LAB RESULTS: The Antaeus Playwrights Lab Festival Returns This Week

LAB RESULTS: The Antaeus Playwrights Lab Festival - Six new plays by award-winning, mid-career writers get developmental readings over the course of two weekends as part of Antaeus Theatre Company's second annual LAB RESULTS series. Each of the plays was developed in the Antaeus Playwrights Lab, an ongoing program that incubates new works that provide compelling roles for actors and creates a nurturing and supportive artistic community. Last fall, two plays from the 2018 LAB RESULTS festival, The Abuelas by Stephanie Alison Walker and Eight Nights by Jennifer Maisel, were given critically acclaimed full productions as part of Antaeus' 2019-20 season.

THE SIX PLAYS:

• She by Marlow Wyatt, directed by Rondrell McCormick, featuring Lorenz Arnell, Rachel Ferrera, Nic Few, Juanita Jennings, Gerard Joseph, Krystal Mosley and Karen Malina White:
After receiving an opportunity to attend the prestigious Vanguard Academy, 13-year old SHE is forced to "make her own way" and face the harsh realities of adult life. SHE copes through a world of poetry, and soon discovers that the small town she was so desperate to escape is filled with the very people who give her wings to fly.

• Willed Bodies by Ashley Rose Wellman, directed by Emily Chase, featuring Omete Anassi, Julia Davis, Daniel Dorr and Tamara Graham:
At a Willed Body ceremony - an event where medical students meet the families of medical cadavers - Lydia, an ambitious first-year med student, meets Harrison, the son of the cadaver she is about to dissect. As Lydia cuts deeper and deeper into his father's body, she and Harrison enter into an unconventional relationship that straddles the line between sweet and horrifying.

• Turning Over by Jeanette Farr, directed by Marya Mazor, featuring Joseph Bricker, Kavi Ladnier, Catia Ojeda, Alex Portenko, Jill Remez, Peter James Smith, Kitty Swink and Marcelo Tubert:
Martina has always been the best at video games since "turning over" Defender in 1984. The skills she learned with the games that she played got her through many battles. Now Martina is propelled in a world of past traumas video-game style. As she battles levels and the "monsters" from her past can she make the decision to be a better wife, mother, and human?

• Brothers Play by Matthew Doherty, directed by Deb Hiett, featuring Seamus Dever, Rob Nagle and Jeffrey Nordling:
Brothers Play is a nativity scene... of sorts. Thomas throws a rock through the rose window at church to shatter his family's code of silence, a few days before Christmas. A darkly funny, brutally honest exposure of abuse, and secrets, and how they spill out despite ourselves. And the love of brothers, of course.

• Tea Party by Sean Abley, directed by Laura Stribling, featuring John Bobek, Luis Kelly-Duarte, Abigail Marks and Mike McShane:
Frank, a married heterosexual crossdresser in his late 30s living in Montana, discovers Miss Olivia's Finishing School for Girls, a club for fellow recreational crossdressers. Finally able to share his secret with another like-minded man, Frank's newfound freedom threatens his marriage and his relationship with his best friend.

• Jamal by Jennifer Rowland, directed by Michael John Garces, featuring featuring Cherish Duke, Emily Goss, Bruce Lemon, Don McManus and Linda Park:
When 15-year old Tori goes to work as a summer intern for her godmother's new African American boyfriend, Jamal, everyone is thrilled... until sexually charged photos turn up in Jamal's office. Then suspicions turn to accusations and accusations turn into paranoia. What exactly is Jamal doing in his garage with teenage Tori?

For more information call (818) 506-1983 or visit www.Antaeus.org.

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