More than a year after its development originally began, Fear of Buildings by Sam Bible-Sullivan is finally premiering—virtually, of course! Originally commissioned to be development throughout the 2019-2020 season and produced in spring 2020, the performances of Fear of Buildings unfortunately had to be cancelled last year due to COVID-19. Now in virtual format, Fear of Buildings is ready to get you laughing as you question your entire existence. “In the spring of 2019, the playwright, Sam, and I went to SETC [Southeastern Theatre Conference] where we read an early iteration of the script to a group of writers for feedback,” director Anish Pinnamaraju said of his first exposure to the script. “Back then, the script was only a couple pages long and had a completely different ending. The writers loved the concept but had one piece of feedback: make the script longer. A year of development later and we had a fully realized script and a production in the works. But with COVID, that production had to be cancelled. And I couldn't just let that happen. I've seen this script in all its forms and I knew we could still bring this to life.” While working through Zoom is not the way that the show had originally been conceived, the team found some unexpected benefits. Cast member Lauren Flors, playing Tyne, said, “Every time we figure out how to work around a new technical issue, the whole crew cheers and it feels great! It’s certainly frustrating that we can’t perform this show in person, the way it was intended to be performed, but I think our willingness to work around the difficulties of Zoom really speaks to how important it is to us that this show is put on.” Of course, there are technical issues to worry about. "No actor on a stage suddenly pops out of existence, but with a bad enough internet, anything is possible on Zoom,” Pinnamaraju said. However, he feels that they’ve been able to use this challenge to their advantage. “I think this will be an opportunity to see how far we can push the envelope when it comes to digital theatre,” he said. After all the writing, rewriting, and the cancellation of the original production, playwright Sam Bible-Sullivan is excited to see the show finally produced. “It's the first full length play I ever wrote, and I could not be prouder of it,” he said. “And, surprisingly enough, I think the play is actually perfect for the times we're currently facing. So, maybe the delay wasn't so bad after all.” Flors, who was cast in the original production, also felt that the timing had worked out, saying: “We’re all experiencing a really strange time right now and surely questioning a lot of what we thought we knew. Fear of Buildings will make you question your reality and understanding of life in a whole new way, and hopefully, help relieve you from the quarantine blues.” “People should come watch Fear of Buildings to laugh and to question,” said Pinnamaraju. “To release the pent-up frustration of being trapped in a room for months. To challenge themselves with a new form of theatre and an incredible script. It's free and easy- you can even watch the show from your bed! With 3 nights to catch the show, there are plenty of opportunities to give it a chance.”
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Hello Labbies! Even in quarantine, we are still focused on making incredible theatre. While our 19/20 season didn’t end how we had planned, we’re here to announce that we’re looking to the future with our 20/21 season selections! For the upcoming season, we are excited to present three incredible plays and our new student-commissioned piece.
For Fall 2020, LAB! will be producing:
LAB!'s third main stage show this season, Horse Girls, is currently in rehearsals and will open on February 22nd and run through February 24th. Horse Girls focuses in on the Lady Jean Ladies, an exclusive middle school horse club in South Florida, as they hold one of their regular meetings. However, this meeting is anything but regular, since the Lady Jean Ladies will face an obstacle that will change their lives forever.
