher, Richard Darrow, Norman Thomas Marshall, William Perley Other support: Music: Sandy Alpert. Lighting Design: Claire Carter. Choreography: Rose Graziano, Sets: Christina Maile, Costumes: Walter McCord. Stage Manager: Rose Graziano. Musical Directors: Sandy Alpert, Mari Foss. Musicians: Cookie Cirillo, Mari Foss, Sally Hilbert, Cathy Roskam. January, 1974: