Testimonials
Some of our 88 former and current Lab members give testimonials about their experience in the Lab:"The LAB was an idyllic time. I met and became close friends with collaborators and peers like Francine Volpe, Anne Kauffman, Steve Cosson, Anne Washburn, Laramie Dennis, who stayed a part of my creative and personal lives and deepened my relationships with peers and collaborators I already knew/loved/respected (Neena Beber, Linsay Firman) - the biweekly meetings provided a structure in which genuine creative community could flourish. It was a great and rich time." -Brooke Berman, '99-'00
"I love the lab and have for years. As an actor in Anne Washburn's Apparition it was one of my first NY acting "jobs" (if job can be defined as being paid by a Metrocard, which I believe it most certainly should be.) As an audience member it was the place where I first saw amazing work like Anne's The Internationalist, Sheila Callaghan's Lascivious Something, and Adam Bock's The Thugs. And this year after numerous applications, I finally come to it as a playwright and I'm happy to say that it's a place where I was given the time, motivation and support to write a play that I wouldn't have created otherwise. It was the hottest development program when I moved to New York seven years ago and in this my last year as a New Yorker it still retains this status. I would have felt incomplete as a writer if I had moved away without being a member of the Lab." -Deron Bos, '07-'08
"I found the lab to be extraordinarily helpful and supportive. My play was this big fat honking monster, and I had no idea what I needed to do with it. The other folks in the room helped me to see my play more clearly and guide it into a more manageable state. I was so proud of the work I did in the lab, and I doubt I could have done it all on my own." -Sheila Callaghan, '03-'04
"Terror is an unbeatable motivating force. When I discovered the talent level of my fellow Lab members, I immediately panicked and started writing like IĠd never written before, pulling out all stops, anything to avoid public shame. Though the element of fear was productive, it was also unfounded - my lab partners were not only gifted, but also incredibly supportive, providing me with helpful advice and intelligently considered feedback. It was an education, and a pleasure. I owe a huge debt to the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab." -Ruben Carbajal, '99-'00,'01-'02
"It was one of the best ways you can write a play. Instead of being alone and having to get something finished for a crash landing of a reading, I felt completely supported throughout the entire process. The deadlines and structure forced me to write, and our wildly smart group gave me invaluable responses. It meant I was happier and less fearful while creating, but could be sure I was writing the play for my own aesthetic, not for anyone else's." -Eisa Davis, '03-'04
"If you look at a list of the artists that Soho Rep has developed both in and out of the Writer/Director Lab over the last ten years, you'll see a who's who of not just American Theater, but the multiple American theaters - uptown, downtown, regional, international. But what you might not realize is that no one knew who most of them were when Soho Rep decided to give them a shot. Soho Rep gambled on me by opening the door when I knocked, and by encouraging me to stay. My time with them has been life-changing. My first produced lab play was 1001, which premiered at the Denver Center in early 2007, and by the end of 2008, all four plays I wrote in the Lab will have received premieres. By the end of 2009, they will have received at least ten productions between them. None of this would have been possible without this amazing theater." -Jason Grote, '03-'04,'04-'05,'05-'06,'06-'07
"The lab continues to be one of the most purely positive creative events of my life." -Amy Boyce Holtcamp, '99-'00
"Being in the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab to work on my play 4 Edges was instrumental to my development as an playwright. My fellow writers helped me grow as a writer as they shared their own processes of working on their plays, and it was an honor to work with director Trip Cullman. I began to really learn about what development processes were best for my work as the feedback sessions were really incredible and a lot of thought was given to how the work was nurtured as well as presented. It was a great experience that I now see has given me a lot of insight into how and why I continue to write plays." -Crystal Skillman, '02-'03
"I was in the lab in 1999/2000 and then, because you could do this then, I took the lab in 2000/2001 and then again in 2002/2003 and then they stopped letting me do it but just about every production I've had in New York has come out of plays I wrote in the lab or collaborators I met in the lab and as importantly the lab gave me courage, it gave me conspirators -- a community of really crazy great weirdly talented people who are dedicated for all but incoherent reasons to a kind of theater which is not in the least bit commercial and which no one has managed to satisfactorily define but which we for some reason feel to be incredibly important. When I first began the lab it wasn't at all known but it still always felt like a privilege to be there." -Anne Washburn, '99-'00,'00-'01,'02-'03
"What I particularly liked about the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab was the way that the plays developed and matured over time. In my year, the writers and directors really inspired each other to make the plays intricate and meaningful. I remember a great camaraderie during the meetings, and I appreciated the insight, creativity, and intellect of Soho Rep's writers and directors." -Marcina Zaccaria, '99-'00
"The Writer/Director Lab was an invaluable experience for me. It set the standard for what I look for in a workshop -- and it set a very high one. The consistent structure, clearly articulated goals, style of feedback and quality of people involved made it hard not to write a play that one was going to feel good about. The Lab also introduced me to an amazing group of people, many of whom have become close collaborators and friends. At base, when one joins The Lab, one also becomes a real member of the New York theater scene; the connections one makes, and inspiration one finds there, last for a very long time." -Anna Ziegler, '04-'05