By Dale King
Louis Tyrrell is going back to school — literally.
The founding artistic director of the former Florida Stage in Manalapan who went on to create the Theatre at Arts Garage in Delray Beach following the previous venue’s 2011 bankruptcy, is launching a new educational initiative.
Six months after resigning from his Theatre at Arts Garage post last March, Tyrrell has been named artistic director and Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Arts for Theatre Lab, a professional resident theatrical company on the Boca Raton campus of Florida Atlantic University.
“We had discussed, theoretically and philosophically, the idea of having a professional theater on campus,” Tyrrell said Tuesday after his appointment was announced by the school.
A press statement said Theatre Lab, which has already opened in temporary quarters until a yet-unspecified permanent location is found, will be dedicated to the development and production of new work in American theater and provide a training ground for FAU students interested in careers in professional theater or related arts fields.
As director of two theater locations, Tyrrell said he has provided student internships for some 30 years. But he has also experienced the loss of attendees in the modern era. Theatre Lab, he said, will help determine “the new model” for performance art after the Sept. 11 attacks and the Great Recession.
The long-time South Florida arts director said that “the World War II generation has diminished,” and the task now is to find a “sustainable model to create new work.”
The future of theater may be in “adventurous, issue-oriented performances designed to promote thought among smaller audiences,” Tyrrell said.
The FAU venue will use professional actors along with “fresh, young talent,” but will not have an in-house troupe. Performers from the local area will be hired for each show. The upcoming play, Bakersfield Mist, opening in late October, will star Laura Turnbull and John Felix.
When he stepped down from the Theatre at Arts Garage at the end of March, Tyrrell gave no hint that he had another endeavor in the works. He said Tuesday he became earnestly involved once his tenure at Arts Garage was finished.
“Theatre Lab will establish FAU as a force in the national professional theater movement,” Tyrrell said in a press statement. “With the goal of making great theater accessible, Theatre Lab will bring thousands of community members together with the FAU faculty and student body.”
They would be engaged in project-based partnerships, workshops, conversations with leading playwrights and theater artists and other enrichment activities.
Alyona Ushe, executive director of Arts Garage, said Tuesday she wishes Tyrrell the best.
“He is building new audiences for theatre, and we applaud him for that. He is an extremely talented man,” she said.
Until a permanent performance center is built, Theatre Lab is operating in the Parliament Hall residence, where space has been transformed into an intimate, 150-seat “theater in the raw” for staged readings, new play festivals and education outreach. Beer, wine, drinks and snacks are available for purchase.
Three Theatre Lab programs have already been scheduled:
“Making Musicals,” a musical theater concert/play-reading series to immerse the South Florida community into the newest works in American musical theater being written today. This series will take place on Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., from Oct. 17 through Nov. 8 beginning with the Drama Desk Award-winning Fugitive Songs by Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen. Admission is $20 ($10 with student ID), and a package of four shows is $64.
Play Slam is a weekly festival of new play-readings with discussions including the playwright, director and cast. This series will be on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m., from Oct. 21 through Nov. 11, with the first reading being Bakersfield Mist by Stephen Sachs. Admission is $10 ($5 with student ID).
The Playwrights’ Forum is a lecture/workshop/master-class program with some of America’s most celebrated playwrights, including Marsha Norman, Steven Dietz, John Guare, Deborah Zoe Laufer, Lauren Gunderson and Israel Horovitz. It begins Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m. with Horovitz. Admission is $35 ($10 with student ID).
Theatre Lab also will launch its education outreach program, Young Artists & Writers Project (YAWP). YAWP will be led by Matt Stabile, Theatre Lab’s associate artistic director. It will develop the critical thinking and communication skills of young people, using theater as a catalyst to discover a child’s personal voice through creative writing and performance.
Each season, YAWP will work with the Theatre Lab’s Main Stage Production series to choose themes from selected plays that are relevant to the lives of today’s youth. Theatre Lab then partners with local schools (grades 3-12) to provide up to 1,200 students per year (600 in each of the fall and spring semesters) with writing workshops and live theater at no cost to the students.
For more information about the Theatre Lab at FAU, call 561-297-4784 or email theatrelab@fau.edu.