Running Nov. 25-Dec. 9 the fall lab provides "creative support and direction for innovative musical theatre and ensemble-generated projects," according to Sundance. Composer Jeanine Tesori and playwright Lynn Nottage will serve as creative advisors.
Here's a look at the selections:
Adler & Gibb
Conceived and directed by Tim Crouch
"Adler & Gibb is the story of the attempted appropriation of another person's life and work. A young film actress, eager to portray a famous now-deceased artist, tries to research and reconstruct the woman's story. But the artist herself has achieved fame by creating a purposeful temporal body of work meant never to be remembered or reclaimed. The impulses behind Adler & Gibb stem from Tim Crouch's interest in our responsibility as artists to reality (and, in this instance, real people)."
Iowa
Music and lyrics by Todd Almond
Text by Jenny Schwartz
Directed by Ken Rus Schmoll
"The story revolves around a 14 year old girl named Becca whose mother Sandy has reunited over Facebook with her high school prom date Roger. Iowa's style is heightened, absurdist, fantastical, existential and surreal. Nancy Drew is a character in the play, as is a singing pony."
Mabou Mines' Glass Guignol
Directed by Lee Breuer
Featuring Maude Mitchell, Greg Mehrten, Eamonn Farrell and Jessica Weinstein.
"Tennessee Williams is one of America's greatest playwrights yet nearly half of his work has been either poorly received or rarely produced. When Williams changed his style of work, he was deeply resented by the critical establishment at the time. Glass Guignol, conceived by acclaimed New York ensemble Mabou Mines, is an alternative Williams conceit, style, attitude and staging to virtually every production that has gone before. In Glass Guignol, Williams' relationship with his sister Rose is explored through a variety of his texts, as if their secrets were hidden in a series of Chinese boxes. Utilizing the frame of The Two Character Play, Glass Guignol replaces the play within the play with a selection of Williams quotes from other works – plays, short stories and poems that elucidate and dramatize the brother sister relationship – the most important, agonizing and creatively stimulating of his life." Visit Sundance.org.