LAByrinth Theater Company Announces Line-up for 2010-2011 Season

LAByrinth Theater Company (Co-Artistic Directors Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O'Donnell, Yul Vázquez and Managing Director, Danny Feldman), Off-Broadway's home of exhilarating and incendiary theater, has announced the line-up for the 2010-2011 season featuring the 11th Annual Barn Reading Series, as well as world premiere productions of two works from the 2008 Barn Series written by LAB members: Thinner Than Water by Melissa Ross and The Motherf**ker with the Hat by LAB co-artistic director Stephen Adly Guirgis and a 24/7 marathon of free readings and special events celebrating the city we live in, NewYorkNewYork!

The season launches in late November with the 11th Annual Barn Reading Series, a festival of staged readings highlighting 14 new plays. The Barn Series is a second step in LAB's play development process, allowing artists to assess how audiences connect with their work, and letting them shape and refine the text in preparation for production. The festival gives audiences an opportunity to see exciting new work, to engage in LAB's development process by giving feedback to the artists, and to catch an early glimpse of future productions.

The Barn Series is open to the public beginning Monday, November 29th through Tuesday, December 21st at The Cherry Pit (155 Bank Street). All are welcome. Admission is free. Reservations are not necessary and seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis at each performance. Patrons should arrive at the theater 1/2 hour before the performance they would like to attend. (Plays and Schedule below.)

The season continues in February with the world premiere of Thinner Than Water, a new play by Melissa Ross with direction by LAB co-artistic director Mimi O'Donnell. In Thinner Than Water, Martin is debt ridden, gambling addicted, pissed as hell, and dying. Unfortunately his three estranged children couldn't care less. Instead they argue with each other and everyone around them in a desperate struggle to do the right thing and mend their rapidly deteriorating lives. As the world around them crumbles, they are each surprised to discover family in unexpected places. Whether a spouse, a friend, or a chance encounter with a random stranger blood is often Thinner Than Water. Performances begin February 8, 2011 for a limited run through March 6, 2011 at The Cherry Pit (155 Bank Street). Opening night is Sunday, February 13, 2011.

It was also recently announced that Scott Rudin, The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson), LAByrinth Theater Company and Stuart Thompson will present on Broadway the world premiere of the new play, The Motherf**Ker With The Hat by Stephen Adly Guirgis, starring Bobby Cannavale, Chris Rock, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Annabella Sciorra and Yul Vázquez. Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, the production will open on Monday, April 11, 2011 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street, New York City). The strictly limited 14-week engagement will begin previews on Tuesday, March 22, 2011.

The Motherf**Ker With The Hat is a new high-octane, verbal cage match about love, fidelity, and misplaced haberdashery from playwright and LAB co-artistic director Stephen Adly Guirgis. Jackie and Veronica have been in love since the 8th grade. But now, Jackie is on parole and living clean and sober under the guidance of his sponsor, Ralph D, while still living and loving with his volatile soul mate Veronica who is fiercely loving, but far from sober. Still, their love is pure. And true. Nothing can come between them - except a hat.

The creative team includes scenic design by Todd Rosenthal, costume design by LAB Co-Artistic Director Mimi O'Donnell and lighting design by Donald Holder.

Last season, LAByrinth Theater Company began its community building program with a 24/7 celebration marathon of free readings and special events in honor of Tennessee Williams 99th birthday -- TENN99 - that packed the house from early morning through the wee hours all weekend long. Audience members, LAByrinth company members and a host of theater luminaries ate, drank, and shared the stage taking turns reading Tennessee's legendary plays, poems, and letters in joyful tribute to the much beloved master American dramatist from down South. The response was overwhelming and gratifying with many patrons asking, "What are you guys planning for next year"?

This Spring, LAByrinth turns the focus home to the concrete backyards and side alleys by proudly presenting NewYorkNewYork!, in celebration of the plays, poets, playwrights, and New York artists past and present who have presented and represented the five great boroughs so memorably throughout the years. Expect a party. Expect to participate. Expect top line talent. All are welcome. Admission is free.

LAByrinth Theater Company offers an opportunity for theater patrons to get in on the ground floor and to be a part of the future of theater in New York with a LABPASS Membership. LABPASS ensures each member first-hand information on all the happenings on-stage and off with LAByrinth this year - plays, parties, and everything in between! And with play development at the forefront of LAB's creative mission, LABPASS members are more partners than patrons as the company presents new work with the knowledge that audiences' responses and insights serve only to strengthen the art.

