The New Omaha Works Lab (NOW Lab) exists to support local playwrights in the Omaha metro area who are developing new work for the stage.
For the inaugural 2023 NOW Lab, the Omaha Community Playhouse selected two playwrights to provide an extended development process over the course of 8 months for their selected scripts. The goal of this process is to provide compensation, extended conversations, table reads, and workshop opportunities to help playwrights deepen their learning about their scripts.
New Omaha Works (NOW) Launch Event
The Omaha Community Playhouse (OCP) will host the second annual New Omaha Works (NOW) Launch event on Saturday, November 23 at 7:30 p.m. The event is free, open to the public. The event will be held in the Howard Drew Theatre at OCP.
2024 marks the second year for OCP’s NOW Lab and NOW Launch. This year’s NOW Launch will feature an original musical by Omaha playwright J. Isaiah Smith titled Kings, Queens, And Unruly Peasants. This is the first time a musical has been selected for the NOW Lab program. The staged reading of Kings, Queens, And Unruly Peasants will be performed by 15 actors and three musicians.
Kings, Queens, And Unruly Peasants
Book, Music, and Lyrics by J. Isaiah Smith
Directed by Breanna Carodine
Music Directed by Jim Bogguess
Stage Manager: Gaby Hiatt
Program Coordinator: Alex Rodriguez
Show Synopsis Kings, Queens, and Unruly Peasants is a musical comedy set in a medieval fourth-wall breaking world. It’s a show where princes usurp their fathers, queens rise from peasantry and peasants are unruly (of course)! Chaos runs rampant as the show and its story unfolds, with it all held together by two opposing forces: Those who rule the world and wish to keep it the same, and those with a vision for a better future, who want to see the people no longer exploited. Oh… and JAZZ HANDS!!!
About the Playwright
J. Isaiah Smith is an internationally produced playwright and theatre composer from Omaha, NE. His introduction to theatre was on the stage in high school before beginning a professional theatre career at the age of 16 as an ensemble member in a local production of Mary Poppins. At age 17, he was inspired by the many theatre creatives around him and decided to try his hand at writing a play for his senior directed one act play. With a busy schedule, he never got the chance to direct the one act play, however, his time spent writing a play for just the occasion left him with a fully written and stage-ready one act entitled, The Fourth Wall. In 2016, The Fourth Wall was published by a company based in the U.K. and The Republic of Congo. Shortly after, it would go on to be produced in schools, theatres and at competitions around the world. This encouraged him to continue writing more. A lover of musical theatre, Smith took his writing abilities and high school music experience to the charts and began working on his first musical that same year: Kings, Queens, And Unruly Peasants. Since 2016, J. Isaiah Smith has appeared across the Omaha theatre community as an actor, singer and composer (self-taught in each field, but tutored by several masters in his years). His works tend to focus on characters experiencing internal struggles, whacky circumstances and familial obstacles presented with an air of comedy but sincere to the characters.
Mission Statement
The mission of the NOW Lab is to develop, support and encourage new playwrights as they share their art through live theatre experiences. Our goal is to grow and diversify the Omaha pool for playwrights in a way that reflects and benefits the entire theatre community.
Inclusion & Equity Statement
OCP will be a creative home that is for the community, by the community. We will use theatre to break down barriers to ensure we reflect on our past, genuinely listen in the present and step into the future, together, to create a space of belonging for all individuals who share their valuable time and extraordinary talents with our community.
Program Breakdown
The selected playwright(s) participated in the following program for six months:
June– Playwrights finalize their most recent draft for the development period.
July– Closed meeting with playwright cohort, director, dramaturg, and artistic staff to discuss current draft and to identify development goals for each piece.
August– Table reading of each piece with discussion and feedback session afterwards.
September/October– Playwrights will continue work on their draft and will participate in an exploration workshop with actors and a director.
November – Final workshop draft is rehearsed leading up to the public reading on Nov.23, 2024.
* Artists involved in the NOW Lab will receive compensation for their efforts/talents.
Qualifications to Apply
2024 NOW Lab
Qualifications:
Applicants must reside in the Omaha metro area.
Applicants must be willing to meet the responsibilities set forth above.
Submissions must be previously unproduced and unpublished.
