Madonna and the LAB
The small theater group, formally the LAByrinth Theater Company, has attracted the interest and support of such institutions as the Public Theater, HBO and Madonna.
But now, the focus is on a Greenwich Village theater’s cramped and crowded rehearsal room, where actor John Ortiz and playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis run through the lines of “Guinea Pig Solo,” the company’s new play.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, better known as a movie actor (“Cold Mountain,” “Almost Famous”), interrupts occasionally to offer suggestions.
Hoffman and Ortiz are the LAByrinth’s artistic directors. In 14 years, the company has produced more than 30 new plays, including Guirgis’ acclaimed dramas “Our Lady of 121st Street” and “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train.”
But Guirgis is in the unusual role of an actor in Brett C. Leonard’s “Guinea Pig Solo,” which is in previews before its opening on Saturday.
It’s the third production since the Joseph Papp Public Theater invited the Labyrinth to be a resident company this season.
HBO has opened its midtown headquarters to provide much-needed office space.
And the theater company is negotiating to bring “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train” to Broadway, with Madonna as a backer. The play has a successful run this year in London.
It’s a long way from LAByrinth’s beginnings (LAB is an acronym for Latino Actors Base), when Ortiz’s plan was to create an “actors’ gym.”
“We basically wanted to create a space for actors to try out new kinds of expressions,” says Ortiz, who started the company with Gary Perez, Paul Calderon and actor-playwright David Deblinger.
Source: New York Daily News