New Plays Developed In Antaeus Playwrights Lab Get 'LAB Results' Readings

Five new plays developed in Antaeus Theatre Company's Playwrights Lab have been selected to receive Lab Results readings April 1 through April 4. The Antaeus Playwrights Lab is an ongoing program for mid-career writers that incubates new works that provide compelling roles for actors, and creates a nurturing and supportive artistic community.

• Friday, April 1 at 8 p.m.: Speakeasy by Khari Wyatt
In 1956, after some time away, Leon Ivy returns home from a sojourn in Paris with a finished novel, a publisher, and big plans for his future - but times have changed along Central Avenue and his wife, Bird, and her new business partner, Daddy August, have enacted secret plans of their own. What are the costs of leaving home and what is the price of fighting for what you believe in? Wyatt has developed and expanded his play, first heard in 2020 during Season One of Antaeus' The Zip Code Plays: Los Angeles podcast series.

• Saturday, April 2 at 2 p.m.: HERe by Aja Houston
Riva Thornton flees from her immense grief in the real world into the magical world of the Black Grimm Forest that borders all fifty states. This forest is a safe space for its Black visitors to escape their racial trauma by morphing the fairytales into whatever they need. Riva conjures a slumber so deep and dreams so heavenly that three years of her life pass by. When a mysterious woman awakens Riva, she is drawn unwillingly into an adventure through the Grimm. Riva must choose to return to the land of the living to face her grief or cling to the illusion of happily ever after.

• Saturday, April 2 at 8 p.m.: Ghost Bicycle by Sean Abley
Hannah is afflicted with a mysterious condition that is slowly draining her ability to feel emotions. After her husband is killed by a hit-and-run driver, those feelings come rushing back as she navigates a house full of ghosts-her husband in real time, and flashbacks that feel as if they're present day. When her psychic neighbor involves herself in the unsolved case, the whodunnit becomes a "whydunnit." Will solving the murder actually do more harm than good?

• Sunday, April 3 at 2 p.m.: Killer by Steve Apostolina
Set in south Texas where Jesus and football rule, Dixie home cares for her wheelchair-bound son Randall, who has suffered a traumatic brain injury. "Reaction Sports" is coming to interview Dixie, her family and Randall's best friend and high school football teammate, Devonté, for possible inclusion in a future episode. National exposure could spark donations to help with Randall's astronomical health care costs, so it is imperative that the interview goes well. But with exposure comes truth - and truth can be filled with killers.

• Monday, April 4 at 8 p.m.: Circle Forward by Deb Hiett
Seventeen years after the loss of her young husband from cancer, Mia meets a teenager, Ethan, who believes he is the reincarnation of her late husband. When Ethan and his mom Lexi come to Mia's house for lunch, Mia must face her doubts, her past, and the whole truth.

Learn more by calling (818) 506-1983 or visiting www.Antaeus.org.

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