Public Laboratories
Our public labs are a chance for playwrights to interact with an audience in a critical stage of development; when a play is ready for feedback and audience exchange. The purpose of the public labs are to stay in process and discovery with an audience. Playwrights and Directors are afforded the opportunity in these labs to: test new ideas and writing, gather feedback from audiences, experiment with audience interaction and design, and experiment with the audience experience. Each lab will differ in its audience interaction and engagement.
Our public labs for 2025 are…
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Discount Dave and the Fix
By Rebecca Auerbach
Starring Rebecca Auerbach
Directed/ Dramaturged by Aviva Armour-Ostroff2 public labs only!
May 29 and 30Performances Nightly at 7:30pm
When a rockstar crashes the backstage party at a Shakespeare Festival, a thrill-seeking young actor is set on a path of self-reckoning. A provocative blend of truth and fiction, Discount Dave and The Fix is a suspenseful, hilarious and harrowing examination of our obsession with celebrity, how addiction can bury our wounds, and what it takes to heal.
AUDIENCE QUESTION: How is a one woman show shaped by the audience experience and interaction? Rebecca and Aviva will investigate how the audience feedback shapes Rebecca’s performance and writing.
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Reproduktion
By Amy Rutherford
Directed/ Dramaturged by Marie Farsi
Live Sound Design by Maddie Bautista4 public labs only!
August 21, 22, 23 and 24Performances Nightly at 7:30pm
Flora, desperate to become pregnant, travels to her homeland of Sweden to undergo an alternative fertility treatment that is “guaranteed to reproduce.” As a result of the procedure, a surprising and dangerous transformation occurs, throwing everything she thought she knew about herself and the world into question.
By turns funny and moving, Reproduktion examines the ancient imperative to procreate and how to find meaning in our lives when that primal call goes unanswered.
AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE: The sound experience will shift and grow nightly as the lab progresses and the creative team makes changes based on audience experience and feedback.
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David Reale and Annie Lujan - Photo by Emily Anne Corcoran
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David Reale and Cameron Laurie - Photo by Emily Anne Corcoran
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Annie Lujan - Photo by Emily Anne Corcoran
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Cameron Laurie - Photo by Emily Anne Corcoran
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David Reale - Photo by Emily Anne Corcoran
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Cameron Laurie and David Reale - Photo by Emily Anne Corcoran
“There is a crucial phase of development in the work where the play meets the audience. This stage is hugely important and sometimes underestimated in the development phase. These public labs give playwrights the opportunity and time to listen to an audience, receive feedback from them and boldly test new writing and script changes throughout a course of run.”
— Diana Bentley, Artistic Director