OUR DEBUT PRODUCTION

Dreams on 81 premiered in November 2024 here in NYC and is Gabriel Drax’s playwrighting debut. The play follows the lives of three recovering addicts that are forced to share the same room in a halfway house. We peer into their lives over the course of five months and watch as they battle to stay sober and learn to live new lives. The play offers a glimpse into the lives and stories of young men who struggle with addiction.


DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAY

Development of the play began in the spring of 2023. Gabriel originally wrote a 15 page opening scene to the play and then quickly scrapped the idea. After several weeks he decided to take a different approach and wrote the play’s first three scenes. Chloe invited now lead Devious Minds actor Joel Watson to read/workshop the scenes. After a few scene readings we all knew we had something brewing and Gabriel continued to write more.

After a summer of writing, the play finally had its first draft in October of that year. It underwent a staged reading in front of a 40-person audience and was met with incredible reception. After another year of on and off rewrites and tweaking, the second draft was accepted into LAByrinth Theater Companies Summer ‘24 workshop intensive.

Finally, after over a year and a half of rewrites and alterations to the play, it was finally time for its debut production. In November ‘24, the play premiered for a special 3-night at The Secret Theatre NYC. The play received an incredible reception and while we only anticipated to sell 50-60% of tickets, we not only sold out every night, but oversold! We’re incredibly excited to see where this play takes us in the future as we plan for an extended run.

Chloe Champken - first draft rehearsals '23
  Joel Watson - on set of Dreams on 81
Gabriel Drax and Doc Dougherty during intense Fight Choreography

  Jack Harding - Lead Actor playing Twigs