Seven Projects Invited to Annual Theatre Lab

A solo approach to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a play about familial bonds by a Pulitzer Prize winning author, and an exploration of Beethoven’s later life are among the seven projects that will be developed during the Institute’s annual Theatre Lab this summer. During the three-week program, 14 theatre fellows (playwrights and directors) will collaborate with actors, and a group of creative advisors and dramaturgs to address challenges and issues specific to each of their new works.

“For the first time, we’ve invited international theatre artists to attend the Lab,” says Philip Himberg, Producing Artistic Director of the Sundance Theatre Program. “Four international theatre artists will join ten Fellows from the U.S. at the Lab. The plays these Fellows bring to Sundance represent a broad range of subject matter and a diverse approach to creating new work.”

Philip Kan Gotanda’s After the War represents a classic well-made text-based play, that Himberg describes as “in the style of Chekhov.” Directed by Carey Perloff, the play tells the story of a Japanese-American couple returning to San Francisco’s Japantown neighborhood after being interned during World War II. During their absence, the African American community has moved into the area and a flourishing jazz scene developed.

“My aunt owned a hardware store in Japantown during this time and I remember her telling me that Billie Holliday would come into the store,” Gotanda explains. “When Japanese Americans returned to the old neighborhood, there was a cross-over period in which the two cultures rubbed up against each other. I am fascinated by this landscape and I want this play to be a snap shot of post-World War II, especially on the margins of society. I want to tell a story from this period that you don’t usually hear.”

Gotanda feels that the Lab offers an opportunity, to “explore how simultaneity of action can work in a concrete way. The foreground action may be a secondary rhythm and the background action may be primary so I want to explore how these two actions can fit within a cohesive visual rhythm. The only way to develop that is to get on our feet and see how it comes together.”

At the Lab, Gotanda will work towards incorporating these scenes into a single, unified piece by collaborating with a team of creative advisors that includes Zelda Fichandler (head of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Acting Program), playwright Marsha Norman, director Oskar Eustis, and dramaturgs Janice Paran, Eric Rosen, and Mame Hunt.

One of the world’s most talked-about theatre artists, Warsaw-based Kryszystof Warlikowski brings to the labDreambody (working title), a play adapted from the writings of Dr. Arnold Mindell. Drawing from a broad range of sources, such as Mindell’s case studies and Grimm’s fairytales, Warlikowski’s play explores the study of the mind/body connection.

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Beth Henley and director Lisa Peterson bring Ridiculous Fraud to the program. A comedy set in New Orleans, the play tells the story of three grown brothers and the bonds and rivalries between them in the shadow of their father who is serving time after being convicted of fraud.

World Thrown Tizzy is the project of playwright Joe Hortua and director Les Waters. The play traces the stories of three sets of men as they confront their relationship to aging, death and loneliness.

Moises Kaufman’s latest project with the working title of Variations on a Theme explores the creative process of Ludwig von Beethoven as he composed The Diabelli Variations.

From Britain, actor/conceiver Stephen Dillane and director Travis Preston bring Macbeth Quintet. Dillane’s solo performance of Shakespeare’s text is accompanied by music by Vinny Golia as played by a live quartet of musicians.

Travelogues: Passing Strange is the project of the composer and writer Stew. A project that originated as a work of spoken word and music, this is the story of a young man whose search for belonging takes him from the African American middle class culture into various bohemias. The piece incorporates a live band, dance, video, slides and song.