LoNyLa Announces Ten Scripts To Be Developed In VELOCITY LAB 2012!

LoNyLa (lonyla.com), a network, creative lab and producing organization that links artists globally, announced today that seven plays, two screenplays and one television pilot will be developed in VELOCITY LAB 2012. Director Jake Witlen will announce two more new plays in Berlin today, Sept. 28.

Selected projects are: RUN/DON’T RUN by Gary Duggan, directed by Alyse Rothman; BIG SKY by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, directed by Matthew Dunster; PROZAC & OTHER MIRACLES by Sheri Graubert; A SECOND LIFE by Suet Lee; DESERT STAR (screenplay) by Paul Minx; SHE KILLS MONSTERS (screenplay) by Qui Nguyen; THE FEELING PART by Romy Nordlinger, directed by Sue Hamilton; POSSE (TV pilot) by Derek Olson, directed by Wilson Milam; BETWEEN US – THE UNTOLD STORIES BEHIND THE SISTERS ISLANDS by Jean Tay, directed by Drayton Alexander Hiers; and SENSE OF AN ENDING by Ken Urban, directed by Anna G. Jones.

VELOCITY LAB 2012 aims to use digital technology to augment and accelerate the development process as well as promote cultural exchange by linking professional teams in different regions of the world to develop new material for stage, film and television. By using telepresence and broadcasting technology, the program enables artists to collaborate with other artists of various cultures as well as access remote audiences via the Internet. Produced by LoNyLa, a global artists’ network launched in 2011, participating cities include London, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, and Singapore.

Industry professionals in stage, film and television will engage with Velocity Lab in an advisory capacity. Advisors include Pun Bandhu, John Coles, Angelina Fiordellissi, Margaret Glover, Alan Greenspan, Michael Jung, Jack Lechner, Camillia Monet and Steven Tabakin.

“By coordinating professional teams in multiple cities via telepresence and video streaming technology, Velocity Lab implements a new development methodology for theatre, film and television – a 21st century process that not only compresses development time but also translates into significant, inexpensive and instantaneous exposure for new projects and talent across borders,” says LoNyLa founder J Dakota Powell.

VELOCITY LAB will develop 12 projects from September 30th to December 16th, 2012. Rehearsed readings are scheduled between the five cities on a weekly rotation and are broadcast live on LoNyLa’s Livestream channel.

Google’s Campus, a new complex for the digital startup community in London’s Silicon Roundabout, will host the broadcasts in the United Kingdom. In Singapore, New York University Tisch School of the Arts is providing space. In Los Angeles, Esperanza Productions is hosting broadcasts on the Paramount Studios lot.

Vidyo (vidyo.com) is contributing the telepresence/videoconferencing and broadcasting technology to enable artists to connect and collaborate across borders. Hathersage Capital Management has also sponsored equipment for the developmental lab.

A telepresence workshop led by Jonathon Ward of New York University’s Graduate Acting Department will connect actors in New York and London to explore the parameters of the digital creative space and the global dimensions of storytelling through theatre games. Coordinating with Ward, recent Yale graduate Maya Seidler will produce and direct the workshop in London.

During the three-month workshop, British and American actors will use telepresence to develop a performance with the Working Title of “Comedy of Terrors.” Based on mistaken identity plot ideas from Shakespeare, Plautus, and others, this format touches upon contemporary issues of stolen identity, lack of identity, and the blurring of identity endemic in the digital age.