Play Lab Coordinator

The Play Lab is coordinated by Ryan Buen. Ryan started off as an entry level intern with the Conference in 2003, only taking one year off while he was earning his Master’s in Acting from The Royal Conservatoire of Birmingham.

While his first year as Play Lab Coordinator was 2018, he had taken over casting the Play Lab in 2015. In addition to casting, he oversees the day-to-day operations of the Lab during the event. 

Currently based in Anchorage, Ryan Buen has worked with numerous theatre companies in Alaska, including Blue Chair Productions (of which he is the co-founder), TBA Theatre, Three Wise Moose, Cyrano’s, UAA Theatre, Anchorage Opera, ACT, TossPot Productions, Out North, and PWSC. Recent credits come as the director of Qui Nguyen’s She Kills Monsters at Cyrano’s, Teresa Rebeck’s Seminar for Blue Chair Productions, and Antigone and Diane Grant’s The Wind in the Willows (TBA Theatre). Conference audiences will be most familiar with him for his portrayal of Roland in Nick Payne’s Constellations (Blue Chair Productions), and his years of service as a Conference staff member. In addition to being a reader in the Play Lab, he has also presented three of his own plays read in the Lab. 

“I am committed to continuing to give the best experience possible to all playwrights, actors, and panelists that give us the privilege of presenting their art,” says Buen.

“Ryan knows what it is to have his work presented in the Play Lab… how vulnerable the writers can feel, how stressful it can be,” says Conference Coordinator Dawson Moore. “His new position will help us provide participants with further advocacy for their needs.”