The Dream Lab: A chance to do what you have not yet tried
Look at your professional life in the theater – outside of what you’re doing to make a living. What have you done so far?
In the 2018 Lab we were interested in making it possible for directors to try something they haven’t yet done, with the support, expertise and encouragement of others who might know something about what they dream of trying to do.
The lab directors, in turn, offered their experience and artistry to others.
Most of the directors in the 2018 had already begun a life in the professional theater focusing on doing one kind of work: new plays of a certain kind – perhaps plays on the short side, with a focus on realism and family dynamics. Or adaptations, assisting on classics, plays for young people, directing events, or doing devised work.
They yearned to try their hand at something totally different, something they liked to experiment with and talk with others about with the goal of adding it to their repertoire. We looked for experimenters among the Lab applicants and also the master artists we invited- the urge to change and grow doesn’t end once a career is established. Among all the 2018 lab directors, designers, actors, and master artists, we found roles as explorers AND as experts who have information and experience to share.
Lab Participants
Razi Khalaf Al Shatti
Nehprii Amenii
Asta Kamma August
Donna Marie Baratta
Jacob Basri
Raymond Blankenhorn
Rose Bochner
James Bosley
Ronn Burton
Chloe Cattin
Rafika Chawishe
Catie Davis
Amos Dreisbach
Jay Dunn
Hersh Ellis
Raffi Feghali
Heriberto Feliciano
Brian Gillespie
Malgorzata Gluchowska
Ivan Haidar
Shareen Haje
Taylor Hatch
Miranda Haymon
Liv Helm
Jessica Helton
Rob Jansen
Timothy Johnson
Geoff Kanick
Nikita Kobelev
Carmen C. Kruse
Baboo Liao
Maíra Ortiz Lour
Cassandra Lovering
Anna Ly
Emily Marks
Maria del Rocio Maruri Arroyo
Rebecca Marzalek-Kelly
Shannon Matesky
Nancy Medina
Sophia Mempuh Kwachuh
Jessica Mitolo
Lauren Morris
Arpita Mukherjee
Agon Myftari
Blerta Neziraj
Sharanya Ramprakash
Riccardo Ripani
Holly Robison
Amalá Saint-Pierre
Robert Salzer
Carlos Marcelo Soto Molina
Elizabeth Senja Spackman
Bronwyn Steinberg
Sarah Johanna Steinfelder
Christopher-Rashee Stevenson
Catherine Stewart
Marios Theocharous
Tyler Thomas
Lucia Trentini
Maria Cristina Trivino
Christopher Utley
Alejandra Vieira
Fernando Villa
Nela Vitoshevikj
José Ignacio Vivero
Arturo Wong
Lab Designers
Maranda Debusk
Isabel Mengyuan Let
Whitney Locher
Josafath Reynoso
Gil Sperling
Amy Sutton
Benjamin Ehrenrich
Lab Actors
Yaron Lotan
Raymond J. Lee
Joseph Parks
Saamer Usmani
Alex Hurt
Matthew James Elam
Jonathan Higginbotham
Paul Niebanck
Ronald Peet
Paul Rescigno
Jason Shelton
Edward Chin-Lyn
Michael Winther
Stephen James Anthony
Christian O. Jiménez
Seth Clayton
Erick Huertas
Merritt Janson
Erika Rolfsrud
Fala Chen
Annika Boras
Danielle Davenport
Samantha Sherman
Eva Victor
Monique St. Cyr
Theda Hamel
Therese Barbato
Simone Recasner
Nozipho Mclean
Sarah Chalfie
Amy Lynn Stewart
Lab Staff
Lab Director: Anne Cattaneo
Lab Coordinator: Howard Tilikin
Lab Assistant: Kerry Candeloro
Stage Management
Karen Evanoukas
Seth Kieser
Angela Griggs
Norman Small
Jessica Kate Matthews
Myka Cue
Alex Hansen
Master Artists
André Bishop
Ayad Akhtar
Abhishek Majumdar
Bartlett Sher
Helen White
Tazewell Thompson
Lila Neugebauer
Eric Tucker
Tina Packer
Davis McCallum
Master Artist Sessions
Peter Stein Film and Discussion
Theater for Young Audiences with Helen White
Conversation with Ayad Akhtar and Abhishek Majumdar
Discussion with André Bishop
Discussion with Lila Neugebauer
Discussion with Tazewell Thompson
Discussion with Tina Packer
Discussion with Bartlett Sher
Discussion with Davis McCallum
Group Activities
Think Tanks on various topics:
- Devised Theater
- Shakespeare
- Teenagers and Theater
- Opera
- Building a Company
- Comedy
- Documentary Theater
- Technology
- Working as a Collective
Outing to Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival: Richard II, dir. Davis McCallum
Lincoln Center Theater Performance of My Fair Lady, dir. Bartlett Sher
Shared Sessions
Alba Technique - Ronn Burton
Applied Theatre Models - Catherine Stewart
Efe Tres Theatre - Fernando Villa
Real-Time Composition - Ivan Haidar
Stanislavski Analysis - Nikita Kobelev
The Search for African Theatre - Nehprii Amenii
The Theory of Justice - Sarah Steinfelder
Working from Abundance - Jessica Mitolo
Yakchangara Theatre - Sharanya Ramprakash
Yuyachkani Theatre - Alejandra Vieira
Ex Materia Playshop: The Moya Method - Chloe Cattin
Improvisation: A Collective and Associative Theatre - Liv Helm
The 2018 Lab focused on new plays and writers, as well as classical plays, and musicals. The participants rehearsed and discussed:
Die Amerikanische Päpstin (The American Popess) by Esther Vilar (trans. by Martin Wagner)
I Have Loved Strangers by Anne Washburn
Peer Gynt From Kosovo by Jeton Neziraj (trans. by Alexandra Channer)
The Lady Aoi by Yukio Mishima (trans. Donald Keene)
The Odyssey by Mary Zimmerman
Richard II by William Shakespeare
