May 12, 2006
For Immediate Release
Please Contact: Adrian Bryan-Brown/Juliana Hannett/Matt Ross
LAByrinth Theater Company
ANNOUNCES ITS 15th ANNIVERSARY
2006-2007 SEASON
WORLD PREMIERE
OFF-BROADWAY PRODUCTIONS
"A SMALL, MELODRAMATIC STORY"
BY STEPHEN BELBER
DIRECTED BY LUCIE TIBERGHIEN
FEATURING CARLO ALBAN, RON CEPHAS JONES, CHRIS MCGARRY and PORTIA
FALL 2006
"JACK GOES BOATING"
BY BOB GLAUDINI
DIRECTED BY PETER DUBOIS
FEATURING BETH COLE, PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN,
JOHN ORTIZ and DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA
WINTER 2007
SPECIAL LIMITED ENGAGEMENT
"THIS IS NOW"
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY ERIC BOGOSIAN
A COLLABORATION WITH ELLIOTT SHARP
WINTER 2007
DEVELOPMENTAL PRODUCTIONS
"INTRÍNGULIS"
BY CARLO ALBAN
DIRECTED BY DAVID ANZUELO
WINTER 2007
"PRETTY CHIN UP"
BY ANDREA CIANNAVEI
DIRECTED BY MICHELE CHIVU
SPRING 2007
LAByrinth Theater Company, led by Co-Artistic Directors Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz and Executive Director Steve Asher, has announced its 2006-07 season. The 15th anniversary season,
which will once again be in residence at The Public Theater, features
two Off-Broadway productions, a special limited engagement, and two
developmental productions. The season will also include LAB's annual
free play reading festival, The Barn Series.
In a joint
statement, Hoffman and Ortiz said "LAByrinth's 15th anniversary season
is poised to be our best yet. We are thrilled to continue our residency
at The Public Theater. With these five productions, in addition to our
Barn Series and special events, LAB is proud to celebrate 15 years of
providing opportunities for talented theatre artists to develop new
works."
For information on how to purchase tickets or get a LABPASS season subscription, available this summer, please visit
www.labtheater.org and sign up for LAB's mailing list.
A woman named O
falls in love with a cop named Perry. When O's archivist friend,
Keith, discovers secrets about Perry's past, O is caught in a
trap: How much does she want to know? A SMALL, MELODRAMATIC STORY, a new play by Stephen Belber, is one woman's search for truth through the suburbs, the city, the Freedom of Information Act and herself. Directed by Lucie Tiberghien, LAByrinth Company Members Carlo Alban, Ron Cephas Jones, Chris McGarry and Portia will reprise the roles they created at the 2005-2006 Barn Series reading. FALL 2006
Swimming lessons.
Cooking classes. A random subway attack. Confessions of betrayal.
Cocaine paranoia. A best friend's meltdown. How much is too
much for a date with someone you've just met? JACK GOES BOATING, a new play by Bob Glaudini. Directed by Peter DuBois, this all LAByrinth Company ensemble features Beth Cole and Daphne Rubin-Vega and co-artistic directors John Ortiz and recent Academy Award® winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, who share the stage for the first time in LAByrinth's 15-season history. WINTER 2007
SPECIAL LIMITED ENGAGEMENT
Monologue becomes conversation in THIS IS NOW!, a collaboration between actor/author Eric Bogosian and musician/composer Elliott Sharp.
Bogosian supplies the words and Sharp provides the sounds in an eighty
minute excursion rant/soundscape on the theme of "now." Bogosian hits
on smoking, sainthood and the CIA while Sharp trips out on guitar, sax,
temple bells and cyber-sound. WINTER 2007
DEVELOPMENTAL PRODUCTIONS
Novelist, sniper,
television personality, delinquent youth. Window washer, tourist,
Beelzebub, idealist youth. Vigilante, rock star wannabe,
minuteman, apolitical youth. Illegal immigrant. These are the
people in your neighborhood. Carlo Alban will inhabit them all, taking the stage in his solo piece, INTRÍNGULIS, which was presented as part of LAB's 2005-2006 Barn Series. WINTER 2007
What's the
difference between an overweight marketing executive who sells women's
lingerie and diet pills and the starving spokesmodel who peddles the
goods for the camera? About 100 pounds. This is the premise behind PRETTY CHIN UP, a new play by Andrea Ciannavei, which was presented as part of LAB's 2005-2006 Barn Series. SPRING 2007
THE BARN SERIES
See the plays of
tomorrow today. LAByrinth Theater Company will host its annual
collection of staged readings from exciting up-and-coming playwrights
as well as established writers. All readings are free and open to the public. Reservations are required. DECEMBER 2006
COMPANY HISTORY
LAByrinth Theater Company has produced 42 new American plays including The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Our Lady of 121st Street, Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train, and In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings by Stephen Adly Guirgis; Guinea Pig Solo by Brett C. Leonard; Dutch Heart of Man by Robert Glaudini; The Trail of Her Inner Thigh by Erin Cressida Wilson; Stopless by David Deblinger; Dreaming in Tongues by the LAByrinth Ensemble; Cutting Open Wings by Lidia Ramirez; Queen Latina and Her Power Posse Versus The Evils of Society (a musical comic book for the stage) by David Anzuelo; and Sailor's Song, Dirty Story, Where's My Money?, and A Winter Party by John Patrick Shanley.
LAByrinth was
founded in 1992 when thirteen actors joined forces to form a place to
work. The idea was to create a home where the group, for three
hours each week, could engage in a variety of theatrical exercises
designed to push each others' limits and bind together into a tightly
knit, uninhibited and impassioned ensemble - one in which each member
is given the opportunity and support not only to act, but to write,
direct, produce, sweep, paint, hang lights, etcetera.
The fact that the
company now consists of more than ninety members from a wide array of
cultural perspectives (including Puerto Rican, Japanese, Dominican,
Egyptian, Irish, Jewish, Korean, Cuban, Italian, Mexican and
African-American) did not occur through some political design. It
grew out of a shared artistic sensibility and a desire to create
personal work that reflects the community in which the company lives:
New York City.
LAByrinth is
dedicated to developing new plays through a unique creative
process. Each play LAByrinth produces is first presented at the
Company's annual Summer Intensive - a concentrated two-week retreat
where Company Members and invited guest artists create brand new
material and develop current works in progress. By surrounding the
playwright with talented and passionate artists, this supportive
environment allows freedom of expression and nurtures creativity.
After the
Intensive, selected works move to the next stage in the creative
process and are presented in one of two public forums in New York
City. These public readings give the playwright and his/her
creative team further opportunity to rehearse and explore the text in
front of an audience.
In the Kitchen
is a semi-annual, informal reading series where plays in progress are
performed in a casual setting, with minimal staging, in front of an
invited audience. The Barn Series is a more formal reading series of plays in progress which are more fully staged and rehearsed. The Barn Series is open free of charge to the general public and considered part of LAByrinth's annual season.
Works presented at The Barn Series and In the Kitchen are considered each year to become a part of future LAByrinth seasons as fully staged productions.
# # #
