HOTEL NEW WORK
THE WHITE WHALE JOURNAL
A new work from VagaMundo Productions and The Flamboyance Theatre
Written by Arturo Luíz Soria & Dustyn Kurt Gobler
Directed by Danilo Gambini
Performed by Arturo Luíz Soria & José Espinosa
An artistic respite, where new works are given space to breathe, grow, and engage with outside eyes at an early stage.
Theaterlab provides a place where artists of various disciplines can unpack their bags, display their ideas, and share the room keys with engaged spectators.
Hotel New Work provides collaboratively-driven companies in the midst of creating ambitious new work with 40 hours of rehearsal time and one work-in-progress showing with feedback.
Theaterlab is happy to provide room keys to Arturo Luíz Soria and Danilo Gambini, as they develop The White Whale Journal.
The White Whale Journal
After the tragic death of his brother, a writer inherits a strange archive: journals of daily life, each tagged with a sticker—pig, plum blossom, small talismans of attention. All are accounted for save one: The White Whale Journal. Drawn into the undertow of his brother’s words, the performer goes hunting—for what was withheld, erased, or too heavy to name. He builds a ritual from fragments and margins, chasing the meaning of blank pages and deliberate gaps. The play refuses quiet reverence, circling instead the cultural silence around suicide and the lack of rituals to hold it. In tracking what’s missing, the narrator resists a neat ending, choosing obsession over closure, pursuit over resignation. What emerges is not an answer, but a widening: a brother restored not as a final act, but as a vast, unfinished human story still breaching the surface.
We invite you to join them in the room to witness and respond to this brand new work.
They’ll share up to 45 mins of what they’ve been working on, followed by an opportunity for you to respond and provide thoughts and insight. Your feedback is welcomed and essential to the next phase of artistic development.
RESIDENCY
Theaterlab is excited to welcome VagaMundo Productions and The Flamboyance Theatre (Arturo Luíz Soria, Danilio Gambini, and Nahuel Telleria) to Hotel New Work.
The White Whale Journal will be in residence from Monday, March 9th through Sunday, March 22nd.
They will present a 45 minute work-in-progress showing on Sunday, March 22nd at 5:00pm, followed by a feedback session.
RESIDENCY COLLABORATORS
Dr. Nahuel Telleria .……………….... Dramaturgy
José Espinosa ……………………………. Performer
Kathy Ruvuna ………………………. Sound design
Johnny Moreno ….. Video/Projection design
Krista Smith ………………………. Lighting design
Stephanie Osin Cohen ………… Scenic design
WORK-IN-PROGRESS SHOWING & FEEDBACK
Sunday, March 22nd, 2026 at 5:00pm
Approx. total time : 90 minutes
Those interested in attending the work-in-progress showing and feedback session may RSVP below.
Attendance is FREE with RSVP
MEET THE ARTISTS
DANILO GAMBINI (Director)
Danilo Gambini is a NYC-based director of Theater, Musicals and Opera. He is originally from São Paulo – Brazil, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
Recent credits include A Case for the Existence of God by Samuel Hunter at Mosaic Theater; The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh and Wipeout by Aurora Real de Asua, both at Studio Theatre; the operas Iolanta by Tchaikovsky and The Rake’s Progress by Stravinsky at Yale Opera/Shubert Theatre New Haven; Ni Mi Madre at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (Obie Award Winner; Drama Desk Nom., Drama League Nom.,Outer Critics Nom., NYT Critic’s Pick, TheaterMania Editor’s Pick); Agreste by Newton Moreno at Spooky Action Theater; and the new musical Sabina, by Willy Holtzman, with music by Louise Beach and lyrics by Darrah Cloud, co-directed with Daniella Topol at Portland Stage in Maine.
As a Producer, he served as Studio Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director for three seasons. Prior to Studio he was the Associate Artistic Director at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, as well as part of the 20/21/22 Roundabout Director’s Group.
Danilo is one of the founding members of the Immigrant Theatermakers Advocates, a group of artists who have made it part of our practice to advocate for immigrants in the theater industry. itainitiative.org
Danilo holds a B.F.A. in Film and Television (Curso Superior do Audiovisual) from the University of São Paulo (ECA-USP), and an artist diploma as actor from the School of Dramatic Art (Escola de Arte Dramática – EAD), also from the University of São Paulo, and an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama (David Geffen School of Drama at Yale).
