The one-time cultural jewel of Manalapan is gone.
Florida Stage rang down its final curtain in June, nearly two decades after it came to Plaza del Mar and one season after it left the barrier island for the Kravis Center.
The theater company was known for its derring-do in developing new works. That’s something most companies cannot afford to do.
But Florida Stage did it for 24 years.
For the company’s founder, Louis Tyrrell, that 24-year run “really was a dream come true, frankly. Any of us who has an aspiration for a career in theater, what we hope for is the opportunity to do the work we want to do when we want to do it.
“And to share it with the community over time, so that the contribution you make to a community can be part of the cultural personality of that place.”
And after the last of the applause, for a matinee performance of The Cha Cha of the Camel Spider, cultural leaders are bereft.
When he heard about Florida Stage’s decision to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, William Hayes shut himself away in his office and wept.
“This was a role model and had been going on for 20-plus years,” says Hayes, producing artistic director at Palm Beach Dramaworks, in downtown West Palm Beach. “It was risky. They were gutsy and they took that risk.”
“It was very, very shocking. It was entirely unexpected. It was just like a bomb coming out of nowhere really,” says Clive Cholerton, artistic director at Boca Raton’s Caldwell Theatre.
Cholerton said he had always looked up to the company.
“Oddly enough I was at their very last show. And I shook Lou’s hand and told him how much I enjoyed his show.”
It’s a void that will be felt on a national level, the men say.
Rena Blades, president and CEO of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council, agrees.
“Really, I think, this was a very unusual arts organization. They were not just performing art on stage, but also creating new art with each one they did,” she says. “Creating new art is risky, and glorious and admirable.”
Playwrights who were guided by Tyrrell and Florida Stage will vouch for the inspiration they received at Florida Stage.
“The wonderful thing about Florida stage is/was that they would commit to doing a play often with world premiere productions,” says Andrew Rosendorf, the company’s playwright-in-residence, and creator of last year’s season opener at the Kravis Center, Cane. “It doesn’t mean there’s a finished product, but [it’s an opportunity] to put it up and see where they are.”
Actor Michael McKeever says Florida Stage helped him develop his career as a playwright.
“There’s no question about it. It’s a major loss to the theater world,” