The Play Lab, started in 1995, features developmental readings of scripts from 20 minutes to 2 hours in length. Actors are sent scripts a month prior to the Conference. The readings receive one rehearsal the day before their performance, with the playwright acting as the director. The readings are then responded to by a three-person panel, and the audience gives their feedback as well. Additionally, authors have a private meeting with one of their panelists to further discuss the script.
Currently the Lab presents readings of 50-60 plays per year. Panelists include nationally acknowledged playwrights, director, designers, and dramaturgs, as well as some of the leading figures in Alaska’s theatre.
The following authors have been invited to present their work in the 2020 Play Lab. They were chosen from 525 submissions, the most in the history of the event.
Sara Jean Accuardi, Break(Portland OR)
Joe Barnes, Mr. Trout (Houston TX)
Jill Bess, Overboard (Anchorage AK)
Chip Bolcik, Ferry Limbo (Thousand Oaks CA)
Tamar Shai Bolkvadze, The Trials of Virginia Rappe (Lake Oswego OR)
J. Stephen Brantley, The Emilies (Burbank CA)
Will Brumley, Pulling Leather (Astoria NY)
Eoin Carney, I, Trump (Pittsburgh PA)
Madelyn Cassens, Brainstorm (Girdwood AK)
Catherine Castellani, Level Up (New York NY)
Victoria Chernyak, The Dragon (Burlington MA)
Eugene Cole, The Eternal Sea (Fairbanks AK)
A.R. Corwin, How to Save the Polar Bear (Tempe AZ)
Timothy Crawford, Nice one-act you’ve got there, shame if anything happened to it (Springfield IL)
Timothy Crawford, Nice one-act you’ve got there, shame if anything happened to it (Springfield IL)
Taylor D. Darden, The Year of the Locusts (Philadelphia PA)
Jarden Michael Delaney, Falstaff & the Endless Machine (Philadelphia PA)
Avery Deutsch, The Winterguard Play (Katonah NY)
J. Lois Diamond, Growl (New York NY)
Julia Dirkes-Jacks, Oh, Baby (Evanston IL)
John Doble, Twilight Time (New York NY)
Evan Edwards, Truncation (Astoria NY)
Bixby Elliot, Aquamarine (New York NY)
Catalina Florina Florescu, Chalk (Hoboken NJ)
Timothy J. Foley, Stained Glass (Sacramento CA)
Erik Gernand, Year One (Chicago IL)
Nattalie Gordon, Rice and Roundworm (Lithia Springs GA)
Pawel Grajnert, The Knight (Beverly Shores IN)
Michael Hagins, A Shot Rings Out (Astoria NY)
Libby Heily, Midnight Showing (New York NY)
Nicholas Walker Herbert, Remnants (Sacramento CA)
Douglas Hill, The Binding (Henderson NV)
Molly Horan, The Patron Saint of Other Women (Astoria NY)
Angelica Howland, Lottery House (Phoenix AZ)
Keenya Jackson, Botanicals or Giving It to God (Lansdowne PA)
Tanuja Devi Jagernauth, How to Pick a Lock (Chicago IL)
Rachel Gita Karp, It’s in the Bag (Brooklyn NY)
Sean Keeley, Stand & Clap (Chicago IL)
Jean Koppen, Unprotected (Alexandria VA)
Amy Kropp, Bespoke Santa (Anchorage AK)
Arika Larson, visiting hours (Brooklyn NY)
Zoe Lasden Lyman, Bunyip (Brooklyn NY)
Mildred Inez Lewis, Down Home (Inglewood CA)
April Littlejohn, The Dutiful Wife (Mission Hills CA)
John Mabey, B Is For Bullsh!t (Atlanta GA)
Paco Jose Madden, The Cannibal Diaries (Tempe AZ)
Zizi Majid, Return to Fall (New York NY)
Alex J. Maryn, Mila, Disaster Lover (Philadelphia PA)
Marcus McManus, Radical (London UK)
Joanna Castle Miller, My Child Blank (Los Angeles CA)
Michael Mobley, The B.B.F. (Black Best Friend) (Fort Washington MD)
John Mongillo, Millenial Detox (San Francisco CA)
Brandon Monokian, amethyst.(Ocean City NJ)
Tom Moran, Nemeses (Fairbanks AK)
Jessica Moss, Funnie: The Most Lamentable Comedie of Jane the Foole (New York NY)
Stephanie Murphy, Sprinkles (Chicago IL)
M. Nasorri Pavone, A Kooroo Christmas Eve (Venice CA)
Tyler Plosia, Simply Because You’re Near (Brooklyn NY)
Jim Price, Carving Buddhas (San Marcos TX)
Jan Probst, (Not) Just an Old Woman in a Rocking Chair (San Francisco CA)
Greg Romero, Daphne Becomes the Arctic (Austin TX)
Cambria Rose Ruth, A Place for Us (San Diego CA)
Jaedto Smith, Garfield Phone (Collegeville PA)
Ellen Steves, Thin Mints (Los Angeles CA)
Julia Stier, Callback(Los Angeles CA)
Heloise Phillips Thual, Hunts the Mazzeru (Glasgow, Scotland)
Deb Victoroff, Et Tu, Kelly? (Brooklyn NY)
Ashley Rose Wellman, Shrines (West Hollywood CA)
Piper Werle, Let’s Move to the Arctic (Brooklyn NY)
Kevin Michael Wesson, Killing Despicable Us (Chicago IL)
Philip Middleton Williams, A Life Enriching Community (Palmetto Bay FL)
Arianna Zielinski, A Night of Fun (Chicago IL)
Read advice from six-time Obie winner Marshall Mason on how to direct a reading.
Read the general advice for actors reading in the Lab.