The 2005 free reading series will take place Dec. 2-19 at The Public Theater's Shiva Theater.
Among the playwrights to present developing works are Carlo Alban, Stephen Belber, Eric Bogosian, Raul Castillo, Andrea Ciannavei, Cusi Cram, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Brett C. Leonard, Megan Mostyn-Brown and Michael Puzzo.
LAB's Barn Series is the next stage of development following original workshops at the troupe's annual Summer Intensive. The plays are each rehearsed for 15 hours then are usually presented twice using the same cast and director from the summer as playwrights continue to work.
LAB co-artistic directors (and well-known actors) Philip Seymour Hoffman (Long Day's Journey Into Night) and John Ortiz (Anna in the Tropics) announced the 2005 lineup with descriptions as follows (all begin at 8 PM, unless noted otherwise):
"What's the difference between an overweight marketing executive selling women’s lingerie and diet pills and the starving spokesmodel who peddles the goods for the camera? About 100 pounds."
"Spawned by the return of a child, turmoil in a South Texas household threatens to bring a family to its knees."
"In two bare-bones acts, 1+1 tells the story of two men who orbit a young actress, Brianne, as she arrives in Los Angeles and is seduced into heartache, drugs and the internet porn biz."
"A West Village family is being forced out of their rent-stabilized apartment. Where will they find refuge in a city that is no longer kind to artists, eccentrics and Bohemians?"
"A heartbreaking tale of obsession, repression, depression and too many Midori Sours."
"Novelist, sniper, television personality, delinquent youth. Window washer, tourist, Beelzebub, idealist youth. Vigilante, rock star wannabe, minuteman, apolitical youth. Illegal immigrant. These are the people in your neighborhood."
"The already fractured Robertson family is blown apart by grief after their son Sam is killed by a suicide bomber."
"A Small Melodramatic Story is a small, melodramatic story about a woman using her intuition, young Latino men and the Freedom of Information Act to figure out if the person she loves is who he says he is."
"A provocative, incendiary exploration of love, sex, race and trying to make ends meet."
"This piece will include scenes from a new work-in-progress about memory and ghosts." Past works featured at the reading series include Nilo Cruz's Beauty of the Father (which will be seen next at Manhattan Theater Club), Megan Mostyn Brown's The Secret Lives of Losers (Tribeca Theater Festival, Michael Puzzo's The Dirty Talk (New York International Fringe Festival) as well as Patrick Shanley's Sailor's Song, José Rivera's Massacre (Sing to Your Children) and Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Last Days of Judas Iscariot — all seen as part of LAB's mainstage. Cusi Cram's All The Bad Things, featured in this Barn Series, will go on to a developmental production, Feb. 15-March 5, 2006.
Seating is limited for the free Barn Series at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, and reservations are required. To make reservations, call (212) 513-1083 or email barnseriesrsvp@labtheater.org. For more information on LAB, visit www.labtheater.org .
