Lou Tyrell

Louis Tyrell was the founding producing director of Florida Stage for 24 years. Based in Manalapan (and later West Palm Beach), Florida Stage was the nation's largest professional theater dedicated to producing exclusively new and emerging American plays. The South Florida theatre community was saddened at its closing in June of this year.

"Picture Florida Stage, but more intimate. Just as devoted to producing new plays and developing new playwrights, but with less emphasis on production values. The space—and it is a great space—will dictate the kinds of plays we will be able to do here" said Tyrell. Plays with smaller cast sizes, usually only one set, but that leaves plenty of terrific scripts that we can serve up, many that I already have in hand."

The operating budget for the first season of The Theatre at Arts Garage will be in the range of $150,000, with expanded programming expected for subsequent seasons, leading up to the opening of their Arts Warehouse. The Arts Warehouse is a yet-to-be-renovated 15,000 square-foot facility that the Arts Garage's umbrella corporation, Creative City Cooperative, hopes to open in 2014. The Warehouse, which is four times the size of the Garage, would then become the permanent home to The Theatre at Arts garage. Until then, "Intimate theater is the new normal," says Lou Tyrell. "Even when the economy recovers, we expect our business model to remain simple and text-oriented. But I am excited about being a part of the Arts Garage and what follows it. I think Delray Beach is the center of a vibrant arts scene and I'm just really excited and gratified that I have this opportunity."

The Theatre at Arts Garage 2012 season

The Master Playwright Series
February 7, 14, 21 and 28, 2012
The Theatre at Arts Garage will debut with a celebration of contemporary American theatre through play-readings of work from some of America's most renowned living playwrights, such as Israel Horovitz: Line, Park Your Card in Harvard Yard, The Indian Wants the Bronx; John Guare: The House of Blue Leaves, and Six Degrees of Separation); and William Mastrosimone: Extremities and Cat's Paw. Following the play-readings, the Master Playwrights will share their perspectives and insights on the art form, discuss how the selected plays fit into their overall body of work, and illuminate issues of creating theatre in the 21st century.

The New Play Festival
March 1-4, 2012
The New Play Festival, a feast of six play-readings over four days will include playwriting workshops conducted by Master Playwright William Mastrosimone whose works include The Woolgatherer, Extremities and Sinatra: the mini-series.

Woody Sez
March 16 - April 8, 2012
The inaugural production of The Theatre at Arts Garage will be a musical salute to folk legend Woody Guthrie in honor of the 100th anniversary of his birth. A stirring, audience-rousing show that celebrates the American spirit, revels in the American folk music tradition and honors the American character in tough, economic times, this award-winning production recently returned from an acclaimed tour of England. Subscribers to Florida Stage left with tickets for canceled shows can use them for admission to Woody Sez, on a space-available basis.

The Arts Garage is a multi-disciplinary cultural hub for visual artists, musicians, performers, film presenters and arts educators. The mission of the Arts Garage is to collaborate with emerging artists and cultural innovators to facilitate an exchange of art and ideas and to present cutting-edge, interdisciplinary performances and exhibitions. Putting a new twist on your evening out, audiences are encouraged to BYOW (Bring Your Own Whatever!) to enjoy during performances. The Arts Garage is located at 180 NE 1st St., Delray Beach, FL. For tickets and information, you may call them at 561-450-6357 or visit them online at www.artsgarage.org.

See the current theatre season schedule for southern Florida.

-- John Lariviere