Cannavale, Bogosian, Waterston Among Casts for LAB's Barn Series and Live Nude Plays

By Ernio Hernandez
05 Oct 2009

Bobby Cannavale, Eric Bogosian, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Katherine Waterston and David Zayas are among the cast members featured in the LAByrinth Theatre Company's upcoming Barn Series and Live Nude Plays.



The 2009 lineup for both reading series will feature 20 new works for the stage. Hosted by The Public Theater, the events will run Oct. 6-30 (the tenth annual Barn Series) and Oct. 31-Nov. 9 (the newer, less formal Live Nude Plays).

The company of performers will include Julian Acosta, Betsy Aidem, Cara Akselrad, Carlo Alban, Eric Bogosian, Maggie Burke, Elizabeth Canavan, Bobby Cannavale, Samrat Chakerbat, Chris Chalk, Andrea Ciannavei, Beth Cole, J. Eric Cook, Kevin Corrigan, David Deblinger, Jamie Dunn, Danelle Eliav, Nia Fairweather, Marieke Gaboury, Lola Glaudini, Charles Goforth, Yetta Gottesman, Craig "muMs" Grant, Nic Grelli, Scott Hudson, Salvatore Inzerillo, Russell G. Jones, Jinn S. Kim, Jamie Klassel, Angela Lewis, Trevor Long, Florencia Lozano, Eric T. Miller, Tomoko Miyagi, Nyambi Nyambi, Kelley Rae O'Donnell, Pedro Pascal, Richard Petrocelli, Michael Puzzo, Justin Reinsilber, Joselin Reyes, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Gerry Rodriguez, Melissa Ross, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Matthew Stadelman, Alladin Ullah, Carlos Valencia, Ed Vassallo, Yul Vázquez, Katherine Waterston, Aaron Weiner, Sid Williams, Max Woertendyke, David Zayas.

Here is the schedule (with provided synopses):

Barn Series 2009

  • Oct. 6-7 (8 PM): Love Sick by Kristina Poe / directed by Mimi O'Donnell
    "A play about heartbreak, love, sex, public restrooms, group therapy, lusty mothers ... and how you should never piss off a woman with a gun."

  • Oct. 8 (6:30 & 9:30 PM): Ninth And Joanie written and directed by Brett C. Leonard
    "Philadelphia. Ninth Street. 1986. A family is forced to remember."

  • Oct. 9 & 14 (8 PM): Lights Up On The Fade Out by Padraic Lillis / directed by Marieke Gaboury
    "A love story inspired by fear, family, and career, where everyone is trying to hold onto the love of their life, real or imagined."

  • Oct. 10-11 (8 PM): Its Hers Now by Bob Glaudini / directed by O'Donnell
    "There are changes afoot in Largo, a conservative monthly magazine."

  • Oct. 12 (8 PM): Pirate written and directed by John Patrick Shanley
    "Pirate is about a very bad man; sometimes, he looks one way, sometimes he looks another, but he is always bad."

  • Oct. 15 & 17 (8 PM): Single Mom written by Rebecca Cohen / directed by Marieke Gaboury
    "In a 14th floor walk-up studio apartment in a city lives a Mom; the kids are home with an awful virus and the liquor store won't deliver! What's a mom to do?"

  • Oct. 16 & 18 (8 PM): The Hard Sell by Andrea Ciannavei / directed by Scott Illingworth
    "Lily's family and closest friends gather to celebrate on the day of her amazingly expensive wedding. When this marital juggernaut goes careening into the mountain — the veil is pulled back to reveal the need of these six women to compete, hide and control perception."

  • Oct. 19 & 26 (8 PM): Dutch Masters by Greg Keller / directed by Brian Roff
    "It's 1992 on the uptown D train. What you lookin' at white boy?"

  • Oct. 22 & 24 (8 PM): Paradox of the Urban Cliché by Craig 'muMs' Grant / directed by Sarah Sidman
    "This is way beyond you wearing your jeans below your behind."

  • Oct. 23 & 27 (8 PM): The Atmosphere of Memory by David Bar Katz / directed by Peter DuBois
    "O'Neill was smart enough to wait until his family was dead before writing about them. The playwright in The Atmosphere of Memory has written about his family, and they're all not only alive, they're coming to the opening! The Atmosphere of Memory deals with the price that comes with portraying the past and familialbattles over what is 'True' and 'What Really Happened.'"

  • Oct. 25 & 28 (8 PM): Conservative Right and You're Wrong by Ed Vassallo / directed by Roff
    "Is political theater harmless? Are inflammatory talks shows entertainment? Perhaps. Perhaps not."

  • Oct. 29-30 (8 PM): Cynthia & The Dreadful Kite by Webb Wilcoxen / music by Jonathan Comisar / directed by Jill DeArmon
    "Someone has struck down Cynthia Schmidt's most cherished posession ... her kite. Now she is making something not-so-nice."

    Live Nude Plays 2009

  • Oct. 31 (6:30 PM): '68 conceived and directed by John Gould Rubin
    "A compilation of stories about 1968."

  • Oct. 31 (9:30 PM): Beautiful by David Anzuelo / directed by Louis Moreno
    "An art-dealing Lucifer is on an industrial rock-fueled killing spree and only a phone-sex addicted descendant of Job can stop him: it's New York City 1994 - where everyone came to get f*cked!"

  • Nov. 1 (6:30 PM): Handball by Seth Svi Rosenfeld / directed by Terry Kinney
    "A handball court on a hot summer day sets a handful of characters off into explosive drama. Old time neighborhood beefs, young love and real estate are the combustible elements at hand as nine characters find their way through the changing labyrinthine landscape of a neighborhood in NYC."

  • Nov. 1 (9 PM): girl in window by Florencia Lozano / directed by Pedro Pascal
    "Love doesn't just stink, it sucks a**, and the people who help you get out from under the wreckage when your heart is busted open."

  • Nov. 2 (6:30 PM): The Halal Brothers by Alladin Ullah
    "When Two Bengali brothers — one unable to tell his sibling about his black girlfriend at city college and the other desperate to succeed in order to provide for family back home, try to keep afloat during the turbulent day of Malcolm X's assasination."

  • Nov. 2 (9 PM): The Talk by Frank Pugliese / directed by Fisher Stevens
    "Four brothers come home for their mother's funeral, to find a past they never knew of, and the words to comprehend it."

  • Nov. 3 (6:30 PM): Neurotica by David Deblinger / directed by Lillis
    "Neurotica is about how someone we find so f*cking sexy and hot can also bring up sh*t about loneliness and rage and fear that can tempt fate with death ... or just the opposite. A dark comedy on love, with song and rap."

  • Nov. 3 (9 PM): Frequently Unasked Questions by Daphne Rubin-Vega / directed by John Gould Rubin
    "Its a play! And a concert! The life and music of DRV are completely intertwined. In FUQ, she explores the life of her mother who immigrated from Panama and the resulting consequences of her choices."

    Tickets (free) for The Barn Series and Live Nude Plays, at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street), will be distributed one hour before curtain on a first come, first served basis. No reservations necessary. For more information, visit LabTheater.org.