LAByrinth's BEES & HONEY Begins Rehearsals; Creative Team Announced

LAByrinth Theater Company (John Ortiz, Artistic Director; Aaron Roman Weiner, Associate Artistic Director) begins rehearsals today for its latest world premiere production, Bees and Honey. The intimate two-hander from Guadalís Del Carmen, about a pair of Dominican New Yorkers traversing love and loss, will play the Cherry Lane Theatre, where LAB is the Company in Residence, from March 27-April 25. Opening night is set for Monday, April 6. Tickets, priced at $35 during previews and $40 for all other performances, can be purchased at www.labtheater.org/season.

Inspired by the Juan Luis Guerra song "Como Abeja Al Panal," Bees and Honey by Guadalís Del Carmen is an intimate portrait of a Dominican couple's love and dreams in New York City. Manuel and Johaira met at a Washington Heights club and it was love at first sight. Now married, the ambitious young couple hopes to achieve their dreams together. Manuel's entrepreneurial spirit drives to him to expand his mechanic shop, while Johaira lands a career-defining sexual assault case that could help her make partner at her law firm. As the high-profile trial takes its toll on Johaira, she also begins to question whether her husband will ever outgrow his bad boy mentality. Adding in Manuel's ailing mother and an unforeseen tragedy, the pair is pushed to its limits as their love is tested daily.

Bees and Honey was developed at LAByrinth Theater Company's Summer LAB Intensive 2019 and subsequently received a reading as part of LAB's 20th annual Barn Series in January 2020. Guadalís Del Carmen's play was named to The Kilroys List 2019, one of 33 most recommended un- and underproduced new plays by women, trans, and non-binary authors. It was also selected by the 50 Playwrights Project in 2019 as one of eight top unproduced plays by Latinx playwrights in the country.

Newly announced creative team members for the production include Shoko Kambara (scenic design), Christina Watanabe (lighting design), Lux Haac (costume design), and Fan Zhang (sound design).

The cast of Bees and Honey is: Sean Carvajal (King Lear, Halfway Bitches..., Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train) as Manuel and Maribel Martinez as Johaira. Melissa Crespo directs the intimate two-hander.

The new performance schedule for Bees and Honey is as follows: Tuesday and Wednesday at 8pm; Thursday and Friday at 7pm; Saturday at 2pm & 7pm; and Sunday at 2pm. Previews begin Friday, March 27, with opening night on Monday, April 6 at 7pm. Performances continue through April 25. Bees and Honey plays the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street). Tickets, priced at $35-40, can be purchased at www.labtheater.org/season.

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