LAb Works 2019 new play festival. This year the members of PlayLAb offer 11 readings of new plays in development. All readings are held in the Skylight Theatre in East Hollywood in the vibrant Los Feliz Village. Find out more about our playwrights, featured works, and schedule below.
LAb Works is a festival of new plays created by the resident playwrights at Skylight Theatre Company.
July 26-29 and August 2-4
Skylight Theatre Company: 1816 1/2 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Friday July 26th
8:30pm: "Mr. Charlie Sent Me"
Saturday July 27th
12:30pm: "Caretakers"
4:30pm: "Kill Me, Please!"
8:30pm: "Emmylu"
Sunday July 28th
2:00pm: "Hard Stand"
Monday July 29th
8:00pm: "Giraffe"
Friday August 2nd
8:30pm: "Capital"
Saturday August 3rd
12:30pm: "No Burn Day"
4:30pm: "Two Out Of Three"
8:30pm: "The Unseen"
Sunday August 4th
2:00pm: "Lavender Man"
Weekend 1: July 26-29
Friday July 26th
8:30pm: "Mr. Charlie Sent Me" by Shem Bitterman
A storm approaches. An isolated woman living in a home perched on the side of a mountain is at risk of being drown in a river of mud. But her husband is up there somewhere. When a mysterious man arrives with claims to have knowledge of his whereabouts, she faces a choice, go up there to save him, or flee to safety.
Learn more about Shem Bitterman
Saturday July 27th
12:30pm: "Caretakers" by Tom Lavagnino
Boy (would-be novelist, working as a waiter) meets Girl (would-be non-drinker, currently a grad student at UCLA). Romance, conflict, sobriety, caretaking (and caregiving) ensues.
Learn more about Tom Lavagnino
4:30pm: "Kill Me, Please!" by Rhea MacCallum
Gloria, a suicidal woman, seeks out an encounter with Stan aka 'Slasher', a notorious serial killer, hoping to become his next victim. After the encounter turns unexpectedly romantic the couple forms a unique relationship while continuing to explore Stan's dark impulses.
Learn more about Rhea MacCallum
8:30pm: "EMMYLU" by Boni Alvarez
Using the 2017 Las Vegas shooting as a point of departure, EMMYLU explores how Trumpism appeals to many people of color, particularly immigrants. At the center of the play is PERLA ROBLES, a dutiful housewife who is forced to reconcile her political beliefs with her family loyalty.
Sunday July 28th
2:00pm: "Hard Stand" by Tim Furlong
When a rancher protests the national government by occupying the national wildlife refuge where his sister works, long-simmering tensions over land use and family identity threaten to topple long-held views of how the west was won.
Monday July 29th
8:00pm: "Giraffe" by Fielding Edlow
A hilarious 20th high-school reunion for the ultra-privileged class in Manhattan features magic, a hit man, social disease and a late biter.
Learn more about Fielding Edlow
Weekend 2: August 2-4
Friday August 2nd
8:30pm: "Capital" by David Myers
A 400 year history of a single property in Virginia - a history of love, blood, sweat; of capital, investment & debt. The past as you've never seen before.
Saturday August 3rd
12:30pm: "No Burn Day" by Jonathan Ceniceroz
NO BURN DAY is about an atmospheric scientist who experiences a personal awakening while monitoring a catastrophic gas leak.
Learn more about Jonathan Ceniceroz
4:30pm: "Two Out Of Three" by Meredith Besser
SAM, a Korean War veteran, has carried a dark secret since his discharge over sixty years earlier. Everything changes when a soft-spoken, easy-going documentarian, with a secret of his own, shows up to interview Sam and in the process upends his life and the family he's worked so hard to protect.
Learn more about Meredith Besser
8:30pm: "The Unseen" by Penelope Lowder
Four West Adams gentrifiers lofty dreams of reshaping the neighborhood in their image are diverted when a wealthier black family arrive to the neighborhood calling the shots and making the rules. The gentrifiers declare war on a battlefield of class and race leading to their own undoing.
Learn more about Penelope Lowder
Sunday August 4th
2:00pm: "Lavender Man" by Roger Q. Mason
What happens when Abe Lincoln, his legal assistant Elmer Ellsworth, and a fabulous narrator named Taffeta end up on stage together? Somebody is gonna be gay, honey. And it's exactly whom you expect. Part fact, part gossip, all historical fantasia, LAVENDER MEN mines the social mechanisms by which men become myths, myths beget lies, and lies give way to deeper civic/personal truth.
