MadLab Presents Theatre Roulette 2011, Kicks Off 5/5

MadLab Theatre & Gallery will present Theatre Roulette 2011 at 8:00, May 5th-May 28th, Thursday though Saturdays at MadLab Theatre & Gallery, 227 N. 3rd St. Columbus. All 10 shows will be presented on the final day of the festival, May 28th beginning at 2 pm. Tickets cost $12, $8 Students/Seniors, $6 Members. Call 614-221-5418 or visit www.madlab.net

With their 12th annual Theatre Roulette, MadLab, now settled into their new space, returned to their usual method of operation for Roulette. They received 566 submissions and from that group of scripts, 10 were selected. 1 was written by a MadLab ensemble member (Jennifer Feather Youngblood), another by their former artistic director Chris Lane, 3 more by playwrights who have had plays performed at Roulette in the past (Christopher Lockheardt, Donald Dewey, and Mark Harvey Levine) with the remaining 5 from playwrights who had no previous Roulette experience.
Auditions were held in January. 22 actors were cast in 30 roles. Four of them will make their MadLab debuts (Mony Carpenter, Vince Reese, Hilary Shelton, and Damian Synadinos). This will be David Tull's Roulette debut. 13 of MadLab's 25 ensemble members accepted roles with many accepting multiple parts.
The Columbus Foundation, GCAC, Scion, and OAC support MadLab throughout the year.

Following each playwright name is the city they live in and previous Roulette appearances.

As always, the Roulette shows are split into 3 nights, shown in a rotating basis, until the final day when all 10 shows are presented. The names for the nights this year are Queen of Hearts, One-Eyed Jacks, and Suicide Kings.
Queen of Hearts

SELDOM IS HEARD by Mary Steelsmith Los Angeles, California

A woman whose husband newly returned from combat in Afghanistan, copes with his I.E.D.-caused head injury. battles a local kind of terrorist, the pink suited president of their local Neighborhood Restoration Association (N.R.A.).

CAST AND CREW
Melissa Bair as Hanna
Jennifer Feather Youngblood as Marilyn
Vince Reese as Ivan

Directed by Michelle Batt

L.A. playwright Mary Steelsmith makes her Roulette debut. It is also her MadLab debut, kinda. In February 2009, Raconteur Theatre Company performed Steelsmith's "Isaac I Am" at MadLab's former space at 105 Grant Avenue.
MORNIN', DAUGHTER MINE by Tom Dieker Clive, Iowa

A mother makes a radical proposal to save the life of her suicidal daughter.

CAST AND CREW
Melissa Bair as Nan
Hilary Shelton as Robyn

Directed by David Thonnings

Hilary Shelton makes her MadLab debut in a big way in the role of Robyn.
BOOM, POW, OOF by Jennifer Feather Youngblood - Columbus, Ohio (THE REBUTTAL - Roulette 06 & Quint, IN A BAD PLACE - Roulette 10)

In a comic-book world of superheroes and supervillians, civilians have to learn to be powerful without powers.

CAST AND CREW
David Tull as Henry
Stephen Woosley as Martin
Jim Azelvandre as Gary
Josh Kessler as Sean
Linda O'Donnell as Gladys
Michelle Batt as Dr. Nebula Bryce

Directed by Jennifer Feather Youngblood

Youngblood, a member of the MadLab Artistic Council, directs her own work. David Tull makes his Roulette debut, alongside a hostof Madlab stalwarts. He made his MadLab debut in March in A Shadow in the Dark (also under Youngblood's direction).

One-Eyed Jacks

THIS ALMOST JOY by Barbara Lindsay Shoreline, Washington

Friendly Professor Hart-Meadows, an actor in what he believes is a rather dull play, decides to speak directly to the audience, engaging them in a conversation about the nature of reality. This is upsetting for the other characters in the play, Sylvia and Bradley, for whom the play is the real world. The confrontation intensifies as Sylvia and Bradley's desire to save Prof. Hart-Meadows from madness bumps up against the Professor's insistence on his own truth.

