The Labs
Performance Lab
A self-directed summer residency for theatremakers, writers, composers, teams, companies and ensembles, with projects at any stage of development.
Format
In person, overlapping residencies
Where
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
When
Four sessions, June 21 – July 18, 2027
Submissions
Open call · free
What it is
The Performance Lab is The Orchard Project’s oldest program: an accelerator for any project in the live performance space. Artists get rehearsal space, room and board and the company of fellow artists-in-residence, and set their own goals for the time.
Some residencies stay inside the artist community. Others include public sharings, which are agreed in advance. All of them overlap and share one OP community.
Who it's for
Individuals, teams and companies committed to developing their work, with an appetite for feedback from a diverse group of peers.
Participants come with varying degrees of experience, but most have shown their creative work in public before. Anyone can submit: there is no age requirement, and you don’t need an agent.
What you'll do
- Tell us your project’s stage of development and your space and rehearsal needs before the lab begins.
- Share your progress with your Performance Lab community while in residence (or, in rare cases, with OP staff only).
What you get
- Free rehearsal space.
- Room and board at Skidmore College alongside your fellow residents.
- Open rehearsals where peers and industry professionals can see the work.
- Feedback from OP staff and fellow artists, when you ask for it.
- Sharings and community events with the whole summer cohort.
- Ongoing alumni support through OP Forward.
Dates and schedule
The lab runs in four sessions. We’ll ask which session you can attend during the interview, and you need to be available for a full session.
- Session 1: Mon, June 21 – Sat, June 26, 2027
- Session 2: Sun, June 27 – Sat, July 3, 2027
- Session 3: Sun, July 4 – Sat, July 10, 2027
- Session 4: Sun, July 11 – Sun, July 18, 2027
The Orchard Project is honored to partner again with Skidmore College for the Performance Lab.
A short history
Where The Orchard Project began
The Performance Lab is where The Orchard Project started. In 2008, Artistic Director Ari Edelson launched OP with a two-week pilot in Hunter, NY, for three projects in development. As demand grew, the lab moved to Saratoga Springs in 2015, where it now runs as overlapping residencies in partnership with Skidmore College.
Plays developed in the lab include Robert Schenkkan’s All the Way (2014 Tony Award, Best Play), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s An Octoroon, Annie Baker’s The Aliens and Tectonic Theater Project’s 33 Variations. Resident companies have included Tectonic, the Royal Court, Elevator Repair Service, Pig Iron and Mabou Mines. In 2026, the lab brought together 120 artists working on more than 30 projects over four weeks.
Submitting
Submissions for 2027 are open November 9, 2026 to 11:59 pm ET on January 3, 2027. Along with the project description and bio in our common submission form, Performance Lab submissions include a writing sample or other work sample.