LABFest 2021 at Echo Theater Company

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2. LABFest 2021

The Echo Theater Company will present LABFest 2021, a virtual reading festival of three new plays by Brian Otaño, Roger Q. Mason and Christopher Sullivan that were developed in the company's 2020 Playwright's LAB.

WHEN:
Jan. 16 and Jan. 17:

• Saturday, Jan. 16 at 3 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. ET: Tara by Brian Otaño; directed by Hannah Wolf; featuring Dana Berger, Leandro Cano, Eileen Galindo, Brian Henderson and Gloria Ines
When 30-year-old Ricky Ramos is named as the first victim of a teacher under investigation for sexual abuse, Ricky's skewed perspective of the relationship is turned upside down and his family is forced to contend with their complicity.

• Saturday, Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m. PT / 10:30 p.m. ET: CALIFORNIA STORY: A Faustian Preter-Capitalist Scream by Roger Q. Mason, directed by Michael Alvarez
Based on the true story of Afro-Mexican politician and landowner Pío Pico, who attempted to carve a place for himself in 1830s-1860s California during the era of Manifest Destiny, Mason infuses elements of traditional theater, magical realism and physical theater to explore the racial, personal and familial price one pays when buying into majority culture's privilege at the expense of their own integrity.

• Sunday, Jan. 17 at 3 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. ET: SK8ER BOIZ by Christopher Sullivan; directed by Shaina Rosenthal; featuring Steve Boyer, Eric Neil Gutierrez, Alex Herrald, Anisha Jagannathan and Seth Kirschner
In this darkly comedic play, two teens are forced to hide their romantic relationship amidst the homophobic world of professional skateboarding as they navigate their fluid sexual identities into their adult lives.