Join us for a spotlight on work from Precious Thieves playwright, Jared Eberlein. The evening “marks something of a retrospective of my short plays,” says Eberlein. Though written across the last decade, each play in the trilogy asks us to explore our relationships with one another, how we navigate the good and the bad, how do we fit into society, when we do. And how hard should we try to fit in when we feel like we don’t? 

I’ll String Along with You introduces us to Sarah and Laurel, a married couple living in NYC. While Sarah’s son Cooper shows up for one night “just to crash,” for his mother, the stay presents an opportunity to repair their broken relationship. When Laurel discovers Sarah secretly working on a gift for Cooper in the basement laundry room of their building, Laurel, knowing how awry Sarah’s plan can go, tries to get her to face the reality that one night can’t fix it. In the end, Eberlein asks us if to hope is okay? 

Click: A Travel Motif, puts the audience literally in the driver’s seat—and asks us to be honest about which of our deeply-rooted perceptions are long overdue for dismantling? In this fast-moving percussive-language piece, we meet James and Jerry, two successful Black men who are just trying to catch the bus. Through their interactions with each other and the city traffic, we see the lengths those around us may be going to fit a systemic norm and survive relentless snap judgements.

Our final piece of the evening is Jack: A Love Story. Set in San Francisco in 1963, Eberlein puts a delightfully dark twist on several timeless fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Meet Brick (of “Three Pigs'' fame) and Jack (from the Beanstalk and also Jill’s brother) two recently released cellmates from Alcatraz who are attempting to adjust to life “on the outside.” Brick wants to return home to his wife right away. Jack feels lost in his freedom. To stay or to go? An omniscient Beatnik narrator, certainly makes us wonder if the choice is ever ours. 

LAB Theater Project is a non-profit 501(c)3 production company focused on producing new works in the Tampa Bay Community. Our belief in a "playwright first" focus is resolute and a core value of the company. Along with a focus on developing new works, we also focus on training new theater artists to join our growing community. 

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We only produce works from emerging playwrights and develop, through education, new artists (Actors, Directors, Stage Managers, and Designers) for the continued growth of live theater artistry. 

We currently produce four new plays per year, often utilizing students in aspects of the production; thereby, giving students the opportunity to put into practice what they have learned while working side by side with established professionals in the community as well as enriching the collaborative creative process of the playwright.

Our Mandate: 

1. Bring the Playwright's vision to life.

2. Grow as artists.

3. Develop new theater artist: Actors, Directors, Designers, & Stage Managers.

4. Build a core of artists who desire a life-long practice of theatrical artistry.