In the sixth year running, Tennessee Women's Theater Project returns to the Looby Theater beginning Friday May 4, with its annual Women's Work festival of performing and visual arts created by women. Running through Sunday May 20, the festival cuts a broad swath across styles and genres to offer eleven completely different programs: poetry and essays, one-woman shows, staged readings of new plays, dance, music and a display of visual art works in the theater lobby. This year's festival opens with a big first for the company: the debut public presentation of Witness, a new play created for TWTP by the widely known playwright and actor Regina Taylor. Fri, May 4, 7:30 pm — Theater: The first public presentation of Witness, a new play created for TWTP by the renowned playwright Regina Taylor. Witness explores the impact of breast cancer in the African American community. The playwright will attend a discussion after the reading Sat, May 5, 7:30 pm — Dance Night 2012: First-time performers Renata McGraw, Erin Rehberg with Core Project Chicago and Husted Dance, plus returning favorites including hooper Kristen Teffeteller Leophard, Rachel Flores and Blue Moves Modern Dance Company, belly dance with Reischa Feuerbacher, and an ensemble choreographed by Marci Murphree Sun, May 6, 2:30 pm — Performance: Thandiwe Shiphrah returns with a performance piece entitled . . .and then God created woman, combining poetry, music and dance Thur, May 10, 7:30 pm — Music: Singer-songwriters including Carrie Mills, Judy Klass and others to be confirmed Fri, May 11, 7:30 pm — Comedy/Theater: Joy Tilley Perryman presents Growing up Baptist, Busty & Bookish; staged reading of Janet McMahan’s musical Once Upon a Time (Not) Sat, May 12, 7:30 pm — Theater: Staged reading of the You Wouldn’t Expect, a play by Marilynn Barner Anselmi that explores North Carolina’s sterilization program for “mental defectives” Sun, May 13, 2:30 pm — Poetry: The Sixth Annual Mother’s Day Poetry Reading includes returning favorites Amy E. Hall, Raziya and Jan Bossing, with first-time presenters Patricia Alice Albrecht, K. Danielle Edwards and Ashley Mintz A FREE ROSE FOR EVERY MOTHER! Thur, May 17, 7:30 pm — Essays and Storytelling: Past Imperfect, by Lisa Berryhill; monologues by Edith Costanza; Banana Pudding, Knitmares, Thing Blindness and The Messenger, by Karen Trotter Elley; The Story of my Life (So Far?), by Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz and Cancer-free, by Heidi Petak Fri, May 18, 7:30 pm — Staged Reading: Hunger in Paradise, a play by Mary McCallum Sat, May 19, 7:30 pm — One-woman show: Ponder Anew: A WWII Warrior’s Story, by Carol Ponder with Robert Kiefer Sun, May 20, 2:30 pm — Staged Readings/One Woman Show: The House, by Robyn Brooks; Superball, by Pamela Stansberry; Between Lives, by Judy Klass; The West Bank Zoo, by Christine C. Mather and Childbirth Methods/LaLeche League, by first-time presenter Janet Schlapkohl Visual Arts Works by Edith Costanza, Michele Hall Mims and Ashley Mintz