select our season

SHOWTIMES

September 28th and 29th, 2012
 
All shows at 8pm
Free admission

Select Our Season
MadLab will present SELECT OUR SEASON, their latest venture that gives control to the audience. This time the audience gets to decide the final selection for MadLab’s 2013  season. After hearing 20 minutes from each of the 3 contestants presented in a staged reading format, the audience will vote to decide which gets a full production in 2013 on the MadLab stage. 

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cast

WALL by J.R. SPAULDING JR.

All Mr. Rondo and his assistant Ms. Ricki want is to build a wall of “grandiloquent scale and epic importance” in hopes of creating a symbol for Americans that will provide them purpose in what seems to be an otherwise meaningless and mundane life. But what initially seems to be a noble and most elementary task becomes increasingly more difficult to achieve as they face a lack of manpower, limited supplies, and a time crunch that will put them in an epic showdown against the oppression of America’s one-percent, also known as The Man.

J.R. Spaulding Jr. grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where he currently lives with one dazzling wife, two loveable stepchildren, a rat, two cats, and his anxiety-ridden pitbull, Medea. As a teacher he uses his super powers to un-socialize and de-roboticize the youth of America in hopes to create a new world order of literati elitists. He received a B.A. in English Education and an M.A. in theatre history from Michigan State University where he learned, above all, that wolverines are barely more than oversized, dumpster-diving rodents, and he loathes the filthy vermin as much as any Buckeye ever could.

BROKEN DAUGHTERS by JOSH HARTWELL

Conrad Douglass is a rugged working-class widower.  A displaced Bostonian in Tampa, Florida, and the father of three troubled adult daughters:  Penelope is in prison for a violent hate-crime, Cassandra and her partner, Morgan, want desperately to welcome a baby into their lives, and Rene struggles with intellectual and emotional damage from a traumatic brain injury years earlier.  When Penelope is assaulted and impregnated by a prison guard, Conrad embraces his opportunity to restore what remains of his deteriorated family.
Confused, overwhelmed, and anxious in wildly unfamiliar terrain, Conrad resorts to whatever might be in his control to heal his children’s wounds. 

Josh Hartwell is an actor and playwright in Denver, having appeared in more than 50 plays.  He was recently seen in Clybourne Park (Denver Post Ovation Award for “Best Actor in a Comic Role”) at Curious Theatre Company, An Empty Plate in the Café Du Grand Boeuf (Boulder Daily Camera; “Boulder County’s Best in 2011: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Comedic Role”) at BETC, and Kafka on Ice at Buntort Theater.  
As a playwright, Hartwell is represented by Ron Gwiazda at Abrams Artists Agency in NYC.  His play Contrived Ending (Ovation Award and Henry Award nominees; Marlowe Award winner) earned a feature film and Off-Broadway contract with Starry Night Entertainment.  The Rank and the Bloodrush was a semi-finalist for The O’Neill Festival’s New Play Conference in 2011, won second place at the Bottletree One Act Play Competition in Kingston, Ontario.  A Different Client will be produced at the  “Short + Sweet” festival in Auckland, New Zealand.  
Hartwell writes for Buntport Theater’s live-action comic book, Trunks and for Curious Theatre Company’s Denver Stories. He is an instructor for young playwrights with Curious New Voices and dramaturge for the Living History program at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.  Hartwell is an Artistic Company Member of Curious Theatre Company and an ensemble member at Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company.  

THE PLAYDATERS by NEIL HAVEN

First dates are stressful, especially when you keep score. Roommates Spencer and Erwin exploit a dating website to play a devilish game of dares and pranks on unsuspecting singles.  The guys possess the ability to manipulate time and reality, a power which they employ to debate the rules and comment on the flow of the pranks.  As the rules of the game break down, so do the rules of a conventional romantic comedy.  Spencer eventually wants to try a real relationship with a one-dimensional character, and Erwin, in his efforts to thwart Spencer, finds that he can manipulate the world of a romantic comedy in the most astounding ways. The Playdaters features a crude hand puppet, waffles, and juvenile shenanigans.

Neil Haven is a playwright and actor based in Milwaukee. He is the author of Who Killed Santa?, Stuck, Pink Champagne, The Playdaters , Get a Life, Odd Ducks, and Cut or Uncut, among others. His work has been seen at various theatres around the country, including In Tandem Theatre and  UPROOTED Theatre (Milwaukee,) The Secret Theatre (NYC), The Chicago Fringe, ATC (Chicago), Freshwater Theatre (Minneapolis), and Nevada Conservatory Theatre. He has received commissions from Kohl's Wild Theatre, Milwaukee Public Theatre, and the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center,   Who Killed Santa? is available through Original Works Publishing. www.neilhaven.com

cast & crew

Directed by Jim Azelvandre

BROKEN DAUGHTERS
Aran Carr as Penelope
Nikki Smith as Morgan
Stephen Woosley as Conrad
Becky Horseman as Rene
Molly St. Cyr as Cassandra

THE PLAYDATERS
Becky Horseman as Gina
Stephen Woosley as Erwin
Travis Horseman as Spencer
Molly St. Cyr, Nikki Smith, Aran Carr as   Various Girls

WALL
Travis Horseman as Rondo
Nikki Smith as Ricki
Sean Reid as Foreman
Stephen Woosley as Clive
Aran Carr as Norm
Molly St. Cyr as Buck
Scott Tobin as Albert