LAb Works is supported in part by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission
and the Board of Supervisors, along with the Los Angeles City Council and Department of Cultural Affairs
July 26-29 and August 2-4
Skylight Theatre Company: 1816 1/2 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Friday July 26th
8:30pm: "Mr. Charlie Sent Me"
Saturday July 27th
12:30pm: "Caretakers"
4:30pm: "Kill Me, Please!"
8:30pm: "Emmylu"
Sunday July 28th
2:00pm: "Hard Stand"
Monday July 29th
8:00pm: "Giraffe"
Friday August 2nd
8:30pm: "Capital"
Saturday August 3rd
12:30pm: "No Burn Day"
4:30pm: "Two Out Of Three"
8:30pm: "The Unseen"
Sunday August 4th
2:00pm: "Lavender Man"
Weekend 1: July 26-29
Friday July 26th
8:30pm: "Mr. Charlie Sent Me" by Shem Bitterman
A storm approaches. An isolated woman living in a home perched on the side of a mountain is at risk of being drown in a river of mud. But her husband is up there somewhere. When a mysterious man arrives with claims to have knowledge of his whereabouts, she faces a choice, go up there to save him, or flee to safety.
Learn more about Shem Bitterman
Saturday July 27th
12:30pm: "Caretakers" by Tom Lavagnino
Boy (would-be novelist, working as a waiter) meets Girl (would-be non-drinker, currently a grad student at UCLA). Romance, conflict, sobriety, caretaking (and caregiving) ensues.
Learn more about Tom Lavagnino
4:30pm: "Kill Me, Please!" by Rhea MacCallum
Gloria, a suicidal woman, seeks out an encounter with Stan aka 'Slasher', a notorious serial killer, hoping to become his next victim. After the encounter turns unexpectedly romantic the couple forms a unique relationship while continuing to explore Stan's dark impulses.
Learn more about Rhea MacCallum
8:30pm: "EMMYLU" by Boni Alvarez
Using the 2017 Las Vegas shooting as a point of departure, EMMYLU explores how Trumpism appeals to many people of color, particularly immigrants. At the center of the play is PERLA ROBLES, a dutiful housewife who is forced to reconcile her political beliefs with her family loyalty.
Sunday July 28th
2:00pm: "Hard Stand" by Tim Furlong
When a rancher protests the national government by occupying the national wildlife refuge where his sister works, long-simmering tensions over land use and family identity threaten to topple long-held views of how the west was won.
Monday July 29th
8:00pm: "Giraffe" by Fielding Edlow
A hilarious 20th high-school reunion for the ultra-privileged class in Manhattan features magic, a hit man, social disease and a late biter.
Learn more about Fielding Edlow
Weekend 2: August 2-4
Friday August 2nd
8:30pm: "Capital" by David Myers
A 400 year history of a single property in Virginia - a history of love, blood, sweat; of capital, investment & debt. The past as you've never seen before.
Saturday August 3rd
12:30pm: "No Burn Day" by Jonathan Ceniceroz
NO BURN DAY is about an atmospheric scientist who experiences a personal awakening while monitoring a catastrophic gas leak.
Learn more about Jonathan Ceniceroz
4:30pm: "Two Out Of Three" by Meredith Besser
SAM, a Korean War veteran, has carried a dark secret since his discharge over sixty years earlier. Everything changes when a soft-spoken, easy-going documentarian, with a secret of his own, shows up to interview Sam and in the process upends his life and the family he's worked so hard to protect.
Learn more about Meredith Besser
8:30pm: "The Unseen" by Penelope Lowder
Four West Adams gentrifiers lofty dreams of reshaping the neighborhood in their image are diverted when a wealthier black family arrive to the neighborhood calling the shots and making the rules. The gentrifiers declare war on a battlefield of class and race leading to their own undoing.
Learn more about Penelope Lowder
Sunday August 4th
2:00pm: "Lavender Man" by Roger Q. Mason
What happens when Abe Lincoln, his legal assistant Elmer Ellsworth, and a fabulous narrator named Taffeta end up on stage together? Somebody is gonna be gay, honey. And it's exactly whom you expect. Part fact, part gossip, all historical fantasia, LAVENDER MEN mines the social mechanisms by which men become myths, myths beget lies, and lies give way to deeper civic/personal truth.
LAb Works is supported in part by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission
and the Board of Supervisors, along with the Los Angeles City Council and Department of Cultural Affairs