We were able to interview the Horse Girls director, Bailey Elrod, about her thoughts on the show and her experience with being a first time director. Q: Why did you want to direct Horse Girls? A: I directed a short section of Horse Girls for my final scene in Aubrey Snowden's directing class last year, and ever since then I've wanted to direct the full play. I was solely a stage manager/producer before I took that class, and Aubrey gave me such a confidence boost and helped me pull out my creative juices that I didn't even know I had, which prepared me to make my directing debut this season with LAB! The reason I wanted to direct Horse Girls specifically is because it's the funniest play I've EVER read. I was sitting in a cafe when I read it for the first time and I was laughing out loud and I know that people probably thought I was bonkers, but it's just so funny. Also, I'm a second generation horse girl myself, having grown up with a mom who worked in the horse-back riding industry and still does, so I feel very represented in this piece. This play is about horse girls but more generally it's about middle school girls and being young and scared and obsessed and jealous and crazy and unable to find a place to land in the world and it's been so thrilling to work through all of that with a script that's also SO funny. Q: What is your favorite part about the play? A: My favorite part of the play is how unexpected it is. There are so many twists and turns, I promise no one will know what is going to happen to the Lady Jean Ladies next. It's also so smartly written and also very short. So much (I mean, SO much) happens in about 50 minutes, and the humor is genius. Q: What is your favorite part about rehearsal? A: My favorite part about rehearsal is when everyone breaks and starts laughing in the middle of a scene. Those are the best moments because usually it means we're on to something. The actors in this play are so good and creative and willing to try different things, so there is never a dull moment. I also really love doing character work. The cast is not afraid to dive deep into their characters and it's been really neat to talk through all of the details of these middle school girls. I think it's easy to think of middle school girls as caricatures or as kind of a joke (which, you know, fair!) but it's been fantastic to work through some of those really serious circumstances and feelings that middle school girls have that manifest into the really cringey and funny things that they do and say. Q: What have you learned so far from directing this play? A: From directing this play I've learned just how important collaboration in the theatre is. As a director, and especially as a first time director, I know that I cannot have all of the ideas and it's been nice to learn that I don't have to, I just have to know how to guide people in the right direction. The designers are brilliant and have come up with ideas that I never could have imagined. The actors are so talented and smart and take what I give them and run with it in ways that I could only dream of! Also this is my first time in a position of creative leadership, so learning about how to be helpful in alignment with other people's creative processes has been really neat. Q: Is there anything else you'd like to say about your experience directing, or about the show? A: I cannot wait for everyone to see how wacky and funny this show is and to relive the roller coaster that was our adolescence! I'll be graduating in May and it seems pretty full circle working on a show that has us reevaluate what it was like to be a kid right as some of us are about to enter adulthood. I am truly so grateful that LAB! took a chance on a first time director like me and has given me the chance to make this wild play about horse-crazy girls a reality!! LAB!’s second mainstage production, A Bright New Boise, opens Saturday, Oct. 26 at 7:30PM and runs through Monday, Oct. 28. A Bright New Boise by Samuel D. Hunter is the story of a “bleak, corporate break room of a craft store in Idaho” where someone is “summoning the rapture.”
A Bright New Boise is directed by UNC junior LJ Enloe. He previously directed for LAB!’s Rotating Rep in Spring 2019 (La Fiesta by Cole Kordus), assisted director Emma Scaggs for LAB!’s Spring 2019 production of Bethany by Laura Marks, and directed for LAB!’s 24 Hour Play Festival. Enloe proposed the play to LAB! because he loved the script and wanted to see it produced. “I was also fascinated by the questions it brings up and how people in the community might react to them,” Enloe says. “I feel like it covers topics that are more relevant and universal than it might initially seem.” “My favorite thing about the script is the style of the dialogue,” Enloe says. “It flows very naturally and comes from the characters very organically, enhancing the immersion and feeling of the world. I also love how much it leaves open for the actors, though, allowing them to make the characters their own while staying true to the script.” Actor Josh Wahab, playing the character Alex, says that he believes audiences will love the characters. “The plot is very ‘people driven’ so the most memorable parts of it will definitely be the moments between each of the employees in the Hobby Lobby,” says Wahab. Wahab’s favorite part of Alex is his complexity. “He's someone that could very easily lead the audience to dislike him, but there's a lot of nuances to him where you genuinely feel for him and everything he's going through,” Wahab says. Actor Alyssa Geary, playing the character Pauline, says her favorite part of the process has been the cast and crew. One of her favorite memories is Wahab’s iconic “dog sneeze.” “We are all in love with Josh's dog sneezes!,” Geary says. “It's gotten to the point where all of us have tried to mimic it, but none of us can do it as well as he can.” One of Enloe’s favorite memories dates all the way back to the first read through. “I hate to call him out, but in the first readthrough we all got the firsthand pleasure of learning that Michael Sparks has pronounced the T in Home Depot his entire life,” Enloe says. This team had a lot of fun and they are very excited to bring this show to UNC’s theatre community. “I think that this show is overall just a unique glimpse into a very specific world that I'm super excited to share with everyone,” Enloe says. “All the actors portray viscerally real characters with complex relationships, and I keep finding myself getting absolutely lost in their performance. I can't wait for everyone to see it.” LAB!’s annual 24 Hour Play Festival is approaching! This chaotically fun event has become a staple of LAB!’s season as a kickoff event in the fall semester. Still wondering what exactly a 24 Hour Play Festival is? Is it a play that lasts 24 hours? Is it somehow related to LAB!’s other time-sensitive theatre event, 30 Plays in 60 Minutes?
