LOCAL Theater Company to Welcome Three Playwrights for 2016 LOCAL Lab New Play Fest

LOCAL Theater Company, under the artistic leadership of Pesha Rudnick, will welcome three playwrights from across the country to Boulder for the 2016 LOCAL Lab New Play Fest. The festival of new plays and master classes will be held at eTown Hall Friday-Sunday, March 11-13, 2017. Tickets are now on-sale at www.localtheatercompany.org.

Over three days, some of Colorado's finest actors will collaborate alongside actors from New York City on 3 new plays, as well as a 3-day master class workshop on devised theater in which the actors will develop a new work with festival audience members.

This year's acting company includes Kate Berry, Christine L. Brandt, Laurence A. Curry, John DiAntonio, Mehry Eslaminia, Rachel Fowler, John Green, Sam Gregory, Emily K. Harrison, GerRee Hinshaw, Lilli Hokama, Steven Cole Hughes, Rodney Lizcano, Eric Lockley, Adeline Mann, Annabel Reader, Hunter Ringsmith, Mackenzie Sherburne, Peter Trinh, and Caitlin Wise.

"Tone.", the new devised theater piece that will be created during the three-day festival, will be lead by LOCAL Associate Artistic Director Mare Trevathan and Broadway's Roundabout Theatre Company Director of New Play Development Jill Rafson.

"Lottie in the Late Afternoon," by Amelia Roper, will be directed by LOCAL Company Member Megan Mathews. "The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Grace B. Matthias," by Michael Yates Crowley, will be directed by Christy Montour-Larson. "The History Room" by Charlie Thurston, which will get a world premiere production at Creede Repertory Theatre later this year, will be directed by LOCAL Artistic Director Pesha Rudnick.

Now in its fifth year, LOCAL Lab participants help playwrights shape their scripts. Following professionally-staged readings, attendees participate in discussions about the new works. Festival-goers also attend parties with the writers and directors, enjoy music curated for each performance by DJ Savior Breath, and engage in a collaborative writing project using SmartPhones.

LOCAL Lab serves as the first step in LOCAL's development pipeline, with the possibility of readings culminating in a full production, as with the 2015 world premiere of James McLindon's "Faith" and the 2012 world premiere of "Elijah: An Adventure," by Michael Mitnick, screenwriter for the film adaptation of "The Giver." Playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer's "Informed Consent," developed at LOCAL Lab in 2013, recently premiered off-Broadway at Primary Stages to rave reviews, receiving a New York Times Critics' Pick. LOCAL Lab cast member Pun Bandhu went on to perform in the production in New York City.

Festival passes are available at www.localtheatercompany.org or by calling the eTown Box Office at 303-443-8696. Festival Passes are $99 and include all readings, the master class in devised work, all food and beverages at parties, and the kaffeeklatsch. Festival passes also include preferred, reserved seating.

Individual tickets are also available to the three play readings. Friday and Sunday's play readings are $22/advance, $25/door, and $12/students. Saturday's reading (with after party included) is $25/advance, and $30/door. All individual tickets are general admission seating.

LOCAL Theater Company was launched in Boulder, Colorado, in 2011 by longtime collaborators Pesha Rudnick and Megan Mathews with a sold-out production at Chautauqua Auditorium of "Stories by Heart" featuring John Lithgow. Specializing in original works of exceptional quality, LOCAL engages audiences through innovative performances that spark camaraderie, learning, and contemplation, and provide a resourceful environment for theater artists to take creative risks, and develop their work.

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