🎭 NEW! Miami Theatre Newsletter
Since 2015, Theatre Lab has been the resident theatre company at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. Over the past decade, Theatre Lab staged over 30 full productions and 100 developmental readings of new plays.
🎭 NEW! Miami Theatre Newsletter
Some playwrights whose work was nurtured at Theatre Lab include Deborah Zoe Laufer, Lauren Gunderson and Steven Dietz, to name a few.
From the beginning, the Equity theatre made its home in an unused dining space in Parliament Hall, a dormitory for FAU students. The lobby was once occupied by Simply Puur, while the theatre itself previously housed a Red Mango frozen yogurt stand.
A group of chairs surround a makeshift stage in Parliament Hall during construction of the Original Theatre Lab space. The Red Mango signage remained on the proscenium during Theatre Lab’s first staged readings. Photo by Mohammed F. Emran, University Press.
Theatre Lab Artistic Director Matt Stabile describes some of the many challenges associated with the makeshift venue. “This was a very intimate space, but it wasn’t acoustically built to be a theatre. Actors still had to project, despite there being only four rows of seats.”
Audience members were also forced to walk in front of the theatre’s tiny stage to use the lobby restroom. The actors shared a communal dressing room converted from a storage closet—making privacy a luxury.
More importantly, the theatre had to follow a double-shift approach to operations. With no rehearsal hall, actors had to rehearse during the day while technicians would build scenery and focus lights well into the evening. “We were making it look easy for a long time, but we had a lot of obstacles and hurdles that we had to overcome,” said Stabile.
Theatre Lab’s artists soldiered on, finding creative ways to deal with technical challenges such as clumsy sightlines, a false proscenium arch that once served as Red Mango’s main entrance, and a limited number of dimmers for light fixtures.
From such restrictions came creative solutions.
One such innovation occurred during Theatre Lab’s production of Tammy Ryan’s Tar Beach. In this play, 14-year-old Reenie and her dad Roger jump from the roof of their apartment and are suspended in mid-air.
With no fly system, scenic designer Michael McClain embedded twinkle bulbs throughout the set. When father and daughter freeze mid-leap, the audience can see a constellation of stars—enhancing the illusion of levitation with simple stagecraft.
Abby Nigro, Krystal Millie Valdes, David A. Hyland, and Niki Fridh in Tar Beach. Photo by of Julia Rose Photo.
Despite operating in this space for a decade, it was never a permanent fix. “Theatre Lab always understood that this was a temporary situation and that…the time would eventually come to move operations to a more suitable facility” said Louis Tyrell, Theatre Lab’s Founding Director.
With the construction of a new residence hall that will house more than 600 students, the time has finally arrived.
With the support of FAU’s Department of Theatre & Dance and the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Theatre Lab will now produce out of the Marleen Forkas Studio One Theatre starting in the 2026-27 season. Theatre Lab will gain the equipment, facilities, and audience capacity to further enhance the caliber and scope of their work.
While Theatre Lab has always maintained a partnership with the University, the company has remained partitioned from the Department of Theatre & Dance — the two buildings separated by a small pond. With both entities sharing a space, Stabile can expect more cross pollination between students and staff.
“While FAU’s undergrad and MFA students are honing their skills with University productions, they can still have the opportunity to gain professional experience,” says Stabile.
FAU is also in the process of identifying and developing a permanent on-campus home for Theatre Lab. Stabile is hopeful that this venue will be a flexible space — with seating configurations beyond the traditional proscenium.
Until then, Theatre Lab will continue to thrive as an incubator for new stories and emerging storytellers. At a time when most nonprofit theatre companies see a decline in ticket revenue and donations, Theatre Lab is growing into a premiere destination for new plays in the United States. Its partnership with FAU will provide ample resources that will cement this preeminence as a cultural institution.
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