Theater Lab

The Theater Lab, an experimental performance space, was launched in 2011 when distinguished playwright Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues), used the lab to workshop her newest play, O.P.C.: Obsessive Political Correctness, collaborating with student actors and assistants. The workshop production, directed by Ensler, was presented as a staged reading with installation elements in the Theater Lab. Past productions in the Theater Lab include:

JUNE 2019
The 2019 M.F.A. Ones
Original work by M.F.A. playwriting students

MAY 2019
An Evening of Devised Works
Collaborative works written and presented by M.F.A. students

MARCH 2019
The Lainie Kazan Project
Directed by Lainie Kazan, this event is a studio presentation of songs by undergraduate students in the Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program.

JANUARY 2019
The Paula Vogel Workshop

The Sun Ladies
A Maria Bello Experience
Directed by Aya Saleh; VR sequence directed by Christian Stephen and Celine Tricart

DECEMBER 2018
Freshman Fall Performance Workshop: The Book of Liz
Directed by Jeff Maynard

DECEMBER 2017
Working, A Musical
From the book by Studs Terkel; Adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso with additional contributions by Gordon Greenberg; Directed by Nicholas Gunn with musical direction by Dan Belzer

JUNE 2017
The Lainie Kazan Project
Directed by Lainie Kazan, this event was a studio presentation of songs by undergraduate students in the Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program.

Old, Blue, Borrowed, New
This class presentation explored movement and its impact in theatrical work. Directed by UCLA TFT'S Tom O’Connor and Dacun Jung.

DECEMBER 2016
Sunday in the Park With George
UCLA TFT’s Jeremy Mann directed the Tony Award-winning Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical about a painter working on his masterpiece.

MARCH 2016
The 2016 M.F.A. Ones
Original work by M.F.A. playwriting students included Layla Levy Layla, written by Kit Lascher and directed by Shichang Charles Jin; Solicit This, written by Joe Samaniego and directed by Evelina Stampa; The Queen of Tent City, written by Anna Fox and directed by Jayongela Wilder; and The Gift, written by Scott Barnhardt, Sachandra Grandoit, Patrick Hurley, Josh Segal and Paula Vesala; directed by Brendan Hartnett

MAY 2015
The Two Cities Project
Undergraduate actors from the Department of Theater and from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art will perform new work in real time in London and Los Angeles via broadband Internet connection. Two distinguished playwrights traveling from London to Los Angeles and vice versa will provide the focus for this exciting acting and playwriting experiment.

FEBRUARY 2015
Project III
The plays in Project III were directed by M.F.A. directors Darcie Crager and Brendan Hartnett, and featured undergraduate actors from the Department of Theater.

JANUARY 2014
Double Falsehood
Undergraduate actors from the Department of Theater were featured in this wildly decadent 18th century play by Lewis Theobald, based on a play by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher in which an act of outrage against a young woman plagues a family. The piece was reportedly based on a last collaboration between Shakespeare and Fletcher. Directed by Adjunct Assistant Professor Paul Wagar.

NOVEMBER 2013
Exploding Lear
King Lear stormed into the modern world with a visceral exploration of the great Shakespearean tragedy in this workshop performance starring Olivier-Award-winning actor Kathryn Hunter and directed by Helena Kaut-Howson. A long-time artistic team, Hunter and Kaut-Howson have led groundbreaking work at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Globe and the Young Vic. The production also featured undergraduate actors from the Department of Theater and was made possible by the generous support of the Los Angeles Philanthropic Committee for the Arts.

MAY 2013
Winterreise
Directed and designed by MFA designer Emily MacDonald, this song cycle for voice and piano featured undergraduate actors from the Department of Theater. Music by Franz Schubert, Libretto by Wilhelm Müller.

FEBRUARY 2012
The Country Wife
In William Wycherley’s play, Margery seems like a naïve country girl, but she’s about to show everyone how fast she can master big city life. The production featured graduate actors from the Department of Theater. Directed by Adjunct Professor Paul Wagar.

JANUARY 2012
Antwone Fisher: A Play
Writer-director Antwone Fisher’s autobiographical play became the second workshop production to inhabit the Theater Lab space. The piece was a verbal and emotional parry between Fisher and Commander Williams, the Navy psychologist he was ordered to see after he was involved in a fight with a fellow sailor. Fisher was a visiting professor at TFT in Winter Quarter 2012.