New Play Readings at The Lab!

The Laboratory Theater of Florida is proud to present concert readings of the top three finalists for the 2026 Louise Wigglesworth Excellence in Playwriting Award, running May 7–9. The 2026 winner is Symbiotic by Baylee Shlichtman. Finalists are John Mabey’s A Thousand Words and Simon Bowler’s Redshift. 

About the plays

The Winner: Symbiotic by Baylee Shlichtman: A stunningly beautiful play about Marichka, an aquarist at the Jellyfish Museum in Kyiv, who tries to keep the memory of her friend alive in the midst of the Russo-Ukrainian war. When a veteran starts to frequent the museum, the two form an unlikely connection that will alter the course of their lives. A play about cultivating hope and jellyfish.

The Playwright: Baylee Shlichtman writes plays about love, autonomy, and magic in the mundane. Her work has been recently featured with Full Circle Players Emerging Voices, EST/ LA Winterfest, and Afterlife Fest at the Flea Theatre. Her work has been produced or developed with AlterTheatre Ensemble, Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble, Curtis Theatre, Flamboyán Theatre, Great Plains Theatre Commons, New Relic Theatre, Playground-LA, UC Irvine, Urbanite Theatre, The Vagrancy Theatre, and The Workshop Theatre among others. She is currently under commission with Playground-LA for her full-length play GOOD ROMANS. MFA, UC Riverside '27.

Finalist: Redshift by Simon Bowler is a fascinating tale about a brilliant scientist who risks his reputation, marriage, and sanity to prove the universe is expanding, confronting Einstein's doubts, his father's ghost, and his own crisis of faith.v

The Playwright: Simon Bowler’s theatrical works include Judgement of the Eye (Overtime Theatre, Texas, Phoenix Theatre New Play Festival, Long Beach Playhouse New Theatre Festival, Beverly Hills Theatre Guild Award, Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Award. The Briefing (William Inge Festival). The Enemy of the State - (World Series Contest Winner, Writer Speaks Winner, New Works of Merit Finalist) Marlowe Part One (Broad Horizons NY Winner, Innovasian Writing Initiative Winner.) Television producer of multiple series for the BBC, ABC, PBS, Fox, OWN, Bravo, VH1, and Discovery.

Finalist: A Thousand Words by John Mabey is about a unique stretch of land that ties generations of a family together in the heart of the American South. When a stranger disrupts the very nature of home, difficult choices unearth complex truths. And through the lens of a camera, redemption exists between what the photographs reveal and the secrets they hold. This play, A Thousand Words, is a love letter to the South after a rocky romance. This land has become my adoptive home, but living here as an outsider has given me too many highs and lows for all sorts of unexpected reasons. And that’s the entry point into the world of this play, where geography means both a connection to the land as well as to other people, and changes to both over time can never be erased or easily reconciled. This story begins with characters who are falling in love with something intangible that looks like love, never considering that opening this door might close another. And this spark that opens the play affects generations after, who will now grapple with their own decisions around what’s lost forever and what can still be redeemed.

The Playwright: John Mabey is a writer and storyteller whose plays have been published and produced in nine countries and throughout the United States. After living abroad for a decade, John’s plays often explore themes about the changing nature of home and self-reinvention. Their work as a playwright is deeply connected to a career in Psychology and mental health counseling, where holding imagined therapy sessions with characters inspires every new play. John loves to tell stories in a variety of ways and is a published author in academic books and journals about the connections between spirituality, gender and sexual identity. When not writing, they also enjoy teaching and performing improvised comedy and true storytelling around the world. https://mabeyplays.com/

Louise Wigglesworth is a theater and visual artist who writes plays about other artists; actors, painters, musicians, writers, and their special journeys. In her current full-length project, Beautiful Island, she explores the science fiction/fantasy genre. Previous productions include Real Art as part of City Theatre of Miami’s Summer Shorts and Island Shorts, Real Art and Anywhere from Here by Manhattan’s Theatre of Light, Coercion by Playwrights Round Table, Seasonal Migrations at Foundation Theater, and Drawing the Human Form at Cultural Park Theatre. Her stage adaptation of Albert Camus’ The Plague premiered at The Laboratory Theater of Florida. A Proper Goodbye in the Shade of Old Trees and No Bad Dance enjoyed public readings at Theatre Conspiracy

and The Migrant’s House was selected for a workshop and performance at The Laboratory

Theater. One acts Second Movement, Anywhere From Here, Penumbra along with Real Art, were winners in the Naples Players annual competitions. Recently, Lemon Twist was a finalist in Bonita Springs Art Center’s Stage It! Festival, and will be published in its anthology. Louise’s youth plays Seeing Red, Tides, and In My Brother’s Name have had productions in schools and children’s theater groups. She has received grants from The American Association of University Women to support development of high school students’ work and was the teaching artist for playwriting in The Rauschenberg Project at Laboratory Theater. Louise is a member of The Dramatists Guild. Her plays are available to view on the New Play Exchange. newplayexchange.org

Performance dates are:
May 7th at 7:30 pm - Redshift - Simon Bowler
May 8th at 7:30 pm - A Thousand Words - John Mabey
May 9th at 7:30 pm - Symbiotic - Baylee Shlichtman

Tickets are $15 each. Additionally, a pass for all three readings is available for $35. This event is included in the Season Pass. For tickets, guests may call the box office at 239.291.2905 or go online at www.laboratorytheaterflorida.com.