LAByrinth Theater Company is a multicultural collective that produces new plays reflecting the many voices in our New York City community.  We are fully committed to maintaining an ensemble that combines emerging artists with seasoned professionals.  It is our goal, as an ensemble, to take on all the roles involved in the collaborative process of creating new theater.  Through these works, our members are given the opportunity to write, act, direct, design and produce.  We support multi-disciplinary growth as well as discovery and exploration.  We give artists from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to work.

LAByrinth Theater Company was founded in 1992 when thirteen actors joined forces to form a place to work.  The idea was to create a home where the group, for three hours each week, could engage in a variety of theatrical exercises designed to push each others’ limits and bind together into a tightly knit, uninhibited and impassioned ensemble - one in which each member is given the opportunity and support not only to act, but to write, direct, produce, sweep, paint, hang lights, etcetera.

The fact that the company now consists of over 100 members from a wide array of cultural perspectives did not occur through some political design.  It grew out of a shared artistic sensibility and a desire to create personal work that reflects the community in which the company lives: New York City.

LAByrinth is dedicated to developing new plays through a unique creative process.

Each play LAByrinth produces is first presented at the Company’s annual Summer Intensive – a concentrated two-week retreat where Company Members and invited guest artists create brand new material and develop current works in progress. By surrounding the playwright with talented and passionate artists, this supportive environment allows freedom of expression and nurtures creativity.

After the Intensive, selected works move to the next stage in the creative process and are presented in one of two public forums in New York City.  These public readings give the playwright and his/her creative team further opportunity to rehearse and explore the text in front of an audience.

The Barn Series is a more formal reading series of plays in progress which are more fully staged and rehearsed. The Barn Series is open free of charge to the general public and considered part of LAByrinth’s annual season. Live Nude Plays is a less formal reading series where plays in progress are performed in a casual setting, with minimal staging, in front of an invited audience.

Works presented at The Barn Series and Live Nude Plays are considered each year to become a part of future LAByrinth seasons as fully staged productions.

To date, LAByrinth has produced 50 new American plays and has received 12 Drama Desk Award nominations, 8 Lucille Lortel Award nominations, 2 AUDELCO Award nominations, a Drama League Award nomination, an Olivier Award nomination, an Edinburgh Fringe First Award, and the 2002 Jujamcyn Theaters Award for outstanding contribution to the development of creative talent for the theater.
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