CAST AND CREW

Jim Azelvandre as Professor Steven Hart-Meadows
Vicki Andronis as Sylvia Hart Johns
Michael Moore as Bradley Johns
Mony Carpenter as Margaret Hart-Meadows

Directed by Travis Horseman

Horseman, one of MadLab's best actors, makes his directorial debut. Mony Carpenter, who has appeared with numerous Columbus theatre companies, makes her MadLab debut.
LOLLY by Donald Dewey New York, New York (JAMS & JELLIES - Roulette 06)

Barbara goes to Leo's Doll Repair store to get the eyes changed on her doll. When the mysterious --- and mysteriously aggressive --- Leo asks her why, she says it's because she wants to pass the doll on to her daughter and have the girl's doll see different things than her mother's has. Before she knows it, Leo has her revealing some of those things, and not merely for therapeutic purposes.

CAST AND CREW

Sarah Brunet as Barbara
Peter Graybeal as Leo

Directed by Randi Morgan

Comedic Lab veteran Peter Graybeal takes a darker turn in this piece from the writer of Jams and Jellies, part of Roulette 2006.

THE MEETING by Greg Freier Norwalk, Iowa

A small group of corporate executives attempt to disavow themselves from their own ineptness in a nonsensical, gibberish induced forum and arrive at the only logical conclusion they can deduce: violent incompetence.

CAST AND CREW
Vicki Andronis as Jenkins
Sarah Brunet as Dibble
Josh Kessler as Porter
Erin Prosser as Smith

Directed by Peter Graybeal

Graybeal directs 4 of Columbus best improvateurs (Andronis, Brunet and Kessler in MadLab's resident troupe, Full Frontal Nudity and Prosser is a part of the Shimmy Shake Project).

Suicide Kings
HOUND DOG AND ME by Chris Lane -- Columbus, Ohio(THE JUNGLE - Roulette 00, CUT & DRIED - Roulette 01, SPREE - Roulette 02)

An exploration of the inner workings of a mind that is in duress.

CAST AND CREW
Chris Lane as Hound Dog
Andy Batt as Me

Directed by Michelle Batt

Lane, MadLab's former artistic director and frequent contributor, returns to MadLab to appear in this absorbing piece.

STUCK by Christopher Lockheardt Andover, MA (NOT FUNNY - Roulette 09)

They say that you never really know someone until you're trapped in a revolving door with them.

CAST AND CREW

Stephen Woosley as Man
Michelle Batt as Woman

Directed by Andy Batt

Lockheardt's Not Funny closed the Theatre Roulette festival in 2009.
UP ON THE ROOF by Mark Harvey Levine - Pasadena, California (SURPRISE - Roulette 05, SAVER - Roulette 07, THE RENTAL - Roulette 08, THAT WORD - Roulette 10)

Jason is looking for a sign from God. Carrie is looking for a little help with the dishes.

CAST AND CREW

Damian Synadinos as Jason
Christina Duryea as Carrie

Directed by Andy Batt

This is MadLab favorite Levine's record 5th Roulette production.
THERE IS NO GOOD NEWS by Quentin James Cambridge, Massachusetts

Jerry, Carmichael, and Paul. Three grown men running in the desert. With them a caboodle of other inspired and unheralded runners trudging their lives behind them in their wake. How long they've been running is too long for their comfort. To where they are running they have no idea. The reason they are running is beyond their comprehension. They are tired, stinky, and confused; yet the only thing that they are certain of is that they all must keep going.

CAST AND CREW

Andy Batt as Jerry
Brendan Michna as Carmichael
David Thonnings as Paul

Directed by Nikki Smith

Andy Batt is joined by scene stealers Brendan Michna, who stole Cabfare for The Common Man as the title character of sorts in Superhero and David Thonnings who stole 2010 Roulette with his performance in The Final Scene.