Theatre LILA's "The Seagull: Rehearsed"

press release:

Theatre LILA presents a reading of a new play:

The Seagull: Rehearsed

April 24, 7:00pm, Madison Opera Center, 335 W Mifflin Street

Theatre LILA has invited James DeVita to direct and workshop the reading of an original play by Tyler Marchant. A reading of The Seagull: Rehearsed will be presented on April 24 at 7pm at the Madison Opera Center.

The concept behind The Seagull: Rehearsed

Playwright Tyler Marchant asks the question, “Have you ever wondered what actually happens in the rehearsal room of a play, or how a play improves during the rehearsal process?” This play leads audiences “behind the curtain” with a company of actors in rehearsal with Chekhov’s iconic play The Seagull. The play reveals the intimate pieces of the puzzle that must be found and used creatively. Part magic, part craft, part blood, sweat and tears – Marchant’s adaptation reveals how moments are negotiated between director and actors before opening night.

The Playwright: Tyler Marchant recently premiered three original pieces in Theatre LILA’s The Suitcase Dreams including Happy Sad Clown, Tell Me What You See and This is the End. He is a director and writer who worked in New York City for over seven years as the Associate Artistic director at Primary Stages. In his time developing new plays at Primary Stages he worked with numerous playwrights including Terrence McNally, Horton and Daisy Foote, Stephen Belber, A.R. Gurney, Lee Blessing, Christopher Durang, and many others. Other New York directing work includes several productions, workshops, and readings of new plays by Neil LaBute, Lucy Thurber, Stephen Belber, Steven Dietz among others.  He directed the world premiere of Freud’s Last Session, which ran for 800 performances in New York City before transferring to Chicago and Los Angels.  The play has gone on to be produced in over a dozen countries worldwide.

The public reading of The Seagull: Rehearsed will be held Friday April 24 at 7pm at the Madison Opera Center (335 W Mifflin Street in Madison). Admission is a suggested donation of $10 to support Theatre LILA’s Actors LAB 360, which provides a space for development of new work.

Theatre LILA (pronounced LEE-luh): Founded in New York City in 2004 and transplanted to Madison in 2013, Theatre LILA’s mission is to create original works and bring theatre to life in unexpected ways. In 2014 they produced two plays at Overture Center: No Child…by Nilaja Sun and the original work The Suitcase Dreams. They kicked off 2015 in collaboration with CTM on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. LILA’s 2015-16 Season will include TRASH: a Theatre LILA invention and a collaborative production of Aishah Rahman’s play, The Mojo and The Sayso, with Milwaukee’s Bronzeville Arts Ensemble.

The Actors LAB 360° workshop: The mission of the THE ACTORS LAB 360° is to rigorously investigate and explore Theatre LILA’s physical theatre techniques and experimental ideas, to treat the rehearsal space like a working scientific laboratory for original works, establish scripts and various theater, dance, and ensemble techniques, and to expand the boundaries of theatrical convention without the pressure of production results.