Every day is opening night.

CO/LAB THEATER GROUP CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY WITH VIRTUAL FESTIVAL AND BENEFIT JUNE 17-21, 2021

Press Contacts:
Rick Miramontez / Marie Bshara
rick@omdkc.com / marie@omdkc.com
212 695 7400 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

CO/LAB THEATER GROUP
CELEBRATES
10TH ANNIVERSARY
WITH FESTIVAL FROM JUNE 17-20
AND
BENEFIT ON ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY, JUNE 21

VIRTUAL BENEFIT TO BE HOSTED BY
AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST LIZ PLANK
AND
“THE BOOK OF MORMON” ACTOR AND ACTIVIST DIMITRI MOISE

WITH GUEST APPEARANCE BY DISABILITY RIGHTS ACTIVIST
JUDY HEUMANN

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW AT
WWW.COLABTHEATERGROUP.COM

New York, NY (May 20, 2021) – CO/LAB Theater Group, a non-profit organization dedicated to offering individuals with developmental disabilities a creative and social outlet through theater arts, celebrates their 10th Anniversary with a virtual festival with both pre-recorded and live events from June 17-June 20 and a live virtual benefit on their 10th Anniversary, June 21. The benefit will be hosted by award-winning journalist Liz Plank and The Book of Mormon actor and activist Dimitri Moise.

CO/LAB’s June Festival, Beyond the Horizon, will feature four consecutive evenings of original content created by their neurodiverse ensemble of Actors, Teaching Artists, and Supporting Artists. Included in the festival is an SNL-inspired evening of comedy; a live play reading of work written by their Playwriting class; and the premiere of PLOOTO: A Space Oddity, a new musical inspired by the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act with guest appearance by disability rights activist Judy Heumann.

“This festival is the first of its kind for CO/LAB. Creating in this virtual space provided an opportunity for us to present such varied work and showcase all of our actors from the semester over one weekend. Our ensembles blew us away with their innovation and dedication and we can’t wait to share their work!” said Abby Schreer, CO/LAB’s Director of Programs and Operations.

The festival weekend culminates in CO/LAB’s 10th Birthday Party, a live virtual benefit celebrating a decade of collaboration, community, and creativity. Attendees can explore different virtual rooms, engage with members of the CO/LAB community, and enter to win exciting raffle prizes. This year’s benefit honorees are co-founders and Teaching Artists Laura Borgwardt and Arielle Lever, and NYC arts service organization ART/NY, which has been a longtime partner of CO/LAB’s work.

Becky Leifman, CO/LAB’s Executive Director said, “We’re so excited to be able to present a benefit in this virtual way. Even though we won’t be in the same physical space, there are so many ways for guests to interact with each other throughout the event, and for supporters from all over the country to celebrate our inclusive community’s work. This benefit—and the whole festival weekend—is a testament to the creativity and collaboration that has built CO/LAB over the last decade.”

The event is produced in association with Broadway Unlocked, with the digital venue powered by All Together Now.

For tickets to the festival and benefit, please visit www.colabtheatergroup.com. Tickets are $15 per show at the festival, $20-75 for the benefit, and ticket packages range from $30-115 and include tickets to one show + benefit, two shows + benefit, or an all-access pass to all five events are also available.

CO/LAB was founded in 2011 by Laura Borgwardt, Becky Leifman, Arielle Lever, and Sarah Olbrantz. In the 10 years since its creation, CO/LAB has partnered with over 30 organizations and has provided creative opportunities without limits and boundaries for thousands of actors with development disabilities. Through their programming, they create a safe, judgement-free, neuro-diverse environment that encourages participants to collaborate as an ensemble and discover their individual voices.

CO/LAB offers free weekly classes and low-cost single workshops through CO/LAB:core, with a curriculum structured to accommodate many types of learning styles. Through CO/LAB:connect, organizations in and around the NYC area can partner with CO/LAB for single workshops or longer-term residencies. They have created enriching programs with organizations such as City Access New York, Lincoln Center, TDF, and JCC Manhattan. Through the CO/LAB:leaders program, actors are trained to become artistic mentors, model positive leadership, and ambassadors for the organization. Finally, Sharing the Stage is a professional development program led by CO/LAB Teaching Artists and actors, for organizations interested in fostering more inclusive and equitable workplace practices.

Donations can be made by visiting: secure.givelively.org/donate/co-lab-theater-group-inc/imwithcolab-crowdfunding-2021.

To download photos, please click HERE.
To view CO/LAB’s promo video, please click HERE.

ABOUT CO/LAB

CO/LAB Theater Group is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing Creative Opportunities without Limits And Boundaries. CO/LAB offers individuals with developmental disabilities a creative and social outlet through theater arts. Through our programming, we encourage actors to collaborate as an ensemble and discover their individual voices. CO/LAB creates a safe, judgment-free, and neuro-diverse environment that allows participants the opportunity to express themselves both in class and on stage.

Founded in 2011 by four Syracuse University graduates—Laura Borgwardt, Becky Leifman, Arielle Lever, and Sarah Olbrantz—CO/LAB has since expanded from one pilot class of 13 actors to a full schedule of weekly classes and outreach workshops and has developed dozens of original musicals and ensemble-created theatrical performances.

ABOUT BROADWAY UNLOCKED

Broadway Unlocked. Innovation for any stage. Set at the intersection of the arts, technology, and entrepreneurship, Broadway Unlocked delivers powerful collaborations, content, products and partnerships across business, cause and culture.

As the premier creator of live theatre-based digital content on the internet, Broadway Unlocked has brought to life streaming opening night events, broadcast galas and interactive weekly content as our work over the past decade has been thrust into the forefront of the future of live entertainment. Broadway Unlocked and our sister company All Together Now have partnered to bring over 30,000 people together for live digital experiences.

Broadway Unlocked’s crown jewel, The #Giveback Concert, helps define what change looks like in the digital era and brings together a community inspired to empower action. Through an innovative multi-platform movement that seamlessly blends live theatre, digital storytelling and interactive technology, theatre artists around the world come together to weave together stories of strength and hope and raise funds for survivors of violence.

Through the 1% pledge, hundreds of hours have been donated to help raise over a quarter of a million dollars for great causes.

Learn more at BroadwayUnlocked.com.

ABOUT ALL TOGETHER NOW

All Together Now empowers anyone from anywhere to design live digital experiences that expand access and define what’s possible by connecting communities in real time. Since June 2020, All Together Now has hosted 60+ live shows across 10 industries with 30,000 people through its doors. By focusing on bringing communities together through live digital events, All Together Now and its sister company Broadway Unlocked partner across healthcare, non-profits, theatre, film festivals, conferences, podcasts, opera, education, and dance, to extend in-person events online. Through the 1% pledge, hundreds of hours have been donated to help raise over a quarter of a million dollars for great causes.  For more information on All Together Now, visit AllTogetherNow.Live.

# # # #

colabtheatergroup.com
twitter.com/colabtheater
instagram.com/colabtheatergroup
facebook.com/COLABTheaterGroup
youtube.com/COLABTheaterGroup

omdkc.com
twitter.com/omdkc
instagram.com/omdkc
facebook.com/omdkc