Sundance Institute Selects Nine Projects from 800 Submiions for 04 eatre Lab at Sundance Resort, July 7-7

Sundance Institute Selects Nine Projects from 800 Submissions for 2014 Theatre Lab at Sundance Resort, July 7-27 Emerging Writers & Pulitzer-Prize Winners Work on Latest Scripts

One of 10 Summer Labs the Institute will Lead for Independent Artists in Theatre and Film

Posted Apr 24, 2014

New York, NY Sundance Institute today announced the nine projects selected to participate in its 2014 Theatre Lab, July 7-27 at the Sundance Resort in Utah. The Lab is the centerpiece of the Institute's year-round work with the theatre community and is one of 10 residential labs the Institute will host for artists this summer, collectively representing the most promising new independent theatre and film projects.

The projects selected for the 2014 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab are (project descriptions below):

Caught by Christopher Chen, directed by TBA

Ghost Supper (Spalding Gray, Youre Invited, Too) by Sheila Tousey, directed by Leigh Silverman

The Good Book by Denis O'Hare & Lisa Peterson, directed by Lisa Peterson

The Last of the Little Hours written & directed by Annie Baker

Posterity written & directed by Doug Wright

Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Kamilah Forbes

So Go the Ghosts of Mexico, Part Two by Matthew Paul Olmos, directed by Lee Sunday Evans,

composed/sound designed by Marios Aristopoulos

T. by Dan Aibel, directed by James MacDonald

Bed by Sheila Callaghan (Playwright-in-Residence)

Under the supervision of Theatre Program Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the three-week Lab supports emerging and established playwrights and directors developing new work for the stage. For the Lab, the Institute provides rehearsal space, dramaturgical support, and an acting company, creating an immersive environment where artists can experiment, see their work take shape and collaborate with Creative Advisors, dramaturgs, actors and Institute staff to address the compelling needs of their text. The Lab's unique day-on, day-off rehearsal structure provides Fellows additional time to explore revisions and new writing between rehearsals. The Lab culminates in a closed presentation of each project for Lab participants, followed by a collaborative feedback session.

Artists and projects that participated in the Lab in previous years include Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Appropriate, Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori's Fun Home, Robert L. Freedman & Steven Lutvak's A Gentlemans Guide to Love and Murder, Annie Bakers Circle Mirror Transformation, Denis OHare & Lisa Petersons An Iliad, Taylor Macs The Lilys Revenge, Tracey Scott Wilson's The Good Negro, Adam Guettel & Craig Lucas The Light in the Piazza, Stews Passing Strange, Byron Au Yong & Aaron Jafferis Stuck Elevator, Steven Sater & Duncan Sheiks Spring Awakening, Mois s Kaufmans The Laramie Project and Doug Wrights I Am My Own Wife.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, Developmental opportunities for independent artists are exceedingly rare and yet critical to the success of their projects and careers. Our Lab model offers an independent-minded environment for artists to engage with their work, ask questions, build text and take risks, ultimately helping these artists achieve their unique vision.

Himberg said, Our Theatre Lab draws on the strengths and generosity of the theatre community to encourage risk-taking and to develop networks of support that will extend throughout each project's journey to the stage. This year's Fellows, bring wildly innovative stories and approaches. It heralds an exciting and productive gathering of new talent and alumni returning home and much that audiences can anticipate experiencing onstage soon.

In addition to the Theatre Lab, the Institute offers labs throughout the year and around the world for independent directors, screenwriters, documentary editors, composers, playwrights, producers and New Frontier artists.

Theatre Lab project descriptions:

Caught

Written by Christopher Chen

Directed by TBA

An art gallery hosts a retrospective of the work of a legendary Chinese dissident artist who was imprisoned in a Chinese detention center for a single work of art. Recently profiled in The New Yorker, the artist himself is present, and shares with patrons the details of an ordeal that defies belief. A labyrinthine exploration of truth, art, social justice and cultural appropriation, where nothing is as it first appears.

Ghost Supper (Spalding Gray, Youre Invited, Too)

Written by Sheila Tousey

Directed by Leigh Silverman

Ghost Supper (Spalding Gray, Youre Invited, Too) is the disquieting but humorous account of a woman remembering a tale told at the ghost supper she held for her deceased brother. Looking back on the spectre of suicide and her impending eviction, M begins to recall the story: My Grandmother Pretty Fields said, The story told at a ghost supper is the most important part of the ritual. It is the end of the end. The final good-bye.' Ghost Supper (Spalding Gray, Youre Invited, Too) is that story.

The Good Book

Written by Denis O'Hare & Lisa Peterson

Directed by Lisa Peterson

The Good Book tells the story of how the Christian Bible became the most powerful collection of texts in human history. Through the lens of two contemporary characters and their struggles with faith, The Good Book examines how and why belief becomes organized, and how the document known as the Bible grew from oral history into the powerful, even dangerous text that American fundamentalists use today.

The Last of the Little Hours

Written and directed by Annie Baker

The Last of the Little Hours follows the daily life of a group of Benedictine monks.

Posterity

Written and directed by Doug Wright

Norway's most celebrated sculpture is commissioned to create the last official portrait of her most fa

LINK:	http://www.sundance.org/press-center/release/sundance-institute-select...
	See more stories from sundance

Most recent headlines