TWO IN LOVE: A Two-Hander Festival to Open at Theater Lab in April

TWO IN LOVE: A Two-Hander Festival, a curated evening of intimate, actor-driven storytelling is coming Off-Broadway this spring. Featuring three acclaimed two-person plays: Cindy Lou Johnson's BRILLIANT TRACES directed by Shira Behore, Johnna Adams' WORLD BUILDERS directed by Klara Eales, and David Ives' VENUS IN FUR directed by Cnaan Lavkovich. TWO IN LOVE: A Two-Hander Festival will play a three-week limited engagement at Theater Lab. Performances begin Thursday, April 9 and continue through Sunday, April 26. Opening Night is Thursday, April 9 (7:30 p.m.). Tickets are $38 for single show admission, $80 for a festival pass.

Together, these works explore love in its many forms – romantic, platonic, fractured, obsessive, tender, and transformative. Each piece asks, in its own way, the central question that guides the company's work: Are we in love?

BRILLIANT TRACES

The place is Alaska. In the middle of a raging blizzard is a cabin and inside that cabin HENRY HARRY lies sleeping. His remote and hermit-like existence is interrupted by ROSANNAH DELUCE, an agitated young woman fleeing the storm and an impending wedding.

Both running and hiding from life, these two scarred individuals draw closer to each other through a shared feeling of isolation and their desire to find connection.

The production stars Klara Eales (Off-Bway: Brilliant Traces) as Rosannah, and David Stakston (Netflix: Ragnarok, Skam) as Henry Harry.

VENUS IN FUR

What begins as an unconventional casting session between a promising playwright/director and a magnetic yet unpredictable actress quickly transforms into a charged battle in which the lines between rehearsal and reality blur. As they read the text, authority shifts, roles reverse, and control over the narrative becomes the ultimate weapon. In this intimate theatrical duel, desire, intellect, and storytelling collide, raising the question: Who is really in control?

The production stars Robert L. Bradvica* (Hunger Artist at the New York Theater Festival) as Thomas Novachek, and Mia Jurkunas (Home Sweet Home at the Theater for the New City) as Vanda Jordan. *appears courtesy of the Actors' Equity Association.

WORLD BUILDERS

Max and Whitney do not simply escape reality. They rebuild it. When they enroll in an experimental study designed to dismantle their delusions, the elaborate inner worlds that once protected them begin to collapse. In the rubble of fantasy, something fragile and startlingly real begins to form between them.

As the medication takes hold and imagination gives way to clarity, they are forced to confront a devastating question: When the worlds that kept you alive disappear, what — or who — do you choose to live for?

World Builders explores love and the imagination as both sanctuary and risk. It is a play about survival, connection, and the terrifying beauty of being truly seen.