The Lab produces twenty-nine works at venues from SoHo to Harlem.

The fifth year of the Directors Lab marked the high point of the first cycle of the Lab's work, presenting for public view a large number of plays created by Lab artists. Between May and August 1999, twenty-nine works were staged at venues around New York - from SoHo to Harlem - produced by the Directors Lab in association with partners as diverse as Lincoln Center Festival '99, HERE and the National Black Theater.

The Lab began with "The Bible Project," a festival of twelve short plays inspired by themes, stories and characters from the Bible, each directed by a member of the 1998 Directors Lab at HERE Performance Art Café. The National Black Theater hosted "Black Codes from the Underground," a new play by Gregory A. Holtz, Layding Kaliba and Duma Ndlovu and directed by Directors Lab member Ruben Polendo. The play was one of two Directors Lab productions presented in association with the Lincoln Center Festival. In July, three new Australian plays directed by Australian directors in residence were presented, as well as the American Living Room series, showcasing twelve plays from the Lab's first four years.

Among the other components that comprised this year's special Lab were a one-week series of workshops and seminars and two public symposia in which Lab artists participated. In addition, the summer issue of The Lincoln Center Theater Review was devoted to the Directors Lab, and the Directors Book 1999, listing all Lab Directors, was distributed to Theatre Communications Group (TCG) constituent theaters nationwide.