New Victory's 2015-16 LabWorks Residency Artists, Professional Development Companies Set

The New Victory Theater, New York City's premier theater for kids and families, announces the 2015-16 artist residencies and professional development companies for the 2015-16 New VictoryLabWorks program. Established to champion high-quality performing arts for audiences of all ages, New Victory LabWorks fosters the creation of new work, offers professional development and advocates for high-quality performing arts and arts engagement in the lives of young people by providing the necessary resources and mining opportunities for professional exchange among a broad spectrum of arts professionals living and creating work in NYC.

New Victory LabWorks is comprised of three focus areas: New Work Development, Professional Development and Advocacy.

For the New Work Development component, The New Victory Theater invites New York-based artists and companies from all performing arts disciplines to apply for LabWorks artist residencies, which support the creation of original high-quality productions that are accessible to young audiences. This year, The New Victory will host the development of new works from the following New York-based artists and companies:

· Cecilia Rubino & Darian Dauchan will be joined by slam poets, Shanelle Gabriel and Erik Maldonado to take on questions of sustainability, social justice and environmental challenges in the city and around the globe in their new show SLAM 104: EcoJustice Spittin'.

· Fiasco Theater, lauded for their brilliant talent in shedding light and clarity on classic stage works, works on a new adaptation, which will be determined at a later date.

· Jason Gray Platt & Mikhael Tara Garver create a new immersive theater experience taking young audiences on a fascinating journey through the human brain in the Untitled Brain Experience.

· John McGrew, Jonathan Karpinos & Joseph Varca use music, storytelling and visual arts to animate a series of dark folk tales all set in the same strange village. The Village of Vale received a workshop performance at The Invisible Dog Art Center in early February, 2015.

· Superhero Clubhouse, a collective of artists and scientists working at the intersection of environmentalism and theater create a one-act musical about oysters and the ecological history of New York waterways in Salty Folk.

· Underbelly, a collaboration between Katie Bender, Abe Koogler, Gabrielle Reisman and Stephanie Busing, will lead audiences in a surf-rock inspired immersive journey through Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, a promenade theater piece originally commissioned by the ZACH Theatre in Austin, Texas.

· Urban Stages/Liz Parker & Rachel Sullivan develop Layer the Walls, a theater piece that uses puppetry, mask and music to reveal the stories and lives of former residents of a Lower East Side tenement.

Additionally, 2014-15 LabWorks resident artists CollaborationTown, as well as the writing team of Lila Rose Kaplan and Mike Pettry, will continue development of their works from this past season.

Situated in the New 42nd Street Studios, each residency is tailored to the specific needs and creative processes of the individual companies. In addition to the time, space and resources to experiment, play and test new ideas, every residency includes the artistic feedback and support of The New Victory Theater's artistic programming staff. During each residency, the company may also be provided an opportunity to share their work with New Victory Members, providing artists with the invaluable responses of their target audience.

New Victory LabWorks' Professional Development provides opportunities for exchange among arts professionals who share an interest in performing arts for all ages. During the year, artists, practitioners, educators, presenters and producers are invited to attend workshops, master classes and various networking events, as well as performances by New Victory season artists.

For the first time this year, The New Victory Theater provides the opportunity for select companies and artists, including Pioneers Go East Collective, New York City Children's Theater, The Hudson Vagabond Puppets, LAVABrooklyn, Marta Mozelle MacRostie and Rockitaerials, to participate in meaningful artistic exchange with LabWorks resident artists. This group will also have the chance to meet with New Victory administrative staff to learn more about how to build or enhance their company's operations and visibility.

Advocacy, the third component of New Victory LabWorks, reflects the theater's ongoing efforts to champion the importance of quality performing arts in the lives of young people.

Staff of The New Victory Theater, recognized as leaders in the field of Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) and arts education, regularly participate in national and international conferences and festivals to encourage dialogue among practitioners, policy makers, funders, universities and theater conservatories, and audiences. Recent appearances have included panel participation at the Montréal Complètement Cirque Festival and co-hosting, with American Alliance for Theatre & Education (AATE), a three day symposium at The New Victory Theater on new work development, entitled Play in Progress.