LAByrinth Theater Company Announces Barn Series/Live Nude Plays Line-up

LAByrinth Theater Company (Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O'Donnell & Yul Vázquez, Artistic Directors; Marieke Gaboury Producing Director) continues its fall season with two annual festivals of free staged readings, the Barn Series (October 6 - October 30, 2009) and Live Nude Plays (October 31 - November 3) at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street).

LAByrinth Theater Company began its 18th Season in July, when its members work-shopped more than forty new plays during the two-week Summer Intensive, hosted by Bard College. LAB Company Members and invited guests attend this annual retreat to explore new ideas with total freedom in a supportive environment. Twenty of these plays are now being presented to the public as staged readings. A full schedule follows.

Staged readings represent the second step in LAB's play development process, allowing artists to assess how audiences connect with their work, and letting them shape and refine the text in preparation for production. The festival allows audiences to see exciting new work, to engage in LAB's development process by giving feedback to the artists, and to catch an early glimpse of future productions.

All readings are FREE and open to the public, and take place at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street). Reservations are not necessary and available tickets will be released on a first-come, first-served basis each night, one hour before the reading. We recommend that patrons arrive at the theater at least one hour before the performance they would like to attend.

The roster of playwrights includes David Anzuelo, Andrea Ciannavei, Rebecca Cohen, David Deblinger, Greg Keller, Brett C. Leonard, Bob Glaudini, Craig "muMs" Grant, David Bar Katz, Padraic Lillis, Florencia Lozano, Kristina Poe, Frank Pugliese, Michael Puzzo, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, Daphne Rubin-Vega, John Patrick Shanley, Alldin Ullah, Ed Vassallo, and Webb Wilcoxen with directors Jill DeArmon, Peter Dubois, Marieke Gaboury, Scott Illingworth, Terry Kinney, Padraic Lillis, Louis Moreno, Mimi O'Donnell, Pedro Pascal, Brian Roff, John Gould Rubin, Sarah Sidman, Fisher Stevens and Liesl Tommy.

The company of performers includes Julian Acosta, Betsy Aidem, Cara Akselrad, Carlo Alban, Eric Bogosian, Maggie Burke, Elizabeth Canavan, Bobby Cannavale, Samrat Chakerbat, Chris Chalk, Andrea Ciannavei, Beth Cole, J. Eric Cook, Kevin Corrigan, David Deblinger, Jamie Dunn, Danelle Eliav, Nia Fairweather, Marieke Gaboury, Lola Glaudini, Charles Goforth, Yetta Gottesman, Craig "muMs" Grant, Nic Grelli, Scott Hudson, Salvatore Inzerillo, Russell G. Jones, Jinn S. Kim, Jamie Klassel, Angela Lewis, Trevor Long, Florencia Lozano, Eric T. Miller, Tomoko Miyagi, Nyambi Nyambi, Kelley Rae O'Donnell, Pedro Pascal, Richard Petrocelli, Michael Puzzo, Justin Reinsilber, Joselin Reyes, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Gerry Rodriguez, Melissa Ross, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Matthew Stadelman, Alladin Ullah, Carlos Valencia, Ed Vassallo, Yul Vázquez, Katherine Waterston, Aaron Weiner, Sid Williams, Max Woertendyke, David Zayas.

BARN SERIES 2009

LOVE SICK - October 6-7 - 8:00 p.m.
By Kristina Poe / Directed by Mimi O'Donnell

A play about heartbreak, love, sex, public restrooms, group therapy, lusty mothers ... and how you should never piss off a woman with a gun.

LIGHTS UP ON THE FADE OUT - October 9 & 14 - 8:00 p.m.
Written by Padraic Lillis / Directed by Marieke Gaboury

A love story inspired by fear, family, and career, where everyone is trying to hold onto the love of their life, real or imagined.

ITS HERS NOW - October 10-11 - 8:00 p.m.
By Bob Glaudini / Directed by Mimi O'Donnell

There are changes afoot in Largo, a conservative monthly magazine.

PIRATE - October 12 - 8:00 p.m.
Written and Directed by John Patrick Shanley

PIRATE is about a very bad man; sometimes, he looks one way, sometimes he looks another, but he is always bad.

NINTH AND JOANIE - October 13 - 6:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.

Written and Directed by Brett C. Leonard

Philadelphia. Ninth Street. 1986. A family is forced to remember.

SINGLE MOM - October 15 & 17 - 8:00 p.m.
Written by Rebecca Cohen / Directed by Marieke Gaboury

In a 14th floor walk- up studio apartment in a city lives a Mom; the kids are home with an awful virus and the liquor store won't deliver! What's a mom to do?

THE HARD SELL - October 16 & 18 - 8:00 p.m.

By Andrea Ciannavei / Directed by Scott Illingworth

Lily's family and closest friends gather to celebrate on the day of her amazingly expensive wedding. When this marital juggernaut goes careening into the mountain - the veil is pulled back to reveal the need of these six women to compete, hide and control perception.