The answer to the last two questions is no. But the answer to the first is: 24 Hour Play Festival is an event in which we gather writers, directors, and actors to create and perform brand new short plays within the span of 24 hours. “The process is simple,” says Anish Pinnamaraju, Associate Director for LAB!. “We divide the group into writers, directors, and actors. The writers will group up and write a couple plays overnight. They will get to rest while the directors and actors get up early to bring these plays to life.” Just 24 hours after the first meeting, the plays will be performed in front of a live audience. “The whole concept in the first place is kind of, like, a fun one,” says Zach Eanes, producer of 24 Hour Plays. “Because it’s like, you’re going to do a whole show in 24 hours? That’s crazy. But I think at the end of the day, it’s about fun.” 24 Hour Play Festival is the perfect chance to let loose and have some good old-fashioned theatre fun. “You’re going to have fun, because in the wee hours of the night, your writers are writing plays and words, that maybe even they don’t know what they mean,” Eanes says. Who knows, maybe your writers will give you a script about worshipping Shrek or an evil yoga instructor? Anything could happen! (Both of those things have happened.) But the most fun part of 24 Hour Plays is the opportunity to try something new. Always wanted to give writing, acting, or directing a shot? Now’s the time. Want to find ways to be more creative in your current field? There’s nothing like time pressure to get the creative juices flowing! “24 Hour Plays is for everyone,” says Pinnamaraju, “from the people who want to get started with theater at UNC to the veterans who want to spend their weekend doing even more theatre!” Signups for the 24 Hour Play Festival are live on LAB!’s Facebook page. Tickets will be available to reserve 24 hours in advance. Dear Labbies,
Today is the last day of the UNC fiscal calendar, marking the official conclusion to the 18/19 season. This season featured three world premieres and three breathtaking interpretations of published plays, and I’m so excited to close this extraordinary season of theatre with the announcement of our updated mission statement! As the oldest student theatre company at UNC, LAB! has evolved tremendously since its founding in 1982. As you may or may not already know, to keep up with LAB!’s rapidly changing needs, our constitution was rewritten at the end of the 17/18 season. During this time of revision, it was brought to our attention that LAB! lacked a mission statement that’s relevant to our company as it exists today. We knew to ensure LAB!’s continued success, we needed an updated statement that represented our long-established values, but it also needed to be flexible enough to survive many more years of evolution. This sparked a season long conversation amongst our 18/19 board to determine what kind of company we see ourselves as now, and what kind of company we want to become in the future. These discussions revealed a myriad of perspectives in regards to LAB!’s identity, as well as diverse aspirations for LAB!’s future. Despite variations in everyone’s personal philosophies, we discovered that when it comes to LAB! ideology, there are two universal truths. (1) LAB! has always, and will always, strive to provide undergraduate students at UNC with a platform to create theatre. (2) LAB! is committed to making theatre accessible and will always provide the community with admission to our work free of charge. Tomorrow is the start of the 19/20 season, which also means it’s the start of mine and Rob’s final season with LAB!. Throughout our time as Executive Directors, I’ve kept a list of all the things I wanted us to create for LAB! prior to graduation. While I certainly have some small passion projects left to keep me busy during the upcoming season, finalizing LAB!’s mission statement was the last big thing I had left for us to give. Now that we can mark this project as complete, I’m finally at peace (I think) with the fact that it’s time to start preparing to graduate. I’m looking forward to one more season of creating theatre with this incredible community, and I cannot wait to see how this mission is embraced through the work of the 19/20 season. #LiveLoveLAB! -- Samantha Yancey Executive Director of LAB! Theatre |
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