DUSTYN KURT GOBLER (Co-Creator)
Dustyn Kurt Gobler was a writer, producer, and post-production supervisor. He has worked with Purveyors of Pop and Fremantle Media. His many credits include: The Real Housewives of Miami, Lucky Ladies Mexico, Roman Empire, Married to Medicine, and NASCAR: The Rise of American Speed. He was a proud member of the PGA and a graduate from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
ARTURO LUÍZ SORIA (Creator/Performer)
Arturo Luíz Soria is an award-winning actor and writer based in NYC. His solo show Ni Mi Madre premiered at Rattlestick Theater, winning the Obie Award for Best Performance. It went on to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, garnering an Offie Award in London. His play Novios has been a semifinalist/finalist for The O’Neill, Ojai, and an honorable mention for the Relentless Award and received developmental workshops at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, and the Latinx New Play Festival at La Jolla Playhouse. Arturo recently adapted the novel Bodega Dreams to screen with Black Bar Mitzvah Productions and Votiv Films, slated to be directed by Angel Manuel Soto.
Arturo is a two time NYSCA grant recipient, a MacDowell Fellow, and was part of the inaugural TV writing mentorship program at Hillman Grad Productions. Theatre credits: Broadway’s The Inheritance (Tony Award Best Play); Wet Brain (World Premiere), Hit the Wall (World Premiere), Water by the Spoonful TV/Film: CIA, Found, Insatiable, The Blacklist, East New York, and the upcoming features, Pimp$hit and
JOHNNY MORENO (Video/Projection Designer)
Johnny Moreno is a Media and Production Designer & Creative Director working across multiple disciplines. Selected Work: Mexodus (Daryl Roth Theater / Audible), Public Obscenities(TFANA), Fandango for Butterflies (and coyotes) (La Jolla Playhouse), Weightless (WP Theater), For All the Women Who Thought They Were Mad (Soho Rep), A Grave is Given Supper (New Ohio Theater), Addressless(Rattlestick Theater) Film: José Rivera’s The Fall of a Sparrow (Short) I Am A Seagull by The Chekhov Project (Feature) Early Light (Short) Live Concert Touring: Grammy Award winning Artist Lila Downs. Johnny is a Drama Desk & Hewes Design Award Nominee and a graduate of Yale University (DGSD) USA 829 IG@johnnymoreno johnnymoreno.com
DR. NAHUEL TELLERIA (Dramaturg)
Dr. Nahuel Telleria is Assistant Professor of Dramaturgy at The University of Oklahoma; he teaches coursework in dramaturgy, playwriting, and dramatic theory, and conducts research on Latinx American theater. Dramaturgy Credits: Off-Broadway: Ni Mi Madre, Rattlestick Theater; Happy Days, Theatre for a New Audience; Seph, Araca Project. Regional: The Brothers Size, Oklahoma City Repertory Theater; Translator, Blood Wedding, The Wilma Theatre; Happy Days, Yale Repertory Theatre. Awards—ASTR Collaborative Research Award (2024); LMDA Field Grant (2022); Fulbright (2019). Training—DFA/MFA, Yale School of Drama; MA, University of Chicago; BA, Columbia University.
KATHY RUVUNA (Sound Designer)
Kathy Ruvuna is New York based sound designer. Recent credits include Cold War Choir Practice (Clubbed Thumb), Five Models in Ruins, 1981 (LCT3), Mary Gets Hers (Playwrights Realm), Bernarda’s Daughters (The New Group), Amani (National Black Theatre), Dark Disabled Stories, Self Portraits (Deluxe) (Bushwick Starr), The Janeiad, Night Shift Before Christmas, Sweat (Alley Theatre), The Lion in Winter, Pipeline, Radio Golf (Everyman Theatre), Clyde’s, The Great Leap, Read to Me (Portland Stage), In the Southern Breeze, Ni Mi Madre (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater) Circle Jerk! Live (Fake Friends). M.F.A. in Sound Design from the Yale School of Drama.
SUPPORT NEW WORK
Since 2006, your support of THEATERLAB has strengthened the NYC audiences’ connection to live performance, built flexible programs and residencies, and cradled the development of award-winning artists working at the forefront of what’s next.
Invest in the next 20 years of Theaterlab with a tax-deductible donation that will:
→ Champion NYC’s most daring artists working at the edge of what’s next in live performance
→ Provide FREE community programs that bring us together for civically-curious discovery
→ Hold and care for space dedicated for independent theater to seed, grow, and thrive
→ Welcome diverse audiences through our (no-proof needed) ticketing tiers
→ Support living wages for working artists
Click here to give a tax-deductible gift of any amount.
COVID-19 policy: In guidance with the city and state COVID-19 policies, we will no longer be requiring masks, but strongly recommend them.