IAMA Theatre Company Unveils 24-25 'In Process' Season of New Work

IAMA Theatre Company has revealed its 17th anniversary “In Process” season in 2024-25: three comedies sure to surprise and provoke — a world premiere and two workshop productions — plus the company’s annual New Works Festival.

“In a time where the only constant is change, we find ourselves, as theater-makers, ‘in process’,” explains artistic director Stefanie Black. “We are excited to commit this next season to exploring what that means. Our 17th season will showcase IAMA’s development process, highlighting how a new play moves through our pipeline from an idea, to a reading, to a workshop and, finally, to a world premiere production. With this new model, we invite our audiences into a space somewhere between the rehearsal room and opening night, where we can all be a part of what it means to develop a new play. We are committed to creating a strong pipeline for our artists. It’s a time to explore ‘laughing through the dark’.”

Launching the season in October is the world premiere of The Very Best People, a horrifying new comedy written by IAMA ensemble member John Lavelle (Sinner’s Laundry, Celestial Events) and directed by Melissa Coleman-Reed. After the mysterious shooting of a disgraced NYPD detective, his two childhood friends set out on a mission for redemption on the south shore of Staten Island. Armed only with brotherhood, alternative truths and ranch dressing, they plot to take down the deep state, one snowflake at a time. What's a little light kidnapping between friends? This new play has been with IAMA since inception: incubated in IAMA’s new play lab and moving up every step in the IAMA pipeline, from an intimate reading to the company’s annual New Works Festival, to this season’s full production. (October 5 through October 27; previews begin September 29.)

Speaking of IAMA’s New Works Festival: the seventh annual festival returns in December in a newly expanded version. Thanks to a generous award from the National Endowment for the Arts, this season will see the number of staged readings increased from six to eight, along with additional compensation to the artists and reduced ticket prices for the public. In addition to The Very Best People, plays previously staged as part of the series that have gone on to full IAMA productions include Mama Metal by Sigrid Gilmer, Smile by Melissa Jane Osborne, and Arrowhead by Catya McMullen. (December 5 through December 15.)

February brings a workshop production of Don’t Touch My Hair, written by Douglas Lyons (Chicken and Biscuits on Broadway) and directed by Velani Dibba. Lifelong best friends Eemani and Jade decompress one afternoon over a good blunt. Unbeknownst to them, the blunt is laced with much more than weed — spiraling the duo into a hilarious hallucination that allows them to confront the oppressors of the past dead-on. IAMA first presented a virtual reading (under the title Invisible) in collaboration with New York City’s Queens Theatre’s Fly on the Wall series, part of IAMA’s ongoing tradition of partnering with like-minded companies to develop and produce new work. (February 13 through February 24.)

First given a staged reading by IAMA as part of last season’s New Works Festival, Abigail Miller’s darkly comic Trauma Play is now set for a full-on workshop production in May. When Britt Benson gets buzzy reviews for the premiere of her new play, her life begins spiraling out of control and into a meta-upon-meta s***storm. Newly famous, Britt finds the sexual assault she endured at age six suddenly publicized, scrutinized and poked full of holes. Can she even trust her own memory? Diana Wyenn again directs. (May 22 through June 2.)

This season also sees IAMA represented on Broadway with two shows originated by the company: Job by Max Wolf Friedlich, which was written in IAMA’s Emerging Playwrights Lab, and Cult of Love by Leslye Headland, which had its world premiere at IAMA in 2018.

Designated by Playbill as “one of 20 regional houses every theater lover must know,” IAMA Theatre Company is a Los Angeles-based ensemble of artists committed to cultivating new voices and engaging audiences through authentic experiences that reflect our complex modern world. Founded in 2007, the award-winning company is dedicated to developing new plays and musicals by emerging and established playwrights, including over 25 world, West Coast and Los Angeles premieres. Works developed at IAMA have traveled to Broadway and off-Broadway, and continue to be performed regionally and internationally. IAMA works to foster an inclusive community that inspires a new generation of theater-makers and audiences.

All performances will take place at Atwater Village Theatre, where IAMA is currently in residence.

For more information about IAMA Theatre Company’s 2024-25 season, go to www.iamatheatre.com.

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