History

Founded in 2002 by two-time Tony Nominee Arian Moayed and Tom Ridgely, Waterwell began as an ensemble of devisers who created original works with the goal to “actively try to better the world.”

Waterwell’s work has been called “brilliant, original and inspired” by The New York Times, and TheaterMania wrote that “Waterwell has artfully staked a claim on our collective conscience.”

FOUNDING & EARLY YEARS, 2002-2012

The company's first production, Lost in Yemen, or The Bizarre Bazaar, launched the combination of artistic innovation, contagious entertainment, and big-hearted tackling of social questions that the company would become known for.

Over the next few years, Waterwell created many productions featuring original ensemble members Hanna Cheek, Kevin Townley, Rodney Gardiner, Lauren Cregor, and Nicole Parker, and deepened the company’s dynamic artistry: Fuentovejuna, Stuck, Chill & Serve, Sweetness & Light, The Persians: a comedy about war with five songs, Marco Millions (based on lies), The Last Year in the Life of Martin Luther King Jr., #9, and The Wizard of Wall Street. In 2012, the company’s acclaimed production of Goodbar was presented at the Under the Radar Festival after playing to sold out crowds for six months at Ideal Glass.

THE WATERWELL DRAMA PROGRAM, 2010-2024

In 2010, Waterwell began its partnership with a specialized NYC Public School called the Professional Performing Arts School. For fourteen years, the company steadily built a world-class, tuition-free, civically-engaged, conservatory-style Drama training program for students, grades 6-12, from all five boroughs. A core focus of our education work was the concept of “Artist as Citizen,” which charged students to use their creative skills and artistic practice to contribute to society, promote social justice, foster dialogue, and bring about positive change within their communities and the world.

In the spring of 2012, the company launched the New Works Lab commissioning program, hiring professional playwrights to create original works specifically for each graduating class of seniors. From 2012-2024, the New Works Lab commissioned and developed work by Bekah Brunstetter, A. Rey Pamatmat, Nick Jones, Qui Nguyen, Dael Orlandersmith, Mona Mansour, Charise Castro Smith, Sinead Daly, and Eliza Bent, among others.

Alumni of our program include artists working on Broadway, off-Broadway, and in film and television, as well as emerging as leaders in a wide range of fields, including nursing, politics, journalism, and education. Some of our notable alumni include: Dominique Thorne, Nia Akilah Robinson, Ephraim Birney, Gus Birney, Camila Cano-Flavia, Mark Indelicato, Aubrey Joseph, Malina Weissman, Logan Bruner, Elena Satine, and Jamila Velaşquez. Waterwell’s Board made the decision to sunset the Education program in 2024, but the company continues to look for opportunities to collaborate with young artists whenever possible.

A BIG YEAR, 2017

In 2017, Tom led the creation of Blueprint Specials, a new production based on short musicals that the military commissioned from Private Frank Loesser during WWII. It was performed by a cast of over 60 military veterans and Broadway performers and played on the hangar deck of the Intrepid Air + Space Museum. Later that same year, Tom directed a dual-language Hamlet performed in English and Farsi and set in Iran in 1917 during a major turning point in the country’s relationship to the West, with Arian playing the title role.

NEW LEADERSHIP & NEW PROJECTS, 2018-2022

In 2018, Waterwell began a new chapter when the founders decided to pass the baton to a new generation. The leadership of the company was then shared by two-time Obie Award-winning director Lee Sunday Evans as Artistic Director, Adam J. Frank as Managing Director, and Heather Lanza as Director of Education. Arian stepped into the role of Waterwell’s Board Chair, and Tom was appointed the Producing Artistic Director of St. Louis Shakespeare Festival.

In 2019, Waterwell premiered The Courtroom, a verbatim re-enactment of one woman’s deportation proceedings performed in active legal spaces around New York City, including the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse. The production was named “theater as civic meditation” and “Best Theater of 2019” by The New York Times. In the same year, to build on the relationships built during Blueprint Specials, the company created Fleet Week Follies, a festival bringing military and civilian communities together for a day of celebration and entertainment.

In the following years, Waterwell has created projects alongside partners in the immigration legal and journalism fields. The Flores Exhibits, a series of short videos in which artists, lawyers, and community leaders read the legal testimonies of children held in facilities at the U.S/Mexico border in June 2019, has been screened in partnership with education and advocacy organizations around the country.

Sé Lo Que Es Pandemia / I Know What Pandemic Means, which features interviews with undocumented workers in Queens, NY about their experiences during the pandemic, is a short documentary by Frisly Soberanis, a filmmaker and video artist from Queens via Guatemala, and was co-produced by Waterwell and Documented, a non-profit news site devoted solely to covering New York City’s immigrants and the policies that affect their lives.

WATERWELL TODAY, 2023-NOW

June 2023 saw another leadership transition as Managing Director Sarah Scafidi joined the team when Adam Frank was appointed as the Managing Director at Baltimore Center Stage. That year, Waterwell hosted its first ever gala to celebrate its 20th Anniversary.

The company also premiered A Good Day to Me Not to You, a one-woman storytelling tour-de-force by Lameece Isaaq. This riotously funny and gut-wrenching new play about a 40-whatever dental lab tech who gets fired and moves into a rooming house run by nuns, was remounted at Arena Stage in April 2026.

In October 2024, Waterwell premiered The Ford/Hill Project, created by Elizabeth Marvel and Lee Sunday Evans, in which an ensemble of four actors speak from the verbatim transcripts of the pivotal testimonies of Christine Blasey Ford and Anita Hill at the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas. The production opened in October 2024 at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. before moving onto the Public Theater later in the month. In January 2026, the production played at La MaMa as a part of Under the Radar Festival. Every performance has featured a post show conversation with industry thought leaders, including advocate and scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, Tony Award-winning composer Shaina Taub, Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay, Founder + CEO of Rosie Adrianne Wright, Commissioner for the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence Saloni Sethi, and Senior VP of Pregnancy Justice Dana Sussman, among others. The Ford/Hill Project was featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times (twice!), and Vogue.

That same year, through our collaboration with Under the Radar Festival, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and Nimruz, Waterwell helped bring the Iranian Mehr Theater Group’s Obie-award-winning Blind Runner to New York City and presented the weekend-long Unseen Iran Festival: uplifting the NYC’s Iranian community featuring artists, musicians, chefs, filmmakers, and more.

In Summer 2025, emerging from the collaborations around Blind Runner, Waterwell launched the Unseen Iran Artist Grants alongside Nimruz as a fellowship program designed to support artists from the greater Iranian diaspora. Waterwell and Nimruz received over 500 applications: 500 artists courageously sharing their visions, their challenges, and their hopes. Five winners and five finalists were selected in the first cohort, with plans to increase the number of awardees in future cycles.

In September 2025, Waterwell partnered with the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) on the launch of their New York Proud campaign with oral histories of immigrants curated by Liza Zapol and read by celebrities, thought leaders, and more. In February 2026, Waterwell held an Immigration Detention Town Hall at the Judson Memorial Church in partnership with the Dignity Not Detention Coalition. In April 2026, the company remounted the NYIC storytelling event as Stories from the City of Immigrants at Symphony Space, a sold-out live event and podcast taping, followed by wide radio distribution to NPR and other channels. A star-studded lineup of actors included Simu Liu, Micaela Diamond, Tramell Tillman, Justin H. Min, and Sepideh Moafi.

Looking ahead, Waterwell is interested in expanding events like Stories from the City of Immigrants and civic-minded art like The Ford/Hill Project to move the needle of society across New York City and beyond.