Mission to (dit)Mars Welcomes Four New Members to Propulsion Lab

Mission to (dit)Mars, a theatre arts collective serving Queens artists, is excited to announce the selection of four new members to The Propulsion Lab, Queens' newest writers group serving emerging playwrights from the borough.

The four new members are Lisa Huberman (Woodside), David Lawson (Astoria), Kristine M. Reyes (Astoria) and Tyler Rivenbark (Sunnyside). Along with current members of the Propulsion Lab, each playwright will focus on writing a new full-length play over the course of the year. The new members were selected by Mission to (dit)Mars co-founders Kari-Bentley-Quinn, Don Nguyen, Meredith Packer and Laura Pestronk. The writers group meets bi-weekly in Queens and is facilitated by Kari Bentley-Quinn and Don Nguyen.

On what excites her about the four new members, Meredith Packer explains "I was so excited by not just the high level of work they submitted to us, but how incredibly different each of the writers are in their approach, styles and voice. I thought that combination of diversity and work would be great to get to the table." Kari Bentley-Quinn adds "I think the most exciting thing for us was finding four voices that are all very different from each other."

"The plays that caught my attention were the ones that were both well-written and moving," said Laura Pestronk, explaining how the members were selected. "I was looking for a firm grip on style that caused me to feel something and hopefully either shake me inside or make me laugh out loud or both."

The Propulsion Lab was created to meet the needs of like-minded theater artists who wanted to have a way of developing new work locally in Queens on an on-going basis. "The first year we did this Lab, we had such an extraordinary response to it. The writers were really happy, and our end of the year presentation ALL SYSTEMS GO! was a sold out house" said Kari Bentley-Quinn.

The four new playwrights will be joining current members of the Propulsion Lab: Kari Bentley-Quinn (Astoria/Woodside), Courtney Lauria (Astoria), Mariah MacCarthy (Astoria), Don Nguyen (Long Island City), and August Schulenburg (Astoria).

For more information and bios of each of the Propulsion Lab members past and present, please visit http://missiontoditmars.wordpress.com/the-propulsion-lab/