Schedule

February 22nd: Wave_Head by: Joey Palestina

February 23rd: The War I Know by: Dominic Colon

February 24th: Intensive Ensemble Night

February 25th: Wherever You Go by: Elizabeth Canavan

February 26th: Rayne by: David Deblinger & Ben Snyder

February 27th: Dani & Joe: A Gen X Love Story by: Kristina Poe

February 28th: The Undertaking by: Chris McGarry

Bios

Elizabeth Canavan originated the roles in Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (Atlantic Theater), Between Riverside and Crazy (Atlantic Theater and 2nd Stage), Little Flower of East Orange (The Public Theatre), Marcia Cook in Our Lady of 121st Street (Union Square Theater), and Maryjane Hanrahan in Jesus Hopped the "A" Train (Center Stage NY, East 13th Street Theatre, Edinburgh Festival, The Donmar Wharehouse and The Arts Theatre, and played Fabiana Aziza Cunningham in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (The Public Theatre), all by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Other theater credits include: Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau (Lincoln Center), Black Lace by John Patrick Shanley, (The New Ohio Theater), Liz has written two short films, Father’s Day (Tribeca Film Festival 2016) and Sleeping with Sharks. Her play Ladies in Waiting has had readings in LAByrinth’s Barn Series, Circle in the Square, and Urban Theatre Movement in LA. LAByrinth Company Member.

Dominic Colón is an actor and writer who has appeared in over 60 films and television shows. Dominic's half hour pilot PAPI, recently made the inaugural Latinx TV List, a curated list of the ten most promising pilots created by Latinx Writers, and he was one of 3 finalists to receive a blind pilot deal from Hulu. Dominic's screenplay for his short film CRUSH won the HBO/New York International Latino Film Festival Short Film Script Competition. Dominic’s second short film: SKIN won the 2016 BRIO Award for screenwriting. His play PROSPECT AVE: THE MISEDUCATION OF JUNI RODRIGUEZ recently premiered as part of THE MTA PLAYS at Rattlestick Theater. His short plays have been performed at: The NYC Hip Hop Theater Festival, The Downtown Urban Theater Festival, The Nuyorican Poets Café, and Rebel Verses: NYC. Recent directing credits include: Eduardo Machado’s MARQUITAS (Rattlestick Theater/Pride Plays) & Episodes 4-6 of The MTA Plays at Rattlestick Theater. Dominic has also worked as a professional teaching artist, having taught acting and playwriting at Rikers Island Academy, and at various high schools, hospitals, and juvenile justice facilities throughout New York City.

David Deblinger is a co-founder of LAByrinth Theater Company. As an actor on TV he recently played a recurring role opposite Forest Whitaker in“Godfather of Harlem,” has appeared in "Broad City," "Blue Bloods," "SVU," "Sex and the City," and more.. Onstage he has originated roles in plays by John Patrick Shanley, Stephen Adly Guirgis and others. David has also created the critically acclaimed performance pieces, “Nobody’s Home,” “Shmoo,” “Lucky Penny,” and more. He’s a winner of the NYFA fellowship award for “Shakespearean Minute,” and wrote and directed the award winning short film, “The Callback,” starring Sam Rockwell. He’s so excited to be working with Ben Snyder, LAByrinth and this wonderful cast on “RAYNE.”

Chris McGarry Film and television acting credits include Barry, Lawless, The Good Fight and MadMen among others. Chris made his Broadway debut in Salome with Al Pacino, directed by Estelle Parsons. At Chicago's Goodman Theater he starred opposite Tom Hardy in Brett C. Leonard's The Long Red Road, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Off Broadway credits include John Patrick Shanley's Prodigal Son (MTC), Dirty Story (LAByrinth), and Defiance (MTC), among others. He starred opposite Cherry Jones in the national Broadway tour of Doubt, directed by Doug Hughes. His directing credits include John Patrick Shanley's Drama Desk nominated Sailor's Song for LAByrinth Theater Company at New York's Public Theater, Megan Mostyn-Brown's GIRL for the New York Fringe Festival and Ben Snyder's You Can Clap Now for HERE Arts Center, NYC. His short play, Two Gray Rooms, was first presented by LAByrinth Theater Company for their LAB25 festival at Cherry Lane Theater and starred John Ortiz and Florencia Lozano. He is a member of LAByrinth Theater Company and The Actor's Studio.

