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.
Plays invited to present in the 2022 Play Lab:
Liz Appel’s Bells Like Hooves (New York NY)
Paul Braverman’s Deuce Cooper: Sleeping on the Job (Freemont CA)
Tracy Carns’ 27 Moths (New York NY)
Myles Chandler’s Letters to Michael (Atlanta GA)
Tim Crawford’s Nice One-Act You Got Here, Be a Shame if Anything Happened To It (Springfield IL)
Mary DeCarlo’s Echoes of a Hollow Body (Brooklyn NY)
Nicole DeSalle’s Rockaway (Iowa City IA)
Victoria Esposito’s The Box (Tempe AZ)
Matt Fernandez’ Holy Night (Anchorage AK)
Tiffa Foster’s Virginity and Video Games (Saint Paul MN)
Heidi Franke’s The Octo Inc. Time Travel Agency (Valdez AK)
Evan Simone Frazier’s Nothing But a Coincidence (New York NY)
Doug Gearhart’s Buckets of Rain (Dunedin FL)
Emma Gibson’s If nobody does remarkable things (Haverford PA)
Cody Goulder’s The Pigeon Play (Phoenix AZ)
Veronika Gribanova’s Meditaysh (New York NY)
Joel Hammer’s The Package (Cleveland Heights OH)
Susan Lambert Hatem’s Five Players in Search of a Win (Pasadena CA)
Nicholas Walker Herbert’s Severed (Sacramento CA)
Libby Heily’s After Ultra (New York NY)
Daniel Emlyn Jones’ The Exorcism of Mr. Crommenacker (Oxford UK)
Heidi Kray’s see in the dark (Boise ID)
Greg Lam’s Treachery Island, A Serial Play, Eps 1-3 (San Carlos CA)
Charlotte Lang’s The Connecticut Play (Minneapolis MN)
Katy Laurance’s Pretty Telling (Anchorage AK)
Paco Madden’s Mister Rog’s Nextdoorhood Goes Buckwild (Tempe AZ)
MoHogani Magnetek’s Ms. Mahhogany Bones and the Case of the Microphone Rapist (Anchorage AK)
Emily McClain’s The Poet, the Spy, and the Dark Lady (Lawrenceville GA)
Seth McNeil’s Natchetoches (Athens NY)
Kaichen McRae’s The End of the Rainbow (Anchorage AK)
Kaeli Meno and Addonis Davis’ Eleven Minutes (Anchorage AK)
Joanna Castle Miller’s Inferna (Los Angeles CA)
Brandon Monokian’s Quiche (Ocean City NJ)
Tom and Marty Moran’s Progress (Fairbanks AK)
Jessica Moss’ The Do-Gooders (Toronto, Ontario)
Serena Norr’s Morning Ritual (Mount Kisco NY)
Michael C. O’Day’s An Artic Confederate Christmas (Brooklyn NY)
Dave Osmundsen’s The Day I Turned Into A Bird (Pompton Plains NJ)
Alicia Payne’s D Cup (Toronto, Ontario)
John Perovich’s The Macbethest Christmas Spectaculathon… Ever! (Phoenix AZ)
Jan Probst’s Water and Blood (Berkeley CA)
Kristen Ritter’s It All Adds Up (Anchorage AK)
Greg Romero and Mike Vernusky’s Radio Ghosts (Bastrop and Austin TX)
Nan Gatewood Satter’s First Date (New Paltz NY)
Louise Schwartz’ When the Lights Go Out in Georgia (New York NY)
Marcus Scott’s Sundown Town (West New York NJ)
Michael Shaeffer’s William Shakespeare’s Thee, Breakfast Club (Fairbanks AK)
Tamar Shai’s Persuasion: Jane Austin Inspired and Headed to Your Town Soon (Lake Oswego OR)
Judah Skoff’s The Birthday Game (Teaneck NJ)
Keith Smith’s Once Upon a Time in the Kingdom of Bob (Ketchikan AK)
Jasmine Spieth’s On Any Given Day in America (Astoria NY)
Andrea Staats’ omg we ate a guy! (Tampa FL)
Caitlin Turnage’s In A Darkroom, The Lord Knows (San Marcos TX)
Elijah Valdez’ Our Beautiful Home (Orlando FL)
Kyle Walker’s The Ghost of the Titanic (Valdez AK)
Brian Wallace’s The Martians (Winnetka CA)
Ashley Rose Wellman’s Kill Shelter (North Hollywood CA)
Piper Werle’s Jail Mattress (Brooklyn NY)
Kevin Michael Wesson’s The Oceanarium (Chicago IL)
Philip Middleton Williams’ Tucumcari Tonite! (Palmetto Bay FL)
Tyonté Williams’ What Broke Your Silence? (Atlanta GA)
Other links of interest:
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.