Cornell's Department of Theatre, Film and Dance and its new Performance Laboratory series will present "Followthrough," a student-written play performed as a staged reading, Oct. 21 at 4 p.m. in the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts' Film Forum. Admission is free.

The play, written by Benjamin Hennessy '13 and directed by Skyler Schain '13, gives audience members an opportunity to experience a play in its early stages of development.

"Followthrough" chronicles two modern-day detectives -- lifelong friends who work as partners -- who find themselves in the middle of a damaged relationship on the edge of total collapse.

It is the first in a series of Performance Laboratory projects this year. The projects are student-directed and managed, and include musical theater, plays, performance events and installations.

"The Performance Laboratory series represents an opportunity for our students to do developmental work and explore the process of interrogating new work," said Beth Milles, associate professor of directing and acting and chair of the department's Performance and Events Committee. "Our theaters should be laboratories for unproven work."

A computer sciences major with a minor in theater, Hennessy has performed in several Cornell productions including "The Jealous Husband," "Trial By Jury," "Romeo and Juliet," "Our Town," "Those Learned Ladies" and, most recently, "The Cherry Orchard."

Hennessy started writing "Followthrough" last fall as part of a playwriting course. In the play, one of the partners falls in love with the married woman he's investigating. His crisis of conscience leads him down a dark path, putting his career, his friendships and his own life on the line.

"I'm particularly excited for the opportunity to see it come to life with such a talented cast," Hennessy said. "This is a new experience for pretty much all of us, but I can tell already that everyone involved is fully invested in making this reading the best it can be."

The cast includes Dan Burns, Eli Schoengerg, Adrienne Jackson, Ivan Friedman, Katelyn Pippy and Ilan Kaplan. Carolyn Goelzer is the production's faculty mentor, and Jorge Silva is the lighting designer.

For more information, see http://www.theatrefilmdance.cornell.edu.

Taylor Halcromb '15 is a communications intern in the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance.