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Directors Lab West

"Dream.  Create.  Imagine."

Our History

The Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, initiated as a pilot project in 1994 in New York, was designed as an interactive forum to engage emerging directors in an intensive study of their craft and to foster collaborative relationships among a community of artists. Customarily, theatre has been acknowledged first and foremost as a writer's medium. Writing workshops and readings abound, offering a durable arena in which they can develop their work. Directors, however, are at a distinct disadvantage. Recognizing the absence of a program that allows young directors to cultivate their skills, Lincoln Center Theater established the Lab, a series of workshops, seminars, readings, and productions that enable participants to learn and grow as artists and working professionals. Each spring some one hundred directors representing a broad cross-section of backgrounds are invited to examine ideas about their professions and discuss their roles in the theater. In its first year, the Lab attracted artists living and working in New York City. Yet by the second year, nearly one quarter of the applicants traveled in from other cities. Since then, this trend has continued and the Lab now has members from across the country, as well as from Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, India and others.

In April 2000, five alumni of the New York Lab (Nick D'Abruzzo, Ernest Figueroa, Olivia Honegger, Kappy Kilburn & Andrew Sachs) came together with the help of Lincoln Center Theater's Anne Cattaneo and organized the West Coast extension of the Lab. Many of those original five continue to make up the Steering Committee today. 2008 will be the ninth year of the Directors Lab West. Since 2000, the Lab has proven to be hugely successful and draws Theatre Artists from around the United States. Speakers and Panelists have included Actors, Artistic Directors, Critics, Dramaturgs, Designers, Directors, Actors Equity, Theatre LA, Musicians, and Writers. Previous years sessions addressed issues such as producing theatre, working with writers and dramaturges, the relationship between actors and directors, movement, design and concerns and issues specific to Los Angeles Theater. In 2002 the Pasadena Playhouse became the hosting home of the lab. The lab is now also hosted by the Boston Court Performing Arts Complex. The lab is sponsored by the generous support of SSDC and SDCF.

See more information about each lab session by year.