For additional information, or to order a LABPASS Membership, please visit the website at www.labtheater.org

Stephen Adly Guiris (Playwright, The Motherf**ker with the Hat) is co-artistic director of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. His plays have been produced on five continents and throughout the United States. They include Our Lady of 121st Street (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle Best Play Nominations, 10 best plays of 2003), Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train (Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award, Barrymore Award, Olivier Nomination for London's Best New Play), In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings (2007 LA Drama Critics Best Play, Best Writing Award), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (10 best Time Magazine & Entertainment Weekly), and The Little Flower of East Orange (starring Ellen Burstyn & Michael Shannon) at The Public Theater. All five plays were originally produced by LAByrinth and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. The

Motherf**cker with the Hat marks his third consecutive world premiere co-production with The Public Theater. In London, his plays have premiered at The Donmar Warehouse, The Almeida (dir: Rupert Goold), The Hampstead (Robert Delamere), and at The Arts in the West End. Other plays include Den of Thieves (HERE, HAI Theater Festival), and Dominica The Fat Ugly Ho (dir: Adam Rapp) for the 2006 E.S.T. Marathon. He has received a 2006 PEN/Laura Pels Award, a 2006 Whiting Award, and a 2004 TCG fellowship, new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club, Center Theater Group, and South Coast Repertory, and is a member of LAByrinth Theater Company, New Dramatists, MCC's Playwright's Coalition, Ojai Playwrights Festival, and New River Dramatists. Television writing credits include "NYPD Blue," "The Sopranos," David Milch's CBS drama "Big Apple," and Shane Salerno's NBC series "UC: Undercover". As an actor, Stephen has had leading film roles in Todd Solondz's Palindromes, Brett C. Leonard's Jailbait (opposite Michael Pitt), and in Kenneth Lonergan's upcoming Margaret. Other film credits include Philip Seymour Hoffman's Jack Goes Boating, Charlie Kaufmans Synecdoche New York, Adam Rapp's Blackbird, Noah Buschel's Neal Cassady, as well as Meet Joe Black (dir: Martin Brest), Noise (dir: Henry Bean), Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot (dir: Todd Harrsion Williams), and TV's "Law and Order." He directed Liza Colon-Zayas' Sistah Supreme for Danny Hoch's Hip Hop Theater Festival, Marco Greco's award-winning Behind the Counter with Mussolini in New York and Los Angeles, and Melanie Maras's Kiss Me on the Mouth (InViolet Rep/CSNY. A former HIV Educator/Violence Prevention Specialist, he lives in New York City.

Melissa Ross (Playwright, Thinner Than Water) New York acting credits include productions and developmental readings of original plays by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Anne Marie Healey, David Bar Katz, Charles Mee, Julie Marie Myatt, Adam Rapp, Keith Reddin, Jose Rivera and John Patrick Shanley. Her plays Crazy Little Thing, For Dear Life, Thinner Than Water, A Life Extra Ordinary and You Are Here have received readings and workshops at LAByrinth Theater Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Electric Pear Productions, 24Seven LAB, and Manhattan Theater Club. Melissa is a graduate of Bennington College and is currently a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at The Juilliard School. She is a proud member of LAByrinth Theater Company.

LAByrinth Theater Company was founded in 1992 by a group of actors who wanted to push their artistic limits, hone their craft, and create new plays that truly reflected their experience. Today, LAByrinth is comprised of more than 110 established and emerging theater artists from a wide array of cultural perspectives. The inclusive, multicultural ensemble encourages all members to write, act, direct, and design, and supports multidisciplinary growth and exploration in the creation of daring new work that celebrates the diversity of its New York City home.

Now in its nineteenth season, LAByrinth has developed more than 300 new plays and staged 51 productions, including The Little Flower of East Orange and UNCONDITIONAL (2008), A View from 151st Street and Jack Goes Boating (2007), A Small, Melodramatic Story and School of The Americas (2006), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (2005), Sailor's Song and Guinea Pig Solo (2004), Dutch Heart of Man and Dirty Story (2003), Our Lady of 121st Street (2002), Where's My Money? (2001), Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train (2000), and In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings (1999). Raucous. Vital. Real. Since 1992.

BARN SERIES SCHEDULE

November 29 - December 21, 2010

Marcy Comes Home
by Adam Bock
November 30 at 8:00 p.m.

A Family For All Occasions
by Bob Glaudini*
December 17 & 18 at 8:00 p.m.

They Killed Boo Boo?
by Maggie Bofill*
December 17 & 18 at 11:00 p.m.

Untitled
by Stephen Adly Guirgis*
December 20 at 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m.

The Walking Game
by Daniel Harnett*
December 13 at 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m.

New Short Plays
by Israel Horovitz
December 16 & 18 at 8:00 p.m.

Channel
by John Jiler
November 29 and December 8 at 8:00 p.m.

Oh, The Power
by David Bar Katz*
December 9 & 11 at 8:00 p.m.

If You Love Me
by Lyle Kessler
December 1 & 2 at 8:00 p.m.

The Bends
by Megan Mostyn-Brown*
December 4 & 5 at 8:00 p.m.

You Are Here
by Melissa Ross*
December 3 & 10 at 8:00 p.m.

Utilites
by Jonathan Marc Sherman
December 14 & 14 at 8:00 p.m.

Rivers Of January
by Ben Snyder
December 7 at 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m.

Heal Me Television
by Martha Wollner*
December 12 & 21 at 8:00 p.m.

 

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