Spokane Playwrights Laboratory helps playwrights polish works through developmental readings

When it comes to Spokane Playwrights Laboratory, the name really says it all.

Productions staged through the Playwrights Laboratory are not polished gems ready for staging, but rather diamonds in the rough that still need a little bit of shaping.

Next up to receive the Playwrights Laboratory treatment is composer and writer Henry McNulty’s “Mad King.” The show will be performed Thursday at the Blue Door Theatre.

“Mad King,” in co-founder and artistic director Scott Doughty’s words, is a grounded, intimate “tragi-comedy” that looks at taking responsibility.

“It’s so easy for all of us to look at a situation and assume that ‘Someone else is going to handle that. Someone else is going to take care of them. I don’t have to worry about that. That’s not my problem.’ And looking for those easy ways out, those excuses and this takes that mentality and brings it back in a really powerful way of ‘This is what’s at the end of that’…

“It dances really beautifully between very serious, very heavy topics, and then very fun, very light-hearted. It gets very comedic, and it’ll play back and forth. It threads that needle so beautifully. It really is the highest level of mastery in terms of writing.”

The play stars Eleanor Weitz, Caryn Hoaglund, Thor Edgal, Wes Deitrick, Susan Hardie, Damon Abdallah, AnaSofia Villanueva, Ryan Childers and Jordan Longacre.

Doughty will direct the production. Hazel Bean is the technical director, Abby Constable is the stage manager, and Patty Garegnani is handling costumes, props and set dressing.

Villanueva is the production manager, Jeffrey St. George is the house manager, and McNulty’s assistant is wife Sarah Dahmen.

McNulty had previously developed a musical called “The Navigator,” co-written with Dahmen, at the Playwrights Laboratory. A year-and-a-half ago, McNulty reached out to Doughty and said he had written another piece and was looking to show it to a few people before developing the show further. McNulty brought the script to Doughty’s home, where a few actors performed the script.

Since that living room reading, and after reviewing 400 scripts from playwrights from across the country since then, “Mad King” has stuck with Doughty. When talking with the Playwrights Laboratory team about how to kick off the current season, Doughty suggested McNulty’s play.

“We’re always really proud when one of our playwrights inches their way to the front and grabs attention over more nationally known playwrights,” he said. “We love it when playwrights can do that, so this is a big treat and a big honor for all of us.”

Spokane Playwrights Laboratory works to offer playwrights a professional workshop experience, meaning they adhere to the Dramatists Guild’s guidelines about what a workshop will look like. As such, the cast and crew have 30 hours of rehearsal before the premiere production on Thursday.

Doughty encourages playwrights to sit in on as much of the rehearsal process as they can. The actors are rehearsing for the playwright, Doughty said.

During rehearsals, playwrights are able to revise their work and bring in new scenes and dialogue. In fact, playwrights are able to revise their work during the final performance.

Actors perform holding an e-reader with a live Google document that the playwright can update as the show goes on. It has not happened so far during a Playwrights Laboratory production, but Doughty has seen mid-show edits happen in script development sessions he has been part of across the country.

Choices actors make during rehearsals or onstage, as the first to play the character, can also make it into the final script, which Doughty said actors find to be the most satisfying part of the creative process.

After the performance of “Mad King,” the Playwrights Laboratory will host an after-party where audience members can share feedback about the play, an element that highlights what Doughty marks as the joy and special energy of new works development.

Many times when you go to the theater, it is to see a play that has been performed for years, decades or centuries to audiences that number in the thousands or millions around the world. The play has been polished and is a guaranteed success.

With something like the Spokane Playwrights Laboratory, the audience is part of the story. Sometimes there are other playwrights or theater professionals in the audience, but Doughty and the playwrights enjoy hearing from people who are not regular theatergoers too.

“That input is so valuable, as well, that comes from a really honest place of ‘Hey, I’m coming at this with a relatively blank slate, and here are my honest reactions to this. Here’s what I’m thinking and feeling,’ ” he said. “That sort of feedback is precious to the lab and to our playwrights. I really live for that sort of feedback and that experience.”

From there, McNulty can take the feedback and complete the edits or rewrites to prepare the script for future submissions and productions.

In founding the Playwrights Laboratory, Doughty sought to give area playwrights the same tools and opportunities to further develop their works. The 2025-26 season, he said, kicks off a new era for the organization that furthers its commitment to the playwrights.

“I wanted to build a resource for our playwrights that was positive, that was supportive, that was competitive to bolster their careers and get them out there and help them grow and thrive,” Doughty said. “And we’ve had tremendous success with it over the last four years. Our playwrights are increasingly able to get out and work in equity houses. We’ve been winning awards. We’re getting seen on a more national level, and we see that momentum continuing and growing.”