Is it "good" to control your own narrative? What happens when a moment of sincerity is turned into scripted self aggrandisement? How can the power of complaint work within a scripted stage setting? Finally, how do we change everything about ourselves... how do we do that and what do we do? Hate/Lab in 2025 takes the form of a casual chat (ala' a podcast or YouTube video) in which Steak Richardson and Jake Flum perform a scripted chat on the past 6 years of their theater company. While discussing the birth, growth, stagnation, and regrowth of their company they also critique the current modes in which in small indie company's operate and why they so often fail. This is a performance both real and fake, important yet phony. However the struggles regarding the company are all too real. This is our take on not only ourselves but the current state of Chicago theater. The text is created using real conversations between Jake and Steak as well as "classic" Hate/Lab found text.