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L A B Y R I N T H T H E A T E R C O M P A N Y
ANNOUNCES ROSTER OF ACTORS AND DIRECTORS FOR
12th ANNUAL BARN READING SERIES

New York, NY – (9/12/11) LAByrinth Theater Company (Co-Artistic Directors Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O’Donnell, Yul Vázquez and Managing Director, Danny Feldman), Off-Broadway’s home of exhilarating and incendiary theater, has announced the initial slate of readings for its 12th Annual Barn Series, a year-long festival of free staged readings highlighting 13 new plays.

The critical second step in LAByrinth's unique play development process, the Barn Series focuses on the special relationship between artist and audience by giving writers the opportunity to refine their work through multiple readings in front of diverse audiences, and by giving those audiences a rare chance to actively participate in the creation of new theater. Plays featured at the Barn Series have gone onto stages across the city, the country, and the world, all carrying the distinct imprint of the Barn Series audiences that helped them take shape at their most raw and dynamic incarnations.

The Barn Series will begin Sunday, September 18th and continue throughout LAByrinth’s 2011/12 Season at the Bank Street Theater (155 Bank Street). All are welcome. Admission is free. Advanced reservations can be made only by LABpass Members, though seating will be on first-come, first-served basis for the general public. Patrons are advised to arrive at the theater at least one half-hour before each reading is scheduled to begin.

The schedule of the first three plays of the series is listed below:

BARN SERIES SCHEDULE

The Power of Duff
By Stephen Belber
Directed by Cat Miller

The Power of Duff tells the story of Charlie Duff, a local newscaster in Rochester, New York, who casually prays for his recently deceased father one night on air — and creates a hailstorm of controversy, publicity, good will and great confusion. It's Rick Warren meets Warren Beatty meets Warren Buffett meets Jimmy Buffett. But it's really just Charlie Duff.

September 18 – 19, 2011

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Fuente Ovejuna: A Disloyal Adaptation
By Cusi Cram
Directed by Suzanne Agins
From the play by Lope De Vega

Love. Power. Revolt. Set in 1930's Madrid, a sly retelling of Lope de Vega's classic tragicomedy that examines the infinite power of love to overcome great tyranny.

September 22 & 29, 2011

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Busted
By Florencia Lozano
Directed by Jill DeArmon

A comedy about loneliness. And friendship.

November 6 – 7, 2011

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BIOS

Stephen Belber: As a playwright, Belber’s work has been produced on Broadway and in over 25 countries. His plays include Match (Tony nomination for Frank Langella); Dusk Rings a Bell (Atlantic Theater Company); Tape (Naked Angels NY/LA/London); McReele (Roundabout Theater); A Small, Melodramatic Story (LAByrinth Theater Company); Geometry of Fire, (Rattlestick); Fault Lines (Cherry Lane); One Million Butterflies (Primary Stages), and Carol Mulroney (Huntington Theater Company). He was an Associate Writer on The Laramie Project (Drama Desk and Lortel nominations), and co-writer on the more recent Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. Movies include Tape, directed by Richard Linklater; The Laramie Project (Associate Writer/Emmy Nomination for screenwriting); Drifting Elegant, and Management, which he also directed, starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn. Currently developing screen adaptations of both Match and McReele. Television includes “Rescue Me” and “Law and Order: SVU” (staff writer). He is a member of both Tectonic Theater Project and LAByrinth Theater Company.

Cusi Cram: Cusi’s plays include: Dusty and the Big Bad World (Denver Theater Center), Lucy and the Conquest (Williamstown Theater Festival), All the Bad Things (LAByrinth Theater Company at the Public Theater), Fuente (Barrington Stage, and O’Neill Playwrights Conference), The End of it All (South Coast Repertory), “Landlocked” (Miranda Theater) and A Lifetime Burning, which was a part of Primary Stages 2009/2010 season. She has received commissions from the Atlantic Theater Company, South Coast Repertory, The Actors Theater of Louisville, New Georges and The Echo Theater Company. Her work has also been produced and developed by: The New Group, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater,PS122 and the Dag Hammarskjold Theater at the United Nations. She is the recipient of the 2004 Herrick Theater Foundation New Play Prize, a Camargo Foundation fellowship in Cassis, France and was most recently a Bogliasco Fellow in Italy. Her work is published by Samuel French, Smith & Kraus, Playscripts and Broadway Publishing. Cusi has also received three Emmy award nominations for her extensive work in children’s television. Her play, Dusty and the Big Bad World was optioned by Points West Films (Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt producers). She is currently returning for her second season as a writer on the Showtime series, “The Big C,” starring Laura Linney and Oliver Platt. She is a founding playwright of The Fulcrum Theater, a member of LAByrinth Theater Company and sits on New Georges’ Kitchen Cabinet and on the board of Leah’s FEWW. She teaches playwriting workshops with LAByrinth and ESPA at Primary Stages and is a graduate of Brown University, as well as the Lila Acheson American Playwrights Program at Juilliard.

Florencia Lozano: Florencia’s first play underneathmybed (directed by Pedro Pascal) was born and raised at LAByrinth Theater Company. It was produced last fall by David van Asselt at Rattlestick Playwrights' Theatre and won the Hispanic Organization of Latino Actors' Award for Best New Play. BUSTED was commissioned by Daniel Talbot and the Rising Phoenix Theatre Company to be part of their Cino Nights Series at Jimmy's 43, where it was performed for one night in December 2010 under the direction of Portia Krieger. It will be published along with the other Cino Nights plays. BUSTED was developed further at LAByrinth’s Summer Intensive and at Rattlestick (dir Jill DeArmon) as part of their “f**king good plays” series. Florencia's play: girl in window has been developed at LAByrinth (dir Pedro Pascal) and at New York Theater Workshop (dir Chay Yew).As an actor, Florencia has worked in theatre, film and tv and is currently playing Tea Delgado on ABC's “One Life To Live”. Florencia was Literary Manager at LAB for many years, as well as the Associate Artistic Director under former LAByrinth Artistic Directors, John Ortiz and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

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LAByrinth Theater Company offers an opportunity for theater patrons to become part of one of New York’s most exciting theater companies with our LABPASS Membership. For just $35, LABPASS Members enjoy a host of exclusive benefits including steep discounts and pre-sale opportunities for all productions, advanced reservation privileges to our free Barn Series readings, Members only workshop performances of new plays, as well as invitations to special Member events throughout the year.

LAByrinth Theater Company (Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O'Donnell, Yul Vázquez, Artistic Directors; Danny Feldman, Managing Director) has redefined the landscape of New York City theater through their productions of incendiary and vital new works. Founded in 1992 by a group of Latino actors who wanted to push their artistic limits and tell new, more inclusive stories that expanded the boundaries of mainstream theater, LAByrinth has grown into a nationally renowned company of actors, directors, playwrights and designers from a wide array of cultural perspectives. Over the past 19 years, LAByrinth has developed hundreds of original works and premiered 55 new American plays here in New York including Guinea Pig Solo, Jack Goes Boating, Jesus Hopped The A Train, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Our Lady of 121st Street, Sailor’s Song, Sistah Supreme, and recently, on Broadway, The Motherf**ker With The Hat.

For additional information, or to order a LABPASS Membership, please visit the website at www.labtheater.org
 
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