2018 PLAY LAB + SPRING WORKSHOPS

March 17-18
Creative Space at Waterloo Arts

April 6
None Too Fragile

We’re thrilled to partner on this year’s final reading with Akron’s own None Too Fragile Theatre.

2018 Play Lab Staged Readings

The Intelligence Man
Written by Eileen O’Leary
Directed by Erik Andrews
Dramaturgy by Lenora Inez Brown

In Appalachia, Apertures
Written by Brandon North
Directed by Robert Lucchesi
Dramaturgy by Les Hunter

Concussive Blast
Written by Tom Hayes
Directed by Sean Derry
Dramaturgy by David Todd

2018 Spring Workshops

The Smallest Stage: Writing the Tabletop Play
with Mike Geither and Amy Schwabauer

The Character’s the Thing
with Mary E. Weems, Ph.D.

Schedule & Information

The Play Lab is our annual incubator program for writing and revision. Over a period of months, selected playwrights expand and revise their works-in-progress with the help of assigned dramaturgs, directors, and actors. This cycle includes feedback sessions, at-home revision, and rehearsals, and concludes with a series of public staged readings. The Play Lab helps writers improve material at any stage of development and bring news plays closer to production.

In addition to staged readings, the culminating event for the Play Lab process includes our annual Spring Workshops. These open classes cover playwriting fundamentals and special topics for adult and teen students of all skill levels. 

SATURDAY, MARCH 17
11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
2018 Spring Workshops

Creative Space at Waterloo Arts
397 E. 156th Street, Cleveland, OH 44110

11:00 am
The Smallest Stage: Writing the Tabletop Play with Mike Geither and Amy Schwabauer
Cleveland-based playwrights Mike Geither and Amy Schwabauer discuss the creation of their recent “tabletop play,” The Accounts of the Warren County Fair as Observed by a Young Astronaut, and explain the nuts-and-bolts of writing in this exciting new mode.

1:00 pm
The Character’s the Thing with Mary E. Weems, Ph.D.
This interactive workshop will teach participants Dr. Mary Weems’ approach to developing new work, including two-character short plays which are character- rather than plot- driven. Please bring a one-three minute original monologue to the session.

3:30 PM
The Intelligence Man by Eileen O’Leary
A staged reading directed by Erik Andrews
Dramaturgy by Lenora Inez Brown
Lucas Moss, a factory worker, is made head of a new federal intelligence agency in the Trump Administration.

SUNDAY, MARCH 18

2:30 PM
In Appalachia, Apertures by Brandon North
A staged reading directed by Robert Lucchesi
Dramaturgy by Les Hunter
Erica and Tyler Ricks are a couple working for an online magazine, currently compiling a photo essay about religiously themed billboards in Appalachia. While on assignment, Erica and Tyler become fascinated with the Root family, particularly the teenaged Jackson, whose obsessively taken photographs have supernatural effects. The Root family’s past trauma is exacerbated by the Ricks’ prodding, the middle-aged Joe’s drinking problem, and the elderly Lester’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease. The Ricks’ constant reopening of old wounds leads to several tragic events. Jackson and his sister Maggie must face these grim realities with new knowledge as shown to them by Erica and Tyler, who themselves are thrown into the Root family’s crisis.

FRIDAY, APRIL 6

None Too Fragile
1835 Merriman Road, Akron, Ohio 44313

7:00 PM
Concussive Blast by Tom Hayes
A staged reading directed by Sean Derry
Dramaturgy by David Todd
A veteran confronts the domestic conditions presented by his narcissistic mother, while facing the psychological, emotional, and physical challenges of returning home from war.