The concept of the “Preview Production” is unique in the American theatre. As a fully-realized production without the pressures of the commercial world, the play stays in previews through the run of the show, allowing the writer to continue revising as the piece evolves through performance. We started this program in 2005 and are proud to have supported so many great playwrights and plays on their journey from incubation to professional world premieres. Click here for our full Gallery of Preview Productions.
February 20 - March 1, 2025
February 20-22, 25, 27-28 at 7:30pm / March 1 at 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Strange Birds
by E. M. Lewis
directed by Risa Brainin
STRANGE BIRDS is about women and wolves... and sisters... and secrets.
In a remote mountain cabin, five women reckon with dark forces in this fierce and funny feminist thriller.
The Creative Team
Playwright / E. M. LEWIS
Director / RISA BRAININ
Scenic Design / ANN SHEFFIELD
Costume Design / HUNTER KACZOROWSKI
Lighting Design / MICHAEL KLAERS
Sound and Music / GAURAV MISHRA
Intimacy Coordinator, Movement Specialist / CHRISTINA McCARTHY
Fight Coordinator / SEAN O'SHEA
Dramaturg / LINYI CHEN, SARA SOTELO
Stage Manager / KAITLYN CAPPS
Assistant Director / TREVOR SILVERSTEIN
Assistant Stage Manager / MAYAM MEIJA
Assistant Scenic Designers / MAYA ARAGON, YASMINE CASTANEDA
Assistant Costume Designer / DIANA MATEESCU
Assistant Lighting Designer / SIDDARTH CHATTORAJ
OUR ARTISTS...
E. M. Lewis is an award-winning playwright, teacher, lyricist, and opera librettist. Her work has been produced around the world, and published by Samuel French. She received the Steinberg Award for How the Light Gets In and Song of Extinction and the Primus Prize for Heads from the American Theater Critics Association, the Ted Schmitt Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle for outstanding writing of a world premiere play, a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, a playwriting fellowship from the New Jersey State Arts Commission, the 2016 Oregon Literary Fellowship in Drama, and an Edgerton Award for her epic Antarctic play Magellanica that was produced at Artists Repertory Theater in 2018 and released as a five-part audio podcast in 2020. Other plays by Lewis include: Apple Season (National New Play Network rolling world premiere), The Gun Show (more than fifty productions across the country; Edinburgh Fringe), True Story, Dorothy's Dictionary, You Can See All the Stars (a play for college students commissioned by the Kennedy Center), and Apple Hunters! Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant, a new opera commissioned by American Lyric Theater that Lewis wrote with composer Evan Meier, premiered at Opera Modesto in 2024.
She is now working on a big new play called The Frankenstein Project, which will have a workshop production at Florida Atlantic University in spring 2025. Lewis is currently part of the Mellon Foundation’s National Playwright Residency Program, and is a proud member of LineStorm Playwrights, Opera America, and the Dramatists Guild. She lives on her family’s farm in Oregon.
photo credit: Kitta Bodmer Photography
Ann Sheffield (Scenic Designer) joined the Department of Theater and Dance at the University of California, Santa Barbara as Head of Design and Director of Performance. Concurrently, Ann continues her work with regional theaters across the country including Indiana Repertory Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera House, D.C.’s Ford’s Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Oklahoma Festival Ballet, Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis, the South Coast Repertory Theatre, and locally with Ensemble Theater Company Santa Barbara. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Ann further honed her design skills assisting award-winning Broadway designer Tony Walton. During her tenure with Tony, she worked on a number of major productions including Anything Goes, The Will Rogers Follies, Lend Me a Tenor, and The Grand Hotel. Ann enjoys teaching, oil and watercolor painting, and beach walks with her Covid pup, Trooper.
Hunter Kaczorowski (Costume Designer) New York: Yours Unfaithfully (Mint Theater, Hewes nom.), as well as Abingdon, Rattlestick, Ars Nova, Heartbeat Opera, The Public, Astoria Performing Arts Center, HERE Arts, Dixon Place and The Joyce Soho. Regional: Berkshire Theater Group: Godspell and The Importance of Being Earnest (Berkshire Critics Award), among others. Other Regional: recently The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Goodspeed, CT Critics nom.), A Little Night Music (with Kathleen Turner, Ogunquit Playhouse) as well as Alley Theatre, Bay Street, Theater Aspen, Shakes NJ, Signature Theatre, Yale Rep, Northern Stage. As Assistant/Associate: Tammy Faye, Company and Angels in America (Broadway). Creative Director of the sustainable apparel line Deadstock Outfitters, @deadstockoutfitters. MFA: Yale Drama. www.huntersk.com
Photo credit: Emil Cohen
Michael Klaers' (Lighting Designer) regional theatre credits include the Guthrie Theater, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Great Lakes Theater, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Pacific Conservatory Theatre, Ensemble Theater Company and more. Michael was the lighting designer forTriple Espresso – A Highly Caffeinated Comedy, which played in 50 cities in the US and Europe. He has been the lighting designer for UCSB's Santa Barbara Dance Theater since 2014. Everybody's Favorite Mothers marks Michael’s 14th preview production for LAUNCH PAD.
