Boca Raton, FL – Theatre Lab, the professional resident company of Florida Atlantic University, has announced the 2023-24 season of new work, including a Florida premiere Heckscher Theatre for Families production; a three-play MainStage Series – a United States, Florida and world premieres; as well as the annual New Play Festival. All events will take place in the Heckscher Stage theater space, Parliament Hall, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus. Tickets and season subscriptions are available at 561-297-6124.
Theatre Lab will once again begin the season with its Heckscher Theatre for Families production. This year’s production is the Florida premiere of “The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd,” by Stephen Brown. The show is a heartfelt comedy for all ages which follows Jasmine, a 12-year-old genius, who, to get her divorced parents back together, invents a time machine.
“Mr. Brown joined us in 2019 with the co-world premiere production of his play ‘Everything Is Super Great’ and we are thrilled to have him return with this new play, fresh off its critically-acclaimed world premiere at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta,” said Matthew Stabile, producing artistic director at Theatre lab. “These productions are meant for kids from ages 8 to 88, are filled with imagination and fun, and are some of my favorites of our past productions!”
This production will serve as the centerpiece for Theatre Lab’s acclaimed educational outreach program, The Future PAGES Project, which runs from Saturday, Sept. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 8. In addition to performances for school groups during the week, Theatre Lab will offer public performances of the show on Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults and free to all students under 18 with a paid adult admission. The show also can be added to a MainStage subscription for an additional $10. Free creative writing workshops for students ages 8 to 17 will be offered one hour prior to public performances. All students who attend the show, whether through a field trip or a public performance, are eligible to submit a piece of original writing for the opportunity to be included in Theatre Lab’s annual Future PAGES Project educational outreach program.
The MainStage season will begin in November with the U.S. premiere of “The Berlin Diaries” by Andrea Stolowitz. The two-person show tells the true story of the playwright and her journey to retrace the steps of her great-grandfather, who kept a journal for his descendants after escaping to New York as a German Jew in 1939.
“After joining us for our 2018 Playwright’s Forum & MasterClass, we are thrilled to welcome Ms. Stolowitz back to The Lab for a full production of this beautiful play,” said Stabile. “We had a fantastic workshop and reading of this play in 2018 and are very excited to bring a full production to our stage. It uses heightened theatricality with two performers sharing more than a dozen roles to tell a story that is both intensely personal and global.”
The second production in the MainStage series features another return of a script from a developmental reading with the Florida premiere of “Rooted” by Deborah Zoe Laufer. This is the second play in a planned trilogy, beginning with the 2018’s hit, “Be Here Now,” and was developed at Theatre Lab during the summer of 2019 before receiving its world premiere at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.
“This will mark the third production of a Deborah Zoe Laufer play in Theatre Lab’s nine seasons,” said Louis Tyrrell, founding director. “One of the great joys of our commitment to developing deep relationships with the playwrights who join us at The Lab is to see their work continue to grow and flourish with our audiences and around the country.”
The MainStage series closes out with the world premiere of “What’s Best for the Children,” by Idris Goodwin. Goodwin is an award-winning playwright and poet and serves as artistic director of Seattle Children’s Theatre.
“Idris Goodwin is one of the most exciting voices in the American theater,” said Stabile. “Several of our past Heckscher Theatre for Families productions have been plays that spent time or were produced at SCT, so I already feel very artistically aligned with Idris. This play is meant for an adult audience and features original rap songs, audience interaction and an incisive exploration of the pressure educators face from all sides. The opportunity to further our relationship with this amazing artist and provide a home for the world premiere of this fantastic and timely offbeat comedy for adults is incredibly exciting for us.”
Mainstage season subscriptions are $115 for all three plays. Existing subscribers can purchase subscriptions now and new subscribers can purchase beginning Monday, April 24. Individual tickets will be available for purchase in August.
In addition, visiting playwrights will offer workshops throughout the season (dates to be announced later), and the annual New Play Festival will offer a weekend of readings of new works with playwrights in attendance from Friday, March 8 through Sunday, March 10, 2024. The line up for the New Play Festival will be announced later this year.
