THEATERLAB PRESENTS
KITCHEN TABLE FESTIVAL
IN COLLABORATION WITH THE SOCIAL CLUB THTR
Curated and directed by Lita Lofton
with Guest Director, Mayah Lourdes Burke
Kitchen Table Festival is a celebration of survival and thrival across the diaspora. Centered around the unique magic and gravity of a kitchen table, our festival shares stories of culture, food, ancestry, identity, and ritual across time, space, and place.
This new festival curated by Lita Lofton (The Social Club Thtr), will include staged readings of new short plays by 8 different playwrights : Tom Atha, Anooj Bhandari, Kayla Jordan Love, Jihan Khan, Aidaa Peerzada, Alexander Perez, Catherine Shonack, and Angelle Whavers.
Festival cast includes Justin Armstrong (@kidarmstrong57), Leonidus Gonzalez (@leonidusg_02), Seth Hill (@sethmmhill), Sandra Seoane-Serí (@tripleesse), Chinelo Okpala (chinelookpala.com), & Nicole Ponce (@nicooleponce)
The Social Club Thtr is an NYC-based theatre and performance art collective focused on the development of new works and collaborations. We like to throw parties and we like to tell stories. We were founded in 2017 by some friends. Since then we’ve produced plays, held workshops, hosted a top secret book club, got better at producing plays, developed our notorious anti-AI theatre game show, and now we’re producing our very first festival. This work is by us and it is for us and it is for you as well.
“Dreams were never meant to be carried alone. Imagination opens the door. Community is how we walk through it.” – FUTURE IS COLOR Studio
Canned Food Drive to Benefit City Harvest
50% of working-aged households in NYC are struggling to make ends meet. 1 in 4 children in NYC don’t know where their next meal will come from. We can’t make a piece of theatre about food and kitchen tables without acknowledging the great food insecurity that this city faces. We’re honored to partner with City Harvest to host a canned food drive! Our goal is to raise 100lbs (that’s approximately 100 cans) of canned food and we need your help! Please join us in bringing unopened canned foods to be collected at Theaterlab on the day of the festival. All cans will be donated to NYC communities in need.
THE PLAYS
The All-American Play Refusing to Say Anything by Tom Atha
A Jar For Flowers by Anooj Bhandari
Afrofuturist Fables | Crossing the Jordan by Kayla Jordan Love
What We Carry by Jihan Khan
Aliyah and the Princess Jasmine Barbie Doll by Aidaa Peerzada
Better Than Real by Alexander Perez
Pucara by Catherine Shonack
An Open Letter to My Brown Skin by Angelle Whavers
PERFORMANCES
“BRUNCH”
Saturday, March 28th @ 12:00pm
(preceded by a coffee social hour, sponsored by Abbotsford Road Coffee Specialists)
“DINNER”
Saturday, March 28th @ 7:00pm
(followed by a conversation with the artists)
TICKETS
All ticket tiers provide the same level of access to the performance.
Please make your purchase according to your needs.
General Admission: $30.00
True Cost : $40.00
Access : $20.00
For any questions regarding ticketing, please contact ticketing@theaterlabnyc.com
Each year, we invite a select few works into our loft that push the theatrical medium forward.
THEATERLAB PRESENTS pinpoints artists working at the very edge of what’s next in performance and fosters audiences moving toward the future.
DONATIONS
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.
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→ Champion NYC’s most daring artists working at the edge of what’s next in live performance
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→ Welcome diverse audiences through our (no-proof needed) ticketing tiers
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MEET THE ARTISTS
LITA LOFTON (CURATOR/DIRECTOR)
Lita Lofton (she/her/hers) is a Brooklyn-based director, event producer, and performance artist specializing in movement-driven storytelling, immersive performance experiences, and glamour on purpose. Lofton is the co-founder of The Social Club Thtr. Her directorial work, informed by over two decades of ballet and movement-based training, has been seen at TheaterLab, Access Theater, Ideal Glass Studios, and Alchemical Studios. She was a guest director for the NYU 2024 Freeplay Project and is a 2025/26 Artist-In-Residence at TheaterLab. She has produced events, dinners, and product launches for a wide range of clients and markets including Gaggenau and Fendi. She hosts a recurring anti-AI theater game show at Starr Bar in Brooklyn . Known for her distinct, ethereal set designs and world building and her collaborative DIY approach to crafting theater, Lofton seeks to tell stories of love, resilience, and joy as an act of rebellion.
MAYA LOURDES BURKE (GUEST DIRECTOR)
Mayah Lourdes Burke (she/her) is a queer, Haitian-American director, choreographer, and producer born and raised in NYC, who creates space for the unseen, centering bodies often left in the margins. Off-Broadway: 24 Hour Plays: Nationals – Classic Stage Company (Director); Dakar 2000 – Manhattan Theatre Club (Assistant Director); The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window – BAM (Directing Observer); Get Out Alive – New World Stages (Directing Observer). Recently: The Wolves (Ghostlight Players); Tariq’s Interlude (HERE Arts); STEPS (The Tank); The Imaginary Invalid (Moliere in the Park). Fellowships: SDCF Directing Fellow 2025; TPOC Fellow 2024; NAMT Producing Residency 2024; SDCF Directing Observer 2023. Training: The Barrow Group. Member: Epheverie Theatre Co., The Makers’ Ensemble, SDC Associate. Thank you, God, for everything!
COVID-19 policy: In guidance with the city and state COVID-19 policies, we will no longer be requiring masks, but strongly recommend them.