"The Benchwarm-Nerds!" Live Premiere this Friday, Dec. 22!

WATCH THE LIVE SCREENING HERE!

Mark your calendars! This Friday night, December 22nd, Spec Labs’ brand-new short film, “The Benchwarm-Nerds!” makes its grand premiere! The live streaming event will be taking place on YouTube at 8 pm. Join the virtual screening and be one of the first to see this hilarious short!

“The Benchwarm-Nerds!” follows three outsiders, Max, Zeek, and Sophia, as they struggle to find acceptance amongst their peers for their “nerdy” traits. But when the three of them find each other, everything seems to fall into place. The film combines live action with colorful animation–courtesy of Spec Labs’ Head of Art & Design, Amos Stillwell–to create a funny, endearing film with characters you can’t help but root for.

A few weeks ago, we held a cast and crew screening of the film which was met with raucous laughter and applause. All of us on “The Benchwarm-Nerds!” team have been on the edge of our seats waiting for the film to be released to the public, and now the time is finally here!

Celebrate your nerdy side with us at this Friday's live premiere event! You can join the virtual screening here or by clicking the link at the top of the page. You can also access the screening on your Smart TV using the YouTube app. Head on over to Spec Labs' YouTube Channel and you will find the premiere video link under our Featured Videos playlist. The link to the film won't be available until the night of the screening, so don't worry if you can't access the link before then. The film and the link go live at 8 pm Friday--have your laptops and Smart Tvs ready!

If you haven't already, please consider donating to Spec Labs' 2023 Giving Campaign! With your help, we can continue to make inspiring films like this one with our talented autistic and neurodivergent artists!

Hope to “see” you Friday night!

A Specmas Carol this Sunday, December 10th!

This Sunday December 10th, Spec Labs is bringing Christmas to town with a modern twist on a classic Holiday tale! Join us at the Theatre 68 Arts Complex in North Hollywood to enjoy the cheerful work of our brilliant puppeteers and a live band performing original songs and score. The production's original score features the work of several Spec Labs' musicians, including Atticus Jackson, Paul Christenson, Chris Acevedo, Jacob Lenard, and Noam Almog. The show will also feature set design by the talented Faith Butterfield, a Spec Labs artist who also created the poster art for A Specmas Carol!

A Specmas Carol was written by the show's director, Cathy McAuley, and long-time Spec Labs instructor, Olivia Brazill, who also co-wrote the music with Spec Labs' co-founder Garth Herberg. The show is based on Charles Dickens’ beloved novella, A Christmas Carol, which follows the curmudgeonly Ebenezer Scrooge as he’s forced to reckon with his own misdeeds via visits from the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. A Specmas Carol pays faithful tribute to the heart of Dickens’ story, but amps up the excitement with a colorful cast of puppets, an updated technological twist, and heartfelt original songs.

Ebenezer Scrooge still takes center stage in A Specmas Carol, but this time he is accompanied by an absent father, a cheeky mother, and his neglected son, Ebbie. The Scrooges come from a long line of inventors, revolutionaries, and workaholic fathers that forget to pay attention to their kids. The strained relationship between Scrooge and his young son, Ebbie, is one of the main conflicts in the show, as well as the unintended effects of one of Scrooge’s inventions: Blindervision. Originally created as a gift from a never-present father to his melancholy son, these virtual reality specs take a toll on the Scrooges and the community they live in. The show mixes modern technology with classic themes of family and connection to create a festively fun Holiday musical!

At last week’s A Specmas Carol rehearsal, I stopped by to get the inside scoop on this very merry Christmas show. During rehearsal, director and Spec Labs’ Voiceover Department Head, Cathy McAuley, guided the actors and their puppet companions around the stage, helping each of them find their marks and their voices. Nearby, composer and band leader Garth Herberg sat at his piano ready to musically transition from scene to scene or kick off a puppeteer’s solo with some magical keys.

With everyone’s lines mostly down to a tee, the rehearsal focused on fine-tuning the puppeteers' emotional and physical performances and learning their musical cues. Melodic transitions allow the scene-setting slides to switch into place. They also give the actors a beat to set the tone for the next scene. In one such transition, Ebbie is in back-to-back scenes, one in his grandfather’s workshop and the other in his bedroom. This transition requires actor Jake Tashjian to stay on stage for the whole sequence. Instead of having him stand idly by as the music plays, McAuley uses the transitional tune as an acting tool. She works with Tashjian to convey meaning through the movements and expressions of both Tashjian and his puppet.

