The South Florida theater community is in mourning after the passing of Louis Tyrrell, founding director of the Theatre Lab at Florida Atlantic University. Tyrrell died Friday, April 10, after a brief and sudden illness. He was 75. Tyrrell’s theater roots in Florida run deep. In 1974, he became the founding director of Florida Stage, a position he held for 24 years until … [Read more...]
Theatre Lab wants you to meet Joanna Castle Miller and her autobiographical trilogy
By Erik Kvarnberg FAU Theatre Lab wants everyone possible to get to know playwright, actor, and stand-up comic Joanna Castle Miller, and this starts with Conversa. Conversa is an autobiographical play written and performed by Castle Miller, directed by FAU Theatre Lab’s Producing Artistic Director Matt Stabile, and accompanied by live music from Theatre Lab veteran Paul … [Read more...]
Theater buzz: Dramaworks sets new play festival; FAU Theatre Lab moves to bigger digs
By Erik Kvarnberg Palm Beach Dramaworks sets eighth new play festival WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach Dramaworks is offering its eighth annual Perlberg Festival of New Plays this month at the company’s Clematis Street home. From Jan. 9 to 11, playwrights will unite with a number of actors and directors to read through works in progress. Last season’s festival led to two … [Read more...]
At Dramaworks: ‘Dangerous Instruments’ is a harrowing look at a broken system
From the opening alarm bell signifying an institutional lockdown, Gina Montet’s Dangerous Instruments, now playing at Palm Beach Dramaworks, foreshadows the all-too-familiar inevitability of gun violence in America. Told as a gripping case study of a young, mentally troubled boy and his mother’s battle to save him from being dismissed by an inadequate social services system, … [Read more...]
‘Two of Us on the Run’: Teen girls size up US in world premiere play
Have you ever wondered what goes on in the minds of 16-year-old girls? That is the exploration that Scottish playwright turned Florida resident Steve McMahon takes us on in his play Two of Us on the Run, receiving its world premiere at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab beginning Saturday. The play, a free-form road trip for a pair of teenage runaways, dubbed simply … [Read more...]
New-play festivals at Dramaworks, FAU promise to energize theater conversation
The audience is an integral part of the new play development process, as two area stage companies — Palm Beach Dramaworks and Florida Atlantic University Theatre Lab — can attest. Both have festivals of new work that consist of readings and talkbacks of evolving scripts, some of which will graduate to be fully produced in subsequent seasons. Coming up soon is Dramaworks’ … [Read more...]
The arts cut fallout: Theater leaders discuss state funding veto
In the wake of the June 12 elimination of all state arts and culture grants in Florida by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Palm Beach ArtsPaper’s Hap Erstein talked to three of the area’s theater leaders for their reaction to the unprecedented cuts. Here is some of what they had to say: Sue Ellen Beryl, managing director, Palm Beach Dramaworks I believe the first thing I saw was a … [Read more...]
‘Berlin Diaries’ gets first premiere at Boca’s Theatre Lab
As she began to write what became The Berlin Diaries, Andrea Stolowitz knew two things. One, the play would be based on the journals of her great-grandfather, Max, who escaped Germany in 1939 and came to New York. And two, it would need to be told in an unconventional format to prevent it from seeming like just another Holocaust play. Developed in part by Florida … [Read more...]
Arts buzz: Theatre Lab, Dina Baker Award, Carbonell scholarships
Theatre Lab play to get summer production in Martha’s Vineyard BOCA RATON — A two-person play that had its premiere at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab will be taking the stage this summer at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse in Massachusetts. To Fall in Love, by Jennifer Lane, debuted at Theatre Lab in November 2021, and starred Theatre Lab’s producing artistic … [Read more...]
FAU Theatre Lab’s ‘Refuge’ investigates human side of immigration
This nation was built by immigrants, but you would never know it from the political brouhaha that has arisen from the current border crisis over the issue of immigration. Refuge, the saga of a young Honduran girl’s harrowing journey crossing our southern border into the inhospitable, barren land of Texas, completes Florida Atlantic University Theatre Lab’s season of … [Read more...]