2023-24 THEATRE LAB PRODUCTIONS:
Heckscher Theatre for Families Production
- “The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd” by Stephen Brown
A Florida Premiere
Executive Producers: Kathleen Holmes and Louis Tyrrell
Saturday, Sept. 16 – Sunday, Oct. 8
Directed by Matt Stabile
Jasmine is a 12-year-old computer genius who can do anything. She can hack into the AT&T mainframe. Build an artificially intelligent friend named Grace. But she can’t get her divorced parents to get back together. So of course, she decides to build a time-machine with her uncle in order to change the past so that maybe … her present can be different.
The playwright of the co-world premiere comedy, “Everything is Super Great, Stephen Brown,” returns to The Lab with his new play for all ages, fresh off a successful world premiere in Atlanta. This production is the centerpiece of its fall educational outreach program and offers an imaginative and fun-filled show for all ages.
Recommended for ages 8+
Performances: Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m.
Free creative writing workshops for students ages 8-18, one hour prior to performances.
Tickets: $25 for adults, up to four student tickets free with each adult purchase.
Mainstage Series
Individual tickets: $32-$45
MainStage subscription: $115
Add-on Heckscher Theatre for Families show: $10
Performances: Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m.
- “The Berlin Diaries” by Andrea Stolowitz
A U.S. or Rolling World Premiere
Preview Performances: Wednesday, Nov. 15 and Friday, Nov. 17
Run: Saturday, Nov. 18 – Sunday, Dec. 10
Directed by Matt Stabile
The great-grandfather of Oregon Book Award-winning playwright Andrea Stolowitz kept a journal for his descendants after escaping to New York City in 1939 as a German Jew. Following the complicated lure of genealogy, Stolowitz goes back to Berlin to bring the story of her unknown ancestors out of the archives into the light. The record keeps as many secrets as it shares: How do people become verschollen, lost, like library books?
After joining us with this play for the 2018 Playwright’s Forum, Stolowitz returns to The Lab for a full production. In this complex, contemporary drama about the search for home, fragmented heritage and Jewish diaspora, two performers scintillate between characters and locations at the border of reality and memory and the intersection of national history and private lives.
- “Rooted” by Deborah Zoe Laufer
A Florida Premiere
Previews: Wednesday, Jan. 31 and Friday, Feb. 2, 2024
Run: Saturday, Feb. 3 – Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024
Directed by Deborah Zoe Laufer
Emery and her sister, Hazel, have never ventured out of their tiny town in upstate New York for all their 60-some years. This is “A-ok” with Emery, who would very happily spend the rest of her days alone, in her homemade treehouse in her beloved tree, Mabel, blogging about her experiments on the consciousness of plants. But when she becomes an unexpected internet sensation and crowds start congregating beneath Mabel believing she’s their savior, Hazel sees an opportunity for profit and escape for the first time in her life.
This is the second in a planned trilogy beginning with 2018’s hit, “Be Here Now,” and was developed at The Lab over summer 2019. Like its predecessor, it received a critically acclaimed world premiere at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and now returns to Heckscher Stage – marking Zoe Laufer’s third full production at The Lab.
- “What’s Best for the Children” by Idris Goodwin
A World Premiere or Rolling World Premiere
Previews: Wednesday, April 10 and Friday, April 12, 2024
Run: Saturday, April 13 – Sunday, April 28, 2024
Directed by Matt Stabile
Whit Forsyth has just been elected the first Black chairman of the State Schoolboard Committee, about to vote on critical measures on public education. But as he readies for his vote, several groups go to extreme measures to influence his decisions. A zany exploration of ideology and the American education system.
Award-winning storyteller, playwright, poet, arts champion, and artistic director of Seattle Children’s Theatre, Idris Goodwin, brings his offbeat comedy for adults – featuring rap, audience interaction, and incisive exploration of the pressures educators face from all sides – to The Lab for its world premiere production.
ADDITIONAL EVENTS:
New Play Festival
Friday, March 8 – Saturday, March 10, 2024
Theatre Lab’s annual New Play Festivals continues its tradition of providing opportunities for emerging and established playwrights to showcase their work. This event is your opportunity to get a sneak-peek at some of the shows that might end up on stage next season. Each reading is accompanied by a post-show discussion and an opportunity to interact with the playwrights themselves, where they will discuss the process, inspiration and plans for future development.
Friday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 9 at noon, 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 10 at noon and 3:30 p.m.
Final line-up to be announced later this year.
Tickets: Six reading package: $99; three reading package: $55; individual readings: $20.
For more information about Theatre Lab, visit www.fau.edu/theatrelab.