Ammunition Theatre Launches 2026 New Play Lab Initiative
Seven writers including Sam Chanse, Bernardo Cubría, and Derya Derman will develop new plays through the Los Angeles theatre company's incubation program.
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Ammunition Theatre is launching its 2026 New Play Lab initiative: The Phoenix Plays. Responding to the tragic fires that engulfed Los Angeles in 2025 and the heroic response from many communities, AMMO asked the playwrights in its community to share stories inspired by the mythos of the Phoenix rising from the ashes both literally and metaphorically. Seven extraordinary artists responded with unique ideas which are now in development through AMMO's New Play Lab.
The 2026 New Play Lab playwrights include Sam Chanse, Bernardo Cubría, Derya Derman, A'raelle Flynn-Bolden, Tyree Marshall, Christopher Moncayo-Torres, and Carl(os) Roa-Cruz. Supported in part by the California Arts Council and co-facilitated by AMMO members Joy Gregory, Lina Patel, Carla Ching, and Tiana Randall-Quant, the Lab is an incubation space where theatre artists can explore their ideas from seed to first draft, meeting monthly to share pages, nurture each other's creativity, and support one another in evolving their pitches to a reading-ready draft.
In Winter 2027, AMMO will present public staged readings of The Phoenix Plays. The selected plays include an untitled play by Sam Chanse, Regina by Bernardo Cubría, Chicken by Derya Derman, What Would Nina Do? (WWND) by A'raelle Flynn-Bolden, Psyche by Tyree Marshall, Before It's Too Late by Christopher Moncayo-Torres, and KOY by Carl(os) Roa-Cruz.
Each piece embraces the theme of the Phoenix covering a wide range of subject matter, including the conservative Mexican response to the Palisades Fire, a musician's failed marriage and grappling with her latent queerness, a pact between a Black woman and her accomplice in a revenge scheme, a re-telling of the story of Cupid and Psyche, the child of Ecuadorean immigrants reflecting on his mysterious parents, and a trans person creating an award-winning video game to process a traumatic break-up.
Past plays developed through AMMO's New Play Lab have included Am I Roxie? by Roxana Ortega which premiered at the Geffen in 2025, Sick Girl or Don't Hate Me Because I'm Pretty by Lina Patel featured at the 2024 Playfest Indy, and Revenge Porn by Carla Ching which won the 2021 Los Angeles New Play Project Award and was produced by AMMO the next year.
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