Making a puppet emote is no easy feat, but the Specmas Carol puppeteers get the job done jolly well. Combining the movements of both actor and puppet with just the right vocal intonations easily brings these three-dimensional characters to life. And when you mix stellar acting with some magical musical performances, Puppet and Puppeteer become one as they move across the stage in mimicked fashion.

Things really kick into high gear when the ghosts of Holiday past, present, and future appear and throw Scrooge’s life into perspective. A wizard, a robot, and a skeleton strike fear into Scrooge’s heart with memories, futures, and some catchy, foreboding tunes. A particularly fun duet between the Wizard and Scrooge kickstarts Scrooge’s journey of self-reflection. From wistful ballads to 80s synth tunes, A Specmas Carol has genre-spanning musical numbers that invite the audience to join this storybook wonderland.

Our Holiday spectacular was also featured in a segment on Spectrum One News this week. Check out what our show-stopping puppeteers had to say about Spec Labs and A Specmas Carol in the clip below!

A Specmas Carol will be a Holiday show for the ages and might just become your favorite adaptation of the classic Dickens tale. The amazing work of our Spec Labs’ Voiceover and Music students will undoubtedly make your Holiday season extra merry and bright!

Don’t be a Scrooge–make sure you’re there for this incredible night of music, puppets, and Specmas cheer! There are only seven tickets left for our 8:30 pm show and our 6:15 pm show is already sold out! Grab yours now before they’re gone at www.speclabs.org and fill your heart with Spec Labs’ Christmas joy! Thank you so much to everyone who has already bought a ticket--we can't wait to put on a great show for you!

If you haven’t already, please consider donating to Spec Labs’ 2023 Giving Campaign so that we can continue to make the Holidays, and every other day, filled with fun for our student artists!

We hope you’ll come have a jingle ball with us this Sunday!

-Michael Ware, Spectrum Laboratory

Spec Labs' Giving Campaign: 2023 A Year in Review!

As we approach the end of 2023, Spec Labs is reflecting on a massive year of growth and creativity thanks to the amazing work, performances, and accomplishments of our Spec Labs family. With the help of our student artists and an ever-growing, incredibly supportive community, we feel like Spec Labs has had its best year yet!

In honor of Giving Tuesday this November 28th, we are putting on an end-of-year campaign to celebrate the work Spec Labs has done this year and prepare for what we hope will be an even better year in 2024! If you'd like to donate, you can find our Giving Campaign at Donate Now | Spectrum Laboratory (givelively.org).

To get us all in the giving spirit, let’s take a look back at some of Spectrum Laboratory’s key moments in 2023:

February: Spring Classes Begin!

Spec Labs started the year on a high when our Spring session of classes began in February. Classes across our Music, Voiceover, and Film & Acting departments allowed our students to get their creativity flowing early in 2023.

March 28th-April 2nd: “Hands” is Born!

In March, our Short Film Production class set to work to create a film for the EasterSeals Disability Film Challenge. In five short days, our creative team wrote, acted, directed, and edited together “Hands: A Touching Love Story.” Our rom com follows the love story of two hands and includes a catchy original song, “Can’t Clap Without You,” sung by Spec Labs’ artist, Domonique Brown. Learn more about the making of the film here and watch the film for yourself below!

March 30th: Spec Labs Honored at Marvels of Media Awards!

Our superhero short, “Spectrum League,” was featured in the Marvels of Media 2023 exhibition at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image. Museum goers got the chance to gaze upon the film's poster and watch a screening of our crime-fighting heroes in action. Spec Labs also took home the Collaborative Innovation Award for our virtual reality musical, “Use Your Imagination.” Read more about the awards here.

April 15th: “Boys Don’t Wear Dresses” Screened in WeHo!

Our award-winning short film “Boys Don’t Wear Dresses” was screened at Fiesta Hall in West Hollywood for its first ever live showing! Released in 2020, an in-person screening for the film was held off due to the pandemic. Finally, this April, we were able to share the film the way it was meant to be seen: on a big screen surrounded by all our amazing Spec Labs supporters! Read more about the event here.