Gaurav Mishra is a composer, sound designer, and playwright based in New York City.
He has always pushed against just doing one thing, earning degrees in Theatre & Performance Studies, Music Composition, and Economics & Accounting from the University of California Santa Barbara simply because there were too many interesting classes to resist. He then obtained an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch. Gaurav’s original musical, “Featherdreamer,” was a 2024 semifinalist for the O’Neill National Musical Theatre Conference. He also releases indie pop songs as Enyn, as whom he has gained over 400,000 Spotify streams. Within theatre, Gaurav has worked as a sound designer and composer, an accordion player, a music copyist, and in various other capacities. Outside of it, he has worked as both a jazz pianist in a Chinese restaurant and as an international tax specialist. Gaurav loves birds, falling asleep to podcasts, and the city of Lille, France.
Sean O’Shea (Fight Choreographer) was last seen on the Garvin stage in Santa Barbara City College Theater Group’s production of Treasure Island. He is currently the fight choreographer and Sir Guy in SBCCTG’s production of Sherwood, and he is the fight choreographer for Ensemble Theatre Company’s production of Hamlet. He is the Academic Advisor in the Theater and Dance Department at UCSB where he also teaches stage combat. He is the Founder and former Artistic Director of the Santa Barbara Shakespeare Festival. Locally he’s been seen on stage at SBCC’s Garvin and Jurkowitz, Circle Bar B, Ensemble Theater’s New Vick, the Lobero and Center Stage. In San Diego he’s worked at the Old Globe, Black Friars, North Coast Repertory Theater, and Balboa Theater. Sean worked several seasons with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. He studied at San Diego State University, and was in the MFA acting program at the University of San Diego in affiliation with the Old Globe.
Linyi Chen (Dramaturg) is a dedicated senior at UCSB, where she is double majoring in Theater and Communication. Her recent projects include designing projections for the 2024 Kinetic Lab production of Egregore and assisting in the scenic design for and the last LAUNCH PAD production Everybody’s Favorite Mothers. Additionally, she has honed her skills in stage management, managing Naked Shakes production of Much Ado About Nothing, the 2024 Spring One Acts, and serving as an assistant stage manager for Hay Fever. With a strong foundation in both technical and management aspects of theater, Linyi is now expanding her expertise into dramaturgy, marking this as her first foray into the field. She is excited to bring her unique perspective and dedication to this new role, continuing her journey of artistic and professional growth.
Sara Sotelo (Dramaturg) is a first year MA candidate in the Theater, Dance and Performance Studies Department. Sara has been a dramaturg for about 4 years working on productions such as classics like Rosencranz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephans and new works such as Smoked Out: Watching Them Scrape Our Homes Away by Carl Erez and Unibeauty and Her Wicked Daughters by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig. She received her BA in History and her BA in Education from the University of Santa Cruz in 2023 (Go Slugs!). While there she worked with many incredible artists who drove her love of theater to new heights and ultimately helped her get here. A Los Angeles county native, her community is what she strives to make proud and continue to help in her own unique way. She is immensely grateful to the LAUNCH PAD community for the opportunity to have her first production be Strange Birds.
Trevor Silverstein (Assistant Director) is a first-year graduate student in UCSB's Department of Theater and Dance. With a primary background in film and television, Trevor has followed a winding path to the theater through his passion for all forms of comedy. From 2015 to 2024, he was based out of Berlin, Germany, where he wrote for, performed in and produced hundreds of sketch, variety and long-form improvised comedy shows for international audiences at Comedy Cafe Berlin. Additionally, he has performed with various ensembles on festival stages from Brooklyn to Reykjavík to St. Petersburg and more. Since 2019, he has been one of the Programming Leads for Das Improv Festival. Additionally, he has taught a range of improvisation classes at Comedy Cafe Berlin and screen acting at Catalyst - Institute for Creative Arts and Technology. Strange Birds marks his first production with LAUNCH PAD.
Enjoy this March 13, 2013 article about LAUNCH PAD.
LAUNCH PAD provides "The Missing Piece"
in this article by Tom Jacobs for American Theatre Magazine.