CUCKOO To Debut At Theaterlab This December As Part Of First Look Series

Two exes find each other stuck in a blank space outside time. Trapped with their pain in one another’s orbit, they must find their way out, together or alone. What happens when we are put in a position where we cannot escape the source of our grief? How does the world watching us make us police our own presentation and behavior?

The cast includes Emily Ann Banks and Kristin Katz.

Playwright Dylan Horowitz states, “At its core, Cuckoo is a play about choosing between familiarity and wellbeing. It is about two people who want to be together because they love each other even though that love isn’t enough to make them healthy. It is a play  about dependence, desperation, and pride, being too proud perhaps to be able to say what is honest, vulnerable…  I love to joke with people that I want people, when watching shows like this that I write, to break up with their boyfriend, but the actual answer is that I want people to watch this show and take away: You are going to be okay. Doing the big scary thing isn’t gonna break you, it isn’t going to end the world. It might help you, but you’ll never know unless you do it.”

Director Hunter Lustberg shares, “This play is about grief and love, and what happens when those two things exist in the same space and in the same person.”

“My hope is in watching a show like this, it helps show you what that kind of stagnation that these kinds of relationships cause; the hurt, the grief that it puts you inside of.  I hope this  encourages people to take the next step forward, whatever that be, whether that’s romantic, professional, anything really,” states Horowitz. 

Tickets for Cuckoo available now at https://theaterlabnyc.com/cuckoo/.

About Pop Up! Productions: 

Pop Up! Productions is a new theatre production company aimed at unifying individuals from all walks of life by providing them with an opportunity to perform on the world’s brightest stages.

We understand that the realities of professional theater often present difficulties when it comes to pursuing and maintaining a non-theatrical career, and we believe that people should not have to choose one or the other.

As such, we are committed to providing opportunities and accessibility for those with jobs and careers outside of the performing arts, as well as those fully dedicated to the craft.

Our founding members hail from a variety of backgrounds – from law to finance, from technology to arts. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, each of us were deeply involved in theater-making at a time when the bounds of the medium were shattered, and the global artistic community was calling into question what theater could be in a remote landscape.

With our founding members based in Chicago, New York City, and London we are committed to applying these hard-learned lessons to increase the efficiency, efficacy, and ethicality of our productions, even as we return to a world of in-person art. We aim to develop highly mobile networks of support and resource acquisition, so that we may produce high quality, full length productions whenever and wherever opportunity arises, and connect passionate individuals across all walks of life.

To learn more about Pop Up! Productions and Cuckoo, check out https://www.pop-up-productions.com/season and our Instagram page (@officialpopupproductions).

Cuckoo Creative Team:

Hunter Lustberg - Director

Dylan Reed Berman Horowitz - Playwright

Isabel Fagre - Stage Manager

Liz Hetzel - Sound Designer

Kat Quiñones - Costume Designer

Shea Madison - Intimacy Coordinator

Rose Gonzales - Social Media Manager

Allon Borenshtein - Choreographer

Pop Up! Productions Team:

Hershey Suri - Artistic Director

Nandini Mittal - Executive Producer

Hunter Lustberg - Technical Director

Tiffany Zhou - Marketing Director

Jack Morrill - Associate Producer

Anuka Sethi - Outreach Associate