11th Annual LaBute New Theater Festival
St. Louis Actors’ Studio
July 13, 2025
It’s Festival time again for STLAS. Their Annual LaBute New Theater Festival, named for playwright Neil LaBute, is now in its 11th edition, with a selection of plays in which the prime issues seem to revolve around personal relationships and trust, as well as challenging societal structures, with a trend toward the sharply satirical in at least half of the shows presented here. As always, it’s an intriguing showcase for the works of largely lesser-known playwrights, providing memorable roles for talented local performers.
While the writers are different for each play, the works are helmed by two directors, each taking three plays, and with six actors (Maclean Blanner, Claire Coffey, Tyler Crandall, Xander Huber, Reagain Posey-Mank, and Sarah Wilkinson) taking various roles as the shows demand. The technical team is consistent throughout, with sets and lighting by Patrick Huber, props by Emma Glose, costumes and wigs by Abby Pastorello, and sound by STLAS.
The background set is essentially the same as it has been at past festivals–a dark gray back wall with a recessed area in center, and with each play’s title and author projected at the beginning. It’s a format that has worked for STLAS consistently for this festival, and it works well this year, too, allowing a sort of “blank canvas” for the directors and designers to build their shows’ “worlds” as needed.
Here are a few thoughts about the individual plays:
“TEOTWAWKI”
by Aleks Merilo
Directed by Bryn McLaughlin
Sarah Wilkinson
Photo by Patrick Huber
St. Louis Actors’ Studio
It’s the end of the world as we know it (that’s what the title stands for), and Wilkinson is sitting alone beside a ham radio setup, sending a broadcast out into the ether, hoping someone will hear. Apparently there has been some cataclysmic event, and Wilkinson is looking to see if anyone else is out there. Her pleas are passionate, even desperate, but what is really going on here? I can’t say much else, because that would spoil it, but I will say that there’s a lot to think about here, and Wilkinson gives a truly fantastic performance. There’s also fine support from Crandall, Huber, and Posey-Mank in smaller roles, but Wilkinson is star here. It’s a bold start for this year’s collection of shows.
“Poor Me”
by Tracy Carns
Directed by Bryn McLaughlin
Former roommates have a spat. That’s the “easy” way to describe this play, but there’s a lot more going on here than just an argument. Tad (Huber) is apparently the son of the landlord of the apartment building, and he’s married and moved out of the unit that is still being occupied by Cleo (Claire Coffey), a struggling artist. The ongoing struggle between “haves” and “have-nots” is addressed here, as well as issues of personal loyalties and independence. The dialogue is sharp and characters well-drawn, with strong performances from both players here, with Coffey’s stubbornly insistent Cleo especially memorable.
“Hungry Women”
By Melissa Maney
Directed by Avery Harrison
Megan Posey-Mank, Maclean Blanner, Claire Coffey
Photo by Patrick Huber
St. Louis Actors’ Studio
This play is the most elaborate and pointed of this year’s offerings, with strong costume design and use of lighting, as well as a message that provides much to talk and think about. Subject-wise, this is more in the “extreme” satirical category, as a group women in what appears to be the 19th Century ponder their existence after an event of some sort that has killed all the men in their town, and potentially elsewhere. Each of these women–Eden (Posey-Mank), Mary (Blanner), Ruth (Coffey), and Vic (Wilkinson)–have seemingly different reactions at first, but the bold, brash Vic encourages a radical solution to their dilemma at which the others initially balk. I’m not going to say much else, other than that the title seems to have a multi-layered meaning. The performances are enthusiastic and excellent here, with strong chemistry among the actors, and the issues raised here are certainly worth talking about, even it if does seem to major more on shock value. Still, there are important issues to discuss that are raised here, and I’m guessing this will be the most talked-about show of the festival, which I guess is the overall point.
“A Modest Proposal”
by David MacGregor
Directed by Avery Harrison
After the first part of the festival has closed with a “shocking” satire, the second part begins with another one, with a title that alludes to a famous satirical work by Jonathan Swift. As shocking and confrontational as that work was in its time (and now), this story has a similar approach, even though the “dilemma” and “solution” offered are different. Here, we see two corporate executives–CFO Posey-Mank and CEO Crandall–bemoaning all the various proposals they’ve been reviewing from a stream of consultants all offering variations on the same ideas, until a new consultant, Wilkinson, enters with a radical idea that shocks them at first, but soon exposes their own greed and selfishness and real sense of priorities. It’s a sharp skewering of corporate culture and greed, and all three performers do an excellent job with their characterizations and the overall tone of the story, although the corporate types portrayed here are kind of one-dimensional and therefore “easy targets”.
“Carpool”
by Dave Carley
Directed by Avery Harrison
This is a very short play, but it’s fun. Here, we have three white-collar office workers (Coffey, Huber, and Blanner) carpooling to work on a succession of days, with the road projected in the background to maintain the sense of movement. The banter between the characters, and the contrasting personalities adds to the comedy, as do the literary and theatrical references that may be noticed by those familiar with the works of T.S. Eliot and Samuel Beckett. This one comes across more as a sketch than a play, but it’s fun nonetheless, with strong performances and crisp comic timing all around.
“Scenes From a Bookstore”
by Neil LaBute
Directed by Neil Labute
Tyler Crandall, Maclean Blanner
Photo by Patrick Huber
St. Louis Actors’ Studio
This work, by the festival’s namesake LaBute, is perhaps the playwright’s best work for the festival to date, at least in my mind. Many of LaBute’s past entries have come across more as scenes or acting exercises than plays, but this one has a story and genuine plot movement, with characters that come across as well-drawn and memorable. The characters are listed in the program as Him (Crandall), Her (Blanner), and She (Coffey), but one of them (importantly, I think) does have a name. This is a somewhat clever variation on the rom-com “meet cute” trope, but it also examines the repercussions of such an encounter when one or both of the parties involved is already in a committed relationship. As Crandall and Blanner–whose characters have apparently been previously involved–are reacquainted in a chance encounter at a bookstore and then later seem to regularly bump into each other again, we later are introduced to the man’s wife, Coffey, who soon begins to have her own suspicions. I think it’s clear here with whom we are supposed to sympathize most (the one who has a name), and I certainly do. It’s a clever exploration of relationships and expectations, and all three players are excellent. In my mind, this is most successful and fully-formed show of this year’s collection.
St. Louis Actors’ Studio is presenting The 11th Annual LaBute New Theater Festival at the Gaslight Theater until July 27, 2025