Joey Palestina holds a BFA in Acting and an MA in Mental Health Counseling from Montclair State University. He is a writer, actor, musician and LAByrinth Theater Company Member.

Kristina Poe (LAByrinth Company Member) Writer: The Idea of Me, Love Sick, The Restlessness of Desire, 11.05.08: Post-Racial America Day One, Victory Girls; Creator: Installation on America: Child Separation, The R&J Project; Actor: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (Drama Desk Nomination); Member: Actors Studio pdw. Education: UNC School of the Arts / Cherry Lane Mentor Project; Published by: Dramatists Play Service, Smith and Kraus Publishers; In Progress: DANI & JOE: A Gen X Love Story (play), Every Inch a King (pilot).

Ben Snyder is a playwright and filmmaker. His plays have been produced at P.S. 122, The Vineyard Theater, Crossroads Theatre, The Apollo Theater, New York Stage and Film, and at HBO's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Ben’s feature film directorial debut 11:55, is streaming on Showtime. He was a writer for the Netflix series Grand Army and is currently a producer for HBO's Betty. Ben serves as the Area Head of Screenwriting at Brooklyn College. He is a proud member of LAByrinth Theater Company.

Intensive Ensemble: Inspired by our own Summer Intensive and based on LAByrinth's three tenets; ensemble based, multidisciplinary and self-generating, the Intensive Ensemble is a weeklong program that empowers artists to push their boundaries and create their own work. This year’s playwrights include: Julia Rae Maldonado, Khalif J. Gillett, Yha Mourhia Wright, Jake Brasch, Juan Cortes & Isabella Gonzalez

The Plays

WAVE_HEAD Is a tale of faulty intimacy from faulty humans moving through a world of faulty connection

The War I Know Is the first in a trilogy of plays that chronicle the impact of HIV/AIDS on the Latinx community from the late 1980’s through the COVID 19 pandemic. Set in the Bronx in 1987 at the height of the AIDS and crack epidemics, THE WAR I KNOW, tells the story of the relationship between Eggie, a flamboyant 12 year old obsessed with television and musical theater, and his ten year old neighbor, who was perinatally infected with HIV and recently sent to live with their teenage half siblings after losing both parents to AIDS.

Wherever You Go The unimaginable has happened to Daisy and she thinks she is loosing her mind. She joins a support group and embarks on a radical journey risking everything to find her son

RAYNE A suspenseful journey through, love, lust, and loss.

DANI & JOE: A Gen X Love Story Four empty walls, two ex-lovers, one bed. A secret affair spanning decades, built on a desire for the ugliness in each other, finally facing itself in truth...and consequences.

*Contains Graphic Sexual Content*

The Undertaking Every year Tom buries a few hundred of his fellow townspeople. Love, loss, living - life studies from the dismal trade.

Intensive Ensemble Shows

The Zookeepers by: Julia Rae Maldonado

Directed By: Yair Kaos

The exhausted essential staff from the Bronx Zoo Mammal Department are holding a late-night emergency meeting over Zoom to discuss how the lockdown is affecting a very beloved elephant

Giving Into the Bit Written & Directed by: Khalif J. Gillett

There Is a Bar is a surrealist look at the summer of 2020 when life was tragic, hilarious, shocking and confusing; leaving us with the feeling of being either paralyzed or drunk.

The Basement By: Yhá Mourhia Wright

Directed By: Anita Sibony de Adelsberg

What would you do if you crossed paths with yourself...only it did not look like you? The Basement is a snapshot exploration of reincarnation, race relations, and how our judgments manifest our worst fears.

Hail Elisha By: Jake Brasch

Directed by: David Zayas Jr

Participants in the LAB Educational Intensive gather for a peculiar Zoom rehearsal

The Rave By: Juan Cortes

Directed by: Deb Linehan

What does a protest for the protection of black lives mean when the only black woman in the group gets arrested and nobody else notices?

Lies We Tell Ourselves in the Dark By: Isabella Gonzalez

Directed by: Enemy Jones

After an attempt at lucid dreaming gone wrong, Maya finds herself lost within her own mind. Unfortunately, her only company just happens to be the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and they have a lesson they're dying to teach