The Sundance Institute Theatre Laboratory at White Oak, in Yulee, FL, "focuses on support for innovative musical theatre as well as on ensemble-generated work," according to Sundance.
The Lab at White Oak is under the artistic supervision of Philip Himberg, producing artistic director of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program. Janice Paran, Sundance Theatre program artistic associate, and Jocelyn Clarke will serve as dramaturgs. Playwright Lynn Nottage and director Jack O'Brien will participate as creative advisors.
Funked Up Fairy Tales "is a collection of delightfully twisted urban fairy tales for sophisticated children and grownup kids," according to Sundance notes. "K-Pig (adapted from Straparola's 'The Pig King') is the story of a childless royal couple who find themselves parents to a hip-hop loving pig. Golden Branch (adapted from a French fairy tale by Madame d'Aulnoy) is the love story of an ugly prince and princess who help each other discover the drop-dead gorgeousness of their souls. Mistah Skin ('Rumpelstiltskin' with attitude) is a tale of a poor girl who makes a devil's bargain to win her prince on a reality game show. The guides through these funky adventures are Titania, Faireetheeya and Magikwanda — three fast, head-wagging, teeth-sucking high-school age magical fairies — who must make sure all the stories end happily, to avoid getting kicked out of Fairyland."
Alan Filderman serves as the casting director for Funked Up Fairy Tales.
DRC (or How I Learned to Act in Seven Steps) is conceived and directed by Rubén Polendo; and created by Theater Mitu. "The piece stems from a physical score built from the 1918 Wiene/Mayer/Janowitz silent film 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.' The film is the story of a mad man (Dr. Caligari) who tours with a clairvoyant/comatose slave trapped in a cabinet and two young lovers whose lives are changed upon encountering his carnival. The piece will set this story to the words of seven of the most important and passionate thinkers on the subject of acting, including Aristotle, Adolph Appia, Constantine Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski and Anne Bogart."
