The fifth year of the Directors Lab marked the high point of the first cycle of the Lab's work, presenting for public view a large number of plays created by Lab artists. Between May and August 1999, twenty-nine works were staged at venues around New York - from SoHo to Harlem - produced by the Directors Lab in association with partners as diverse as Lincoln Center Festival '99, HERE and the National Black Theater.
The Lab began with "The Bible Project," a festival of twelve short plays inspired by themes, stories and characters from the Bible, each directed by a member of the 1998 Directors Lab at HERE Performance Art Café. The National Black Theater hosted "Black Codes from the Underground," a new play by Gregory A. Holtz, Layding Kaliba and Duma Ndlovu and directed by Directors Lab member Ruben Polendo. The play was one of two Directors Lab productions presented in association with the Lincoln Center Festival. In July, three new Australian plays directed by Australian directors in residence were presented, as well as the American Living Room series, showcasing twelve plays from the Lab's first four years.
Among the other components that comprised this year's special Lab were a one-week series of workshops and seminars and two public symposia in which Lab artists participated. In addition, the summer issue of The Lincoln Center Theater Review was devoted to the Directors Lab, and the Directors Book 1999, listing all Lab Directors, was distributed to Theatre Communications Group (TCG) constituent theaters nationwide.
Lab Directors
Allen, Gregory Lamont
Allen, Robert
Ames, Kirsten
Andress, Marcella
Baron, Jeff
Breitbart, Suzette
Busch, Regina
Chisholm, Edgar
Cook, Dwight R.B.
D'Abruzzo, Nick Quinn
Finn, Hayley
Griffen, Joyce
Harris, Susanna
Honegger, Olivia
Jahnke, John
Kantor, Michael
Kay, Linda Ames
Kirkman, Tania
Lawrence, Blake
LeLand, Michael
MacDonald, Gwynn
Marcu, Jamie
Marion, Cyndy
Nastro, Caroline
Oncale, Keith
Rahe, Steven
Reese, Rob
Robinson, Scott
Rushton, Christopher
Spector, Hillary
Tejada, Ramon
Ward, Jennie
Ziegenhagen, Eric
Zipay, Joanne
Lab Master Artists
Bob Crowley
Brian Dennehy
Barbara Gelb
Arthur Gelb
Erik Ehn
Paul Giamatti
Gregory A. Holtz
Layding Kaliba
Duma Ndlovu
Lab Actors
Bryant, Brienin
Carroll, Kevin
Glymph, Avery
Jimenez, Robert
Jones, Ron Cephas
Kelly, David Patrick
Moses, Ramon
Mwine, Ntare
Reeder, Ana
Roberson, Rudy
Saito, Dawn
Serafini-Sauli, Daniel
Soules, Dale
Thompson, Raphael Nash
Lab Playwrights
Andrew Bovell
Deborah Baley Brevoort
Humphrey Bower
Keith Bunin
Sarah Cathcart
Karole Turner Campbell
Edgar Chisholm
Raymond Cousse
Erik Ehn
William Faulkner
Simon Ha
Gregory A. Holtz, Sr.
Mason Howington
Layding Kaliba
Jesse Kearney
Andrea Lemon
A.A. Milne
Duma Ndlovu
Kira Obolensky
Suzan-Lori Parks
Jonathan Reuning
Micah Schraft
Chandu Shah
Allison Arkell Stockman
Micah Schraft
David Wiener
Oscar Wilde
Bridgette Wimberly
Lab Designers and Other Collaborators
Averill, Timothy
Ayer, Betsy
Bailey, Carol
Campbell, Karole Turner
Doxsee, Lenore
Gallagher, Shawn
Hester, Alix
Hill, Shawnique
Mueller, Ryan
Murphy, Robert
Patel, Neil
Thompson, Mark Anthony
Lab Staff
Lab Director: Anne Cattaneo
Lab Coordinator: Robert Levinstein
Lab Assistant: Brian Roff
Roundtable: Trends in Contemporary Playwriting (led by Garrett Eisler, Celice Kalke, Sonya Sobieski, and Shirley Fishman)
Music of Black Codes From the Underground (led by Mark Anthony Thompson, Gregory A. Holtz, Sr., Layding Lumumba Kaliba, and Duma Ndlovu)
Arthur & Barbara Gelb on Eugene O'Neill (moderated By Howard Fishman)
Paul Giamatti, Brian Dennehy, and Bob Crowley on The Iceman Cometh
Roundtable: Starting a Theater Company in the 2000's (led by Karen Lamb, Kate Warner, Ernest Figueroa, Michael LeLand)
Studio Workshop: The Physical Life of the Actor (led by Adam Koplan and members of the internationally acclaimed ensemble, The Flying Machine)
Information Session: Australian Theater (Kate Cherry, Sarah Cathcart, Michael Kantor, Sobian Tuke)
Information Session: Theater in Russia (Daniel Jaquez)
Roundtable: Making a life in theater when you have children (led by Maria Mileaf, Victoria Pero, Tony Phelan)
Roundtable: Conventional vs. Unconventional Ways of Learning Theater (Daniel Jaquez, Allsion Zell)
Roundtable:Non-Western Theater Techniques (Rubén Polendo, Monika Gross, Christine Sang)
Karole Turner-Campbell on the National Black Theater Festival Group
Michael Clark: Approaches to the First Day of Rehearsal
How to Run a Tech Rehearsal (Nolan Haims, Jeff Hamlin, Craig Jacobs)
THE BIBLE PROJECT
A Festival of Twelve Short Plays (at HERE Performance Art Café; May 14-29)
CATHOLICA, created by Theater Mitu; directed by Rubén Polendo
GENESIS, conceived and directed by Allison Arkell Stockman
OPHELIA'S TATTOO, a company-developed piece by Our Shoes Are Red, directed by Devon Allen
BRINGIN' BACK JESUS, written and directed by Edgar Chisholm
BEGIN THE BEGGIN', conceived and directed by Karole Turner Campbell
ATOM AND DEVORAH by Micah Schraft; directed by Trip Cullman
THE FIRST ONE by Zora Neale Hurston; directed by Shirley Parkinson
ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner; adapted and directed by Suzanne Agins
THE DIARIES OF ADAM AND EVE, adapted from the writings of Mark Twain by Mason Howington; directed by Nolan Haimes
LOVE SONG OF THE APOCALYPSE by David Wiener; directed by Andrew Grosso
JUDITH by Howard Barker, directed by Matt August
SALOME by Oscar Wilde, directed by Jemma Alix Levy
Studio Productions (at the McGinn/Cazale Theater July 1-30)
BLACK CODES FROM THE UNDERGROUND written by Gregory A. Holtz, Sr., Layding Lumumba Kaliba, and Duma Ndlovu; directed by Rubén Polendo (also at the National Black Theater [June 24-27])
American Living Room 1999 at HERE (July 6-21)
MAID by Erik Ehn, directed by Maria Mileaf
