The Motherf**ker with the Hat

Saturday, November 15, 2008
THE MOTHERF**KER WITH THE HAT
Written & Directed by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Featuring Elizabeth Canavan*, John Ortiz*, Elizabeth Rodriguez*, Yul Vázquez* & David Zayas*

Face Cream

Wednesday Nov 12 & Thursday Nov 13, 2008
FACE CREAM
By Maggie Bofill
Directed by Mimi O'Donnell
Choreographed by Sid Grant
Dance Captain Joselin Reyes
Featuring Richard Petrocelli* & Paula Pizzi*

Thinner Than Water

Sunday Nov 9 & Monday Nov 10, 2008
THINNER THAN WATER
By Melissa Ross
Directed by Mimi O'Donnell
Featuring Raúl Castillo*, Alexis Croucher*, Laura Heisler*, Greg Keller*, Megan Mostyn-Brown*, Deirdre O'Connell*, Justin Reinsilber* & Sidney Williams*

Burning, Burning, Burning, Burning

Saturday Nov 8 & Tuesday Nov 11, 2008
BURNING, BURNING, BURNING, BURNING
By David Bar Katz
Directed by John Gould Rubin
Featuring Brian Avers*, Katie Barrett*, Eric Bogosian*, David Deblinger*, Charles Goforth*, Gillian Jacobs*, Michael Stuhlbarg* & Yul Vázquez*

The Transparency of Val

Friday Nov 7 & Friday Nov 14, 2008
THE TRANSPARENCY OF VAL
By Stephen Belber
Directed by John Ortiz
Featuring Carlo Alban* (11/7), Liza Colón-Zayas*, J. Eric Cook, John Doman*, Sarah Nina Hayon*, Sandie Luna*, Nyambi Nyambi* & Michael Stuhlbarg* (11/14)

a few thoughts...

In response to Belinda - thank you for coming to the play and thanks for taking the time to add your thoughts to the blog. it means a great deal.

I understand being turned off by the language and attitude towards God. I'm not a faithless person. I want to respond to you directly, because I think the issue of blaspheming and Jesus is an interesting one.

As you know, out here in the real world there is - of course - nothing wrong with having faith. Many people have it and work on it - and it is an important, daily part of their lives.

There are also people who struggle with the idea of God and faith - and perhaps mourn their loss of belief and react to it violently when confronted by it. The conflict is within themselves. I'm writing about those people.

In my play - the characters are in a great deal of unidentified, unspoken pain - they abuse each other and they are in despair that is generational. The way they talk, think, feel and act whenever God comes up is absolutely accurate to their experience. I'm not trying to proselytize the audience with my personal belief system - I'm simply writing what I know to be true for these people living in the world of this play which includes accurately portraying behavior and speech. They are saying things and doing things purposefully to other characters.

The family in 7 CAPTIVA ROAD has lost their faith and are estranged from each other and God. Even the one character who makes a big show of her religious devotion really has a brittle shell of belief - it is evidenced by her actions in the play. They are all consumed with ineloquent resentment and anger towards everyone and everything - including God. To me - that is an undeniable truth about the human condition.

The unsaid aspect of my play is that there is no room for God in that house. The characters cannot allow it. And so whenever the subject comes up - it is going to be attacked. Imagine if these characters actually challenged themselves with faith? Or allowed themselves to love anyone or God? If God had a chance to be present in their lives - the ramifications would be revolutionary. They would be compelled to honestly confront their pain and their actions and take responsibility for them. I know there are some people who have the strength of character to withstand an undertaking of that magnitude - but these people aren't them. This play is about the 1000 little ways they avoid and deny the truth about themselves, each other and God (in an understated way).

My job as a writer is to reflect what I see as honestly as possible regardless of its potential to offend. I work hard to keep my writing from becoming a stump speech or politically correct. Life and the people living it are often unseemly, uncomfortable and rough. The characters in my play most certainly are. As a result - their speech must reflect their internal emotional/ psychological/ spiritual weather. It's my job to accurately capture it with any and all words.

Thanks again for coming to the reading and supporting LAB and the Barn Series - I hope I've offered a little bit of context.

Bus Accident Play

Saturday 1 & Sunday 2 Nov, 2008
BUS ACCIDENT PLAY
By Raúl Castillo
Directed by John Ortiz
Featuring Carlo Alban*, Florencia Lozano*, Gina Maria Paoli*, Richard Petrocelli*, Elizabeth Rodriguez* & Felix Solis*

A Life Time Burning

Friday 31 Oct & Wednesday 5 Nov, 2008
A LIFE TIME BURNING
By Cusi Cram
Directed by Ethan McSweeny
Featuring Elizabeth Canavan*, Raúl Castillo*, Deirdre O'Connell*, & Kelley Rae O'Donnell*

LAB post reading post

No one wanted to be the first to post, so that befalls me. We had our reading of Incendiary last night. I think it went exceedingly well and I hope you'll come if you weren't able to see it. It's kind of an amazing cast.

So I thought I would try to put some dramaturgy up about my play.

Here is a scene I had to delete.

Here is an article entitled "Personal Accounts: Memoirs of a Compulsive Firesetter" Another short article here.

And Here a few pages down, an article about female firesetters.

I watched a lot of film noir while writing this play. Here is some crazy cool dialogue from Out Of The Past.

Here is some visual dramaturgy. And some more.

I posted a lot of scenes on my blog while I was writing this play. Here is the first.

Here is a list of film noir films people suggested to me.

Too much? Not enough? Thanks for reading.

Incendiary

Thursday 30 Oct & Thursday 6 Nov, 2008
INCENDIARY
By Adam Szymkowicz
Directed by Damon Arrington
Featuring Carlo Alban*, Beth Cole*, Kelley Rae O'Donnell*, Michael Puzzo*, Joselin Reyes*, Felix Solis* & Sidney Williams*

7 Captiva Road

Tuesday 28 & Wednesday 29 Oct, 2008
7 CAPTIVA ROAD
By Andrea Ciannavei
Directed by Michele Chivu
Featuring Betsy Aidem*, Beth Cole*, Cusi Cram*, Yetta Gottesman*, Dierdre O'Connell*, Wilemina Olivia-Garcia, Richard Petrocelli*, Daphne Rubin-Vega*, Felix Solis* & Sidney Williams*

Night Train

Monday 27 Oct & Monday 3 Nov, 2008
NIGHT TRAIN
By Mel Nieves
Directed by Felix Solis
With Elizabeth Canavan* & Ed Vassallo*

The April Hour

Sat 25 Oct & Sun 26 Oct, 2008
THE APRIL HOUR
By Jonathan Smit
Dir Scott Illingworth
With Vanessa Aspillaga*, J. Eric Cook, John Doman*, Haskell King*, Deirdre O'Connell* & Elanna White*.

Objects Are Closer Than They Appear

Thu Oct 23 & Fri Oct 24, 2008
OBJECTS ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR
By Megan Mostyn-Brown
Dir Carolyn Cantor
With Justin Reinsilber* & Matthew Stadelman*