Next Play Lab Announced at CENTERSTAGE

Thomas Bradshaw, one of this season's My America playwrights, has never shied from controversy. For CENTERSTAGE's second Play Lab of the season, the theater brings together three of the playwright's most provocative works in a festival of readings. Each piece deals with aspects of the "Southern Legacy" in America. The Play Labs will be directed by Susanna Gellert, CENTERSTAGE's Artistic Producer. A different play will be read each day, January 25-27. Tickets are only $10, and admit patrons to all three readings in the series.

The Play Labs are a series of diverse readings that invite audiences to join the process developing new plays. These events provide patrons the chance to experience new works and attend open rehearsals with the director and playwright.

Thomas Bradshaw's plays have been produced at regional theaters, in NYC, as well as in Europe. His play Job was produced by The Flea Theater in fall 2012 and revived this month. In 2011, Burning ran to rave reviews off-Broadway at The New Group Theater, and the Goodman Theater commissioned and produced Mary. Bradshaw is the recipient of a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2010 Prince Charitable Trust Prize, The Lark's NVNY Fellowship for 2011, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts award for 2012. He is creating a television series for HBO and Harpo Films.

Friday, January 25 at 8 pm - Mary

At the height of what Time magazine dubbed the "AIDS hysteria" in 1983, college student David invites his boyfriend home to his parents' house in Virginia, where nothing has changed since the 1800s-including the slave quarters.

Saturday, January 26 at 8 pm - Southern Promises

When the master of the plantation dies, he wills his slaves to be freed, but his wife doesn't think that good property should be squandered. The play is inspired by the true story of Henry Box Brown, who escaped to the north by mailing himself in a box.

Sunday, January 27 at 2 pm - Strom Thurmond is Not a Racist

An absurdist look at the life of Senator Strom Thurmond. After fathering a child with his black maid as a young man, Thurmond became one of the country's greatest segregationists; all the while playing daddy to his bi-racial daughter, Essie Mae Washington Williams.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.centerstage.org, or by calling our Box Office at 410.332.0033.