New Paradise Laboratories & The Riot Group Freedom Club

I could sense immediately that this was an organization very much like our own: a company of long-term collaborators, and soon found out that we were, in fact, about the same age.” (NPL is 14 years old, the Riot Group is 13.)

“I also detected a mirror image of the work that we do,” continues Shaplin. “Whereas ours is minimalist and very text- driven, NPL’s is visually rich and totally physical. 

Artistic Director of NPL, Whit MacLaughlin, says, “We wondered what would happen if we smashed our two companies together.”

Though MacLaughlin has since directed two of the Riot Group’s original works, the collaboration’s first-born is the production of FREEDOM CLUB, written by Shaplin and directed by MacLaughlin.

NPL’s work has been presented at the Ontological Theatre and PS 122 in NYC, at the Walker Art Center and Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, the Princeton Atelier, at the Humana Festival of New American Plays, as well as at residencies in a variety of colleges and universities all over the country. FREEDOM CLUB is NPL’s ninth show to premiere at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. Past works include Fatebook (2009), BATCH (originally commissioned by the Humana Festival of New American Plays, 2007), Planetary Enzyme Blues (2005), Don Juan in Nirvana (2004), Rose Selavy Takes a Lover in Philadelphia (2003), This Mansion is a Hole (2001), the Obie Award-winning The Fab 4 Reach the Pearly Gates (2000), Stupor (1999), and Gold Russian Finger Love. PROM, a work of fake anthropology for young adults, premiered at The Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis. 

Past works include Wreck the Airline Barrier (1999), Victory at the Dirt Palace (2002), Pugilist Specialist (2003), Switch Triptych (2005) and Hearts of Man (2007).  The Riot Group have performed in New York at The Culture Project, 59E59 and the Ohio Theatre; in London at the Soho Theatre and Riverside Studios; the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, Theater Der Welt Festival in Stuttgart, ARCHES in Glasgow, the Flynn Center for the Arts and the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. The Riot Group are veterans of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where they previously received four Scotsman Fringe Firsts. In 2007, the Riot Group presented Hearts of Man as part of the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival.

Prior to founding NPL, he was a charter member, for 17 years, of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, originally under the artistic direction of Alvina Krause. Since 1978, he has acted in, directed, or written over 100 productions—most of these involved researching the techniques of collaborative theater creation. NPL’s work has been presented at the Ontological Theatre and PS 122 in NYC, at the Walker Art Center and Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, at the Humana Festival of New American Plays, as well as at residencies at colleges and universities nationwide. MacLaughlin earned a BA in Buddhism from Northwestern University and an MFA in directing from Virginia Polytechnic University. He has studied Suzuki Actor Training Method in Toga-mura, Japan, Grotowski Actor Training in France, and mime with Bud Beyer in Chicago.

the Sloan Foundation, London’s Soho Theatre, Playwright’s Horizons and New Paradise Laboratories.  From 2006 to 2008 Adriano served as the first International Playwright-in-Residence with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and his first play for the RSC, The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes, debuted in London in 2008.  His plays for the Riot Group are published in the United Kingdom by Oberon Books and have been performed in translation in Greece, Austria, Denmark, Brazil, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Recent projects include Survive! with Swim Pony, The Robot Etudes with Pig Iron, and Black Pearl Sings! with InterAct. Other projects include Twelfth Night, Big Love, Ses Voyages Sauvages, Never the Sinner, Victory at the Dirt Palace, Pugilist Specialist, Mort, Crumble: Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake, Hedda Gabler, and Angels in America: Part One. Maria is a member of The Riot Group and Applied Mechanics Theatre Company.

Previous designs include Batch, Prom, Planetary Enzyme Blues, and This Mansion is a Hole. Other companies Rosemarie has designed for include the Arden Theatre Company, People’s Light and Theatre Company, The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, InterAct Theatre Company, Theatre Exile, and Pig Iron Theatre Company. Rosemarie has won two Barrymore awards (2007, Caroline or Change, Arden Theatre; 2009, Something Intangible, Arden Theatre) and she was also nominated in 2009 for her work in Cinderella at People’s Light & Theatre Company. When Rosemarie is not designing she is an adjunct professor at Moore College of Art and Design.