New Plays by John Patrick Shanley, Stephen Adly Guirgis & More on Tap for Labyrinth Theater Company’s Barn Series

The Labyrinth Theater Company’s 13th annual Barn Series, which features free readings of new plays, will include works from John Patrick Shanley, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Halley Feiffer and Lyle Kessler. The series will be held at the Bank Street Theater in Manhattan’s West Village throughout the Labyrinth Theater Company’s 2012-13 season. Casting has not yet been set for any of the readings.

Feiffer’s new play I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard will be performed September 14 and 15. The show follows Ella, a precocious and fiercely competitive actress whose sole aim in life is making her famous playwright father proud—that is, aside from getting famous herself. When Ella’s father finally hurts her so badly that she refuses to crawl back to him, she flings herself into the arms of a brilliant young director with whom she begins to collaborate on a one-woman show…about her father.

Kessler’s The Great Divide will be performed on October 14 and 15. Set in Fishtown, Philadelphia, the dark comedy focuses on a father and two sons struggling for emotional dominance. Two invaders disrupt the family dynamic and life is changed forever.

Guirgis’ new play is currently a work in progress and does not yet have a title. The show will play two performances on November 19.

Shanley’s Women of the World is described as a pinwheel of one-act plays. The production will be performed on December 10 and 11.

Feiffer is a playwright and actress. Her plays include How to Make Friends and Then Kill Them and Sidney & Laura. As an actress, she has appeared on Broadway in The House of Blue Leaves and Tigers Be Still. Kessler is the author of Orphans, which is scheduled to open on Broadway in March 2013. His other plays include Collision, The Watering Place and Posession. Guirgis is the co-artistic director of the Labyrinth Theater Company and is the author of The Motherf**ker With The Hat, Jesus Hopped the A Train, Our Lady of 121st Street and In Arabia, among others. Shanley earned a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Doubt. His many plays include Storefront Church, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Savage in Limbo, Dirty Story, Where’s My Money? and Sailor’s Song.