And watch the film, now live on YouTube, below!

May 21st: Spec Lab Records Live at The Knitting Factory!

Spec Lab Records’ amazing music students took to the stage at the historic Knitting Factory in North Hollywood to perform classic covers and debut original songs. The Spec Bands and several Spec Labs Songwriters put on an amazing show that got the crowds up on their feet. Learn more about how our artists prepared for the show here.

June: Spec Labs' Digital Storytelling Workshop Returns!

Over the summer, we put on our fourth Digital Storytelling Workshop! Students and mentors teamed up for virtual creative sessions in writing, storyboarding, music, and voiceover to bring a fantasy world of their own design to life. Learn more about this awesome program here.

Check out some of the finished products that came out of this year's workshop below and on our YouTube!

August: Fall Classes Begin!

In July, we took the month off to rest and replenish before jumping right back in with new Fall classes starting in August! This session’s classes threw our students back in action as they prepared for a new short film, Holiday productions, and lots of live performances.

October 18th: “Boys Don’t Wear Dresses” Honored at WeHo Disability Awareness Awards!

Spectrum Laboratory and “Boys Don’t Wear Dresses” were honored by LA County and the city of West Hollywood at the 2023 Disability Awareness Month Awards! “Boys Don’t Wear Dresses” took home the ceremony’s Media Award for our moving coming-of-age fairytale about an autistic, transgender artist finding their voice. The creator and inspiration for the film, Aloni Schorin, attended alongside the film’s director and Spec Labs’ co-founder, Jason Weissbrod, to accept the award. Read more about this amazing honor on our blog and watch the film now on YouTube!

October 23rd: Spec Labs on the News!

Spec Labs was featured in a Spectrum One News segment which focused on the amazing work of our neurodivergent and autistic artists! The segment followed their preparation for our Halloween-themed show, Spec-O-Ween. Watch the clip below:

October 29th: Spec-O-Ween Featuring Tom Kenny & the Hi-Seas!

Our spooktacular Spec-O-Ween show went wickedly well with the help of incredible performances by the Spec Bands and the Spec-ond City Players. The night was filled with killer costumes, ghoulishly good comedy, and classic Halloween tunes that kept the audience howling along with our artists. A special guest appearance by Tom Kenny & the Hi-Seas ended the night with a bang! Read more about the event here.

November 12th: Spec Labs Artists Perform at Singing Recital!

Spec Labs’ vocal coach extraordinaire, Theresa Corinne Wegher-Thompson, hosted a very successful singing recital at the MKM Cultural Arts Center where Spec Labs singers got to show off their impressive pipes!

November 18th: “Hands” Screening at Film Fest LA!

Spec Labs’ short, “Hands: A Touching Love Story,” screened at Film Fest LA! The screening was held at the beautiful Regal L.A. Live Theatre and was followed by a creator panel which featured “Hands” co-director, Jason Weissbrod.

December 10th: A Specmas Carol!

Our upcoming Christmas show is sure to make all our hearts merry and bright with the Holiday spirit! Created by Cathy McAuley, Liv Brazill and Garth Herberg, with stunning artwork from Spec Labber Faith Butterfield and incredible set design courtesy of Hollywood prop master extraordinaire Jim Landis. Spec Labs Music and Voiceover Departments combined to put on “A Specmas Carol” just in time for the Holiday season. This live theatrical and musical production will feature a cast of twelve brilliant puppeteers, a live band, and original songs. You won’t want to miss this musical twist on a classic Christmas tale!

December 16th & 17th: Production Starts for “House of Masks”!

Our newest short, “House of Masks,” is keeping us in the spooky spirit well into the Holiday season as we start production this December! This twisty psychological thriller is set to be released next year, hopefully just in time for Halloween.

It’s been a busy year for Spec Labs filled with lots of incredible performances and accomplishments. All of our success wouldn’t be possible without the help of our talented artists and the generous support of our community!

Please consider giving to our end of year campaign to continue uplifting neurodiverse artists in Los Angeles and beyond. You can donate to Spec Labs' Giving Campaign using this link or by clicking on the banner below. Much gratitude from all of us at Spec Labs!

Let's create more great things in 2024!