About

A Place to Discover What Comes Next

New work needs time, space and people willing to explore. Valley Lab Productions gives writers and creative teams a place to hear their work, test it, reshape it and learn from it, without the pressure of mounting a finished show.

Founded by Steven Minning and Evanne Barcenas, our workshops bring experienced theatre artists and emerging performers into the same room. Our focus is the process - making space for new work to find its shape, and in turn, shaping the people who work on it.

Meet the Founders

Steven Minning was Julie Taymor’s Associate Director and Supervising Resident Director for Disney’s The Lion King, including Broadway, London, Sydney, Amsterdam, Hamburg and international touring. He was Supervising Resident Director for Stephen Daldry on Billy Elliot (First and Second National Tours, Toronto and Chicago), supervised the worldwide companies of Hal Prince and Susan Stroman’s revival of Show Boat, and toured with Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion as Resident Artistic Director. He was choreographic associate on Tommy Tune’s Broadway musicals Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public and The Will Rogers Follies, and for 12 years led Creative Arts and Drama at Menlo School. In October 2026, he returned to his alma mater, Central Methodist University, to direct Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. He co-founded Valley Lab Productions and serves as its director.

Evanne Barcenas is a songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist and one half of the Bay Area duo Effie Zilch, with Grammy-winning producer Steve Wyreman. She has toured the country as a musician, opening for bands like Tedeschi Trucks and Little Feat and playing major music festivals across the United States, including Stagecoach. She is part of Redtone Records, a nonprofit music label in the Bay Area. Effie Zilch has written and recorded five studio albums on the label, including Multitudes, Higher Calling and The Kitchen Sink. She was on Menlo School’s performing arts faculty for over a decade. She earned her BA in musical theatre from UCLA. She co-founded Valley Lab Productions and serves as its Creative Producer.