Young Writers Play Fest, THE STAR and More Coming Up at MadLab in 2016-17

MadLab has announced their 2016-17 Theatre Season. Beginning their 3rd decade of delivering new exciting works to Columbus, MadLab is coming back in 2016 with another jam packed year including their 17th Theatre Roulette, their 5th Young Writer's Short Play Festival, the latest version of Date Night by their resident improv troupe FFN, and 4 new full length shows. Details below!

These shows wrap up the 2015-16 season:

FFN's Date Night 2016 February 4- February 20

The NSA Guide to Sex and Love 3/24-4/9

The Seventeenth Annual Theatre Roulette May 12-28

These will make up the 2016-17 season:

The Fifth Annual Young Writers Short Play Festival July 15-30

Scritch Scritch Aug 18 - Sep 3

Until He Wasn't Oct 6 - Oct 22

The Star Dec 1 - Dec 17

FFN's Date Night 2017 February 2017

The Eighteenth Annual Theatre Roulette May 2017

---

MadLab's 2016-17 Season:

Full Frontal Nudity's Date Night 2016 - Fridays and Saturdays Feb. 5th - Feb 20th with a special preview on Thursday Feb 4th and a special presentation on Sunday Feb. 14th.

Once again, this Valentine's Day, Full Frontal Nudity is back yet again to tell more stories of love... YOUR story, your neighbors' story, everybody and anybody's stories of love! How? We don't know. But, as long as there are stories of love to tell, we can tell you we will be making it all up based on your stories. So, once again, it's date night!

The NSA Guide to Sex and Love - Fridays and Saturdays Mar. 25th - Apr. 9th with a special preview on Thursday Mar. 24th.

Having problems in love? Sure you are! Fear not, the NSA is here to help! Now you can use the National Security Agency's techniques of wiretapping, code-breaking, and data mining to get ahead! There's no time like the present to embrace the surveillance state...because the surveillance state is already embracing you.

Cast: Gabrielle: Colleen DunneTom: Scott Douglas WilsonAlana: Laura SpiresDan: Casey MayDaisy: Alanna GibsonChuck: Dakota Duclo

Directed by Stephen Woosley with assistance from Kyle Jepson and Jason Sudy

Bio: Don Zolidis holds a B.A. in English from Carleton College and an M.F.A. in playwriting from the Actor's Studio Program at the New School University, where he studied under Romulus Linney.

His plays have been seen at numerous theatres around the country, including The Purple Rose Theatre, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Bloomington Playwright's Project, The Phoenix Theatre, the Victory Theatre, Stage West, The Williamstown Theatre, and many others.

Don received the Princess Grace Award for playwriting in 2004 after having twice been a finalist. His plays have received two Edgerton New Play awards and multiple NEA grants among other honors. In 2013 his play White Buffalo was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

His plays for young people are among the most-produced in the country and have received more than 7,500 productions, appearing in every state and 51 countries.

Theatre Roulette 2016 - Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, May 12th - May 28th

Theatre Roulette, now in its seventeenth year, continues as Central Ohio's longest running shorts festival. MadLab will compose one night of programming of a collection of works from a single playwright, MadLab ensemble member Erik Sternberger, and two nights of programming composed of plays selected from hundreds of submissions from playwrights nationwide and around the world. Pick one, pick two, collect the whole set!

Here's the lineup for this year's festival:
Collection Night - directed by Stephen Woosley:But It's Not About That by Erik Sternberger
Open Night #1 - directed by Amanda Bauer:Moo Maid by Rick ParkDate #3 by Alex DremmanAbsolutely Unbelievable by Bella PoyntonThe Lovers by Kirsten EastonIn the Jar by Mark Harvey LevineThe Prodigal Cow by Mark Harvey LevineA Couple of Inappropriate Jokes by Kelly Lusk
Open Night #2 - directed by Audrey RushKilling Monsters by Sheila Cowley52 Hertz by Jessica FairTango Mike by Aleks MeriloAnniversary by Sam WallinBaby Dada by Ron PullinsTrue Loves First Kiss by Matthew WeaverVariations on a First Kiss by Matthew Weaver

The 5th Annual Young Writers Short Play Festival - Fridays and Saturdays July 15th - July 30th.

After another fantastic run, MadLab is proud to present the fifth edition of The Young Writers Short Play Festival featuring plays written by local high-school students. The YWSPF is a three-week long collection of one-act plays written by Ohio teens and performed by adult actors. In its 5th year, the program continues to grow and expand its presence in Central Ohio and promises to be bigger and better than ever.

Scritch Scritch - Fridays and Saturdays Aug 19st -Sep 3rd with a special preview on Thursday Aug 18th.

Upon hearing scratching noises in her walls and ceiling, Rebecca first suspects she has a mouse infestation. But after consulting with an exterminator, she learns that a worse vermin has invaded her home: a man! While trying to rid her house and her life of this disgusting pest, Rebecca learns more than she might have wanted to about her best friend, her parentage, and her own needs.

Bio: In 2012, MadLab staged a collection of Christopher Lockheardt's short plays titled "Happy 9/11 and Other Completely Non-Offensive Tales." MadLab has also featured Lockheardt's short pieces in multiple Theatre Roulettes and 3 in 30s. Outside of Columbus, Lockheardt's work has enjoyed close to 200 productions around the world and have been included in three straight volumes of Smith & Kraus' 'Best Ten-Minute Plays of the Year' collection. The Columbus Dispatch's Michael Grossberg has praised Lockheardt's "flair for constructing short pieces that make full circles in a few minutes," while Columbus Underground reviewer Anne Evans confessed to being "nearly drawn to tears" by Lockheardt's ability to fuse dark comedy with raw emotions. MadLab's debut production of "Scritch Scritch," the playwright's first full-length play, proves that Lockheardt is capable of producing in a longer work that same unsettling alchemy of laughter and longing.

Previous Productions:

Staged reading, Shadow Boxing Theater, Boston, MA, January 2009

Staged reading, MadLab Theatre, Columbus, OH, May 2014

Until He Wasn't - Fridays and Saturdays Oct 7th - Oct 22nd with a special preview on Thursday Oct 6th.

Raya, Tenille, Natalie and Gavin have one thing in common. They all fell for Colin Bayley. They fell for his charm, his wit and his smile. One by one, the eclectic group recounts their time with the enigmatic Mr. Bayley.

After being left at the altar, Natalie had given up on life and love. When she is forced to rejoin the human race by her girlfriends, she encounters Colin, the man who would make her begin to feel again. Her life would never be the same.

After a chance meeting at the dry cleaners, Tenille begins to feel like she is living in a romantic movie. As Colin plays his role in her personal "Meg Ryan" movie come to life, She begins to wonder if she has finally met the "one".

Gavin wasn't looking for love. He wasn't even looking for sex. He wasn't looking for anything. Yet, he found something...something more than he was prepared to handle. What he found was excitement. What he found was dangerous. What he found was Colin.

Raya was immediately smitten with her new neighbor. As Colin helps her pick up the pieces following a personal tragedy, she falls helplessly in love with him. Marriage follows and happily ever after seems inevitable. She would discover, as they all would, that nothing was or is as it seems.

In sharing their diverse "Colin" stories, secrets are exposed and a bond is formed. As they struggle to find answers as to just who Colin really is and how they came to be in their exclusive "club", they find that only one thing is truly certain. Colin Bayley was the perfect man...until he wasn't.

Bio: Patrick has been involved in community and educational theatre for over two decades. He has worked with the Victoria College Theatre Department and a host of community groups designing and assisting with productions.

Since 1992, he has worked on countless productions with Theatre Victoria. With TV he has designed lighting for artists such as Jon Secada and Christine Pedi. In addition, he has designed lighting for shows such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Wait Until Dark and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His Directing credits include A Piece of My Heart, Wait Until Dark, Deathtrap and Biloxi Blues. He has appeared on stage in such roles as "Lenny" in Rumors, "McMurphy" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, "Mortimer" in Arsenic and Old Lace, "Lloyd" in Noises Off , Crumpet, the disgruntled Macy's elf in The Santaland Diaires and Multiple roles in the The Full Monty. He was twice nominated for the ACTF Irene Ryan Award.

Patrick is also an award winning playwright. His play Knock, Knock was the 2008 winner of the McLaren Memorial Comedy Playwriting Competition. It received its world premiere at Midland Community Theatre in 2009. His drama The David Chronicles was the winner of the 2010 Texas Playwriting Award from Second Thought Theatre in Dallas, TX. His other works include Bobby Joe Gilroy's Comin' Home, The Mutual Acquaintance, Under a Powder Blue Moon, Settling His Affairs and Otherwise Engaged.

The Star - Fridays and Saturdays Dec 2nd - Dec 17th with a special preview on Thursday Dec 1st.

17 year old Sam and her Mother, Jo, haven't seen eye to eye for quite a few years. One winter night a mysterious woman in a bikini falls from the sky and seems to be the answer to all their problems. The crowd of men camped out on their front lawn seem to agree. The Star is a farcical fairy tale of wishes, identity, and dick pics.

Bio: MadLab's Artistic Director, Jim has had two previous full length plays produced at the lab: The Air Loom (2013) and Objet d'Art (2006). He has also contributed the short plays Fugue, Mr. Jones Has a Day, and The Apple to various years of Theatre Roulette, as well as writing for MadLab's 3 in 30 late night series and numerous MadLab 24 and 48 productions.