DUTCH MASTERS - October 19 & 26 - 8:00 p.m.
By Greg Keller / Directed by Brian Roff

It's 1992 on the uptown D train. What you lookin' at white boy?
PARADOX OF THE URBAN CLICHÉ - October 22 & 24 - 8:00 p.m.
By Craig 'muMs' Grant / Directed by Sarah Sidman

This is way beyond you wearing your jeans below your behind.

THE ATMOSPHERE OF MEMORY - October 23 & 27 - 8:00 p.m.

By David Bar Katz / Directed by Peter Dubois

O'Neill was smart enough to wait until his family was dead before writing about them. The playwright in The Atmosphere of Memory has written about his family, and they're all not only alive, they're coming to the opening! The Atmosphere of Memory deals with the prIce That comes with portraying the past and familial battles over what is 'True' and 'What Really Happened'.

CONSERVATIVE RIGHT AND YOU'RE WRONG - October 25 & 28 - 8:00 p.m.
By Ed Vassallo / Directed by Brian Roff

Is political theater harmless? Are inflammatory talks shows entertainment? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

CYNTHIA & THE DREADFUL KITE - October 29-30 - 8:00 p.m.
Book and Lyrics by Webb Wilcoxen, Music by Jonathan Comisar / Directed by Jill DeArmon

Someone has struck down Cynthia Schmidt's most cherished posession ... her kite. Now she is making something not-so-nice.

LIVE NUDE PLAYS 2009

'68 - October 31 - 6:30 p.m.
Conceived and Directed by John Gould Rubin

A compilation of stories about 1968.

BEAUTIFUL - October 31 - 9:30 p.m.
Written by David Anzuelo / Directed by Louis Moreno

An art-dealing Lucifer is on an industrial rock-fueled killing spree and only a phone-sex addicted descendant of Job can stop him: it's New York City 1994 - where everyone came to get f*cked!

HANDBALL - November 1 - 6:30 p.m.
Written by Seth Zvi Rosenfeld / Directed by Terry Kinney

A handball court on a hot summer day sets a handful of characters off into explosive drama. Old time neighborhood beefs, young love and real estate are the combustible elements at hand as nine characters find their way through the changing labyrinthine landscape of a neighborhood in NYC.

girl in window - November 1 - 9:00 p.m.
Written by Florencia Lozano / Directed by Pedro Pascal

love doesn't just stink, it sucks a**, and the people who help you get out from under the wreckage when your heart is busted open.
THE HALAL BROTHERS - November 2 - 6:30 p.m.
Written by Alladin Ullah / Director Liesl Tommy

When Two Bengali brothers- one unable to tell his sibling about his black girlfriend at city college and the other desperate to succeed in order to provide for family back home, try to keep afloat during the turbulent day of Malcolm X's assasination.

THE TALK - November 2 - 9:00 p.m.
Written by Frank Pugliese / Directed by Fisher Stevens

Four brothers come home for their mother's funeral, to find a past they never knew of, and the words to comprehend it.

NEUROTICA - November 3 - 6:30 p.m.
Written by David Deblinger / Directed by Padraic Lillis

Neurotica is about how someone we find so f*cking sexy and hot can also bring up sh*t about loneliness and rage and fear that can tempt fate with death ... or just the opposite. A dark comedy on love, with song and rap.

FREQUENTLY UNASKED QUESTIONS - November 3 - 9:00 p.m.
Written by Daphne Rubin-Vega / Directed by John Gould Rubin

Its a play! And a concert! The life and music of DRV are completely intertwined. In FUQ's, she explores the life of her mother who immigrated from Panama and the resulting consequences of her choices.

LAByrinth Theater Company was founded in 1992 by a group of actors who wanted to push their artistic limits, hone their craft, and create new plays that truly reflected their heritage and experience. Today, LAByrinth is comprised of 115 established and emerging theater artists from a wide array of cultural perspectives. The inclusive, multicultural ensemble encourages all Members to write, act, direct, and design, and supports multidisciplinary growth and exploration in the creation of daring new work that celebrates the diversity of its New York City home.

LAByrinth Theater Company returns to The Public Theater for this year's annual reading series. LAB and the Sydney Theatre Company are Associate Companies of Trafalgar Studios in London (Ambassador Theatre Group), who aim to produce and exchange work on a regular basis, and to give LAB's writers and actors a stage in London.

Now in its eighteenth season, LAByrinth has developed more than 300 new plays and has premiered 53 new American plays, including The Little Flower of East Orange and UNCONDITIONAL (2008), A View from 151st Street and Jack Goes Boating (2007), A Small, Melodramatic Story and School of The Americas (2006), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (2005), Sailor's Song and Guinea Pig Solo (2004), Dutch Heart of Man and Dirty Story (2003), Our Lady of 121st Street (2002), Where's My Money? (2001), Jesus Hopped the ‘A' Train (2000), and In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings (1999) and makes its classical classical debut with Othello (2009).

Learn more about LAByrinth at www.LABtheater.org.

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