Life Jacket Theatre Company Reveals Creative Teams for WRITERS ROOM Spring 2025 Showcase

Life Jacket Theatre Company has announced the directors and creative teams assembled for its upcoming WRITERS ROOM Spring 2025 Showcase, taking place Thursday, June 5th at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Creative Center in Midtown Manhattan.

The evening will feature excerpts from six bold new works-in-progress created by emerging LGBTQ+ playwrights, each paired with some of the most distinguished Broadway and Off-Broadway artists working in New York theatre today.

Directors for the Spring Showcase include:

• Michael Herwitz, director of Max Wolf Friedlich’s JOB, which sold out two Off-Broadway runs and recently completed an acclaimed Broadway engagement
• Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, Artistic Director of The Drama League for the past 24 seasons
• Caitlin Sullivan, remount director of Martyna Majok’s Sanctuary City at the Lucille Lortel Theatre
• Jason Aguirre, Associate Artistic Director of Off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre

Featured works and creative teams include:

Glass House (a new musical), book by Nick Flatto (he/him), music & lyrics by Mateo Chavez Lewis (he/him), directed by Jason Aguirre, music directed by Garrett Taylor, cast by Felicia Rudolph (CSA), and starring Willy Falk (Miss Saigon, Les Misérables) as Philip Johnson, Kennedy Kanagawa (Into the Woods) as David Whitney, and Max Crumm (Disaster!, Grease) as Rowan. “Renowned architect Philip Johnson is perhaps most famous for the Glass House he built on his campus in New Canaan, CT. Lesser-known is the opaque Brick House he built with almost no windows, where David Whitney, his secret gay lover, lived.”

Ventriloquists, written by Sam Gravitte (he/him), directed by Michael Herwitz, and starring Alex MacNicoll (Amazon Prime’s Transparent, NBC’s Brilliant Minds) as Robert Rauschenberg, Lou Liberatore (Burn This) as Leo Castelli, and Ben Edelman (Admissions, Significant Other) as Jasper Johns. “Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg struggle to protect their romance amid rising fame and public scrutiny while, 70 years later, a grieving mother and a reclusive old man trade secrets in a playground—each pair confronted with how their greatest love split their worlds apart.”

What You Are To Me, written and directed by Dena Igusti (they/them), and starring Victoria Pommalath as Sari, Sophie Kadir as Fina, B. Bastian as Lisa, Aida Mohamed as Diah, and Emma Callahan as Melli. “The story of an aspiring singer’s chance encounter with a student journalist turned zine editor, leading to a Jakarta love story that is traced back years later by an aspiring Indonesian translator in Queens.”

18 WEST 11TH STREET, written by Cori Diaz (she/her) and starring Jackson Steinberg as Terry Robbins, Valentina Zazzali as Cathy Wilkerson, Baylee Hughes as Diana Oughton, Nick Snipes as Teddy Gold, and Emma Mueller as Kathy Boudin. “The year is 1970, and a group of five disaffected, Marxist college students build a bomb in New York’s Greenwich Village to protest the Vietnam War.”

The Oysterman on the Outer Cape, written by Sam Mueller (they/she) and directed by Caitlin Sullivan (with a cast to be announced soon). “While shucking at private parties on Cape Cod, a third generation oysterman falls in love with a transfemme pearl who emerges from a Wellfleet oyster.”

Heaven, Hell, or Carolina, written by Nilan (he/him+) and directed by Gabriel Stelian-Shanks (with a cast to be announced soon). “In the heart of North Carolina, a group of homosexuals refuse to be exiled from their faith, igniting a fierce battle with the Church that will test their convictions, their community, and the very soul of what it means to belong.”

Now in its inaugural year, WRITERS ROOM is Life Jacket Theatre Company’s new play development initiative supporting emerging LGBTQ+ playwrights in the creation of investigative theatre inspired by real people and events. Over the course of three months, playwrights received dramaturgical support, group workshops, and mentorship to advance their new works.

For more information about WRITERS ROOM and Life Jacket Theatre Company, please visit: www.lifejackettheatre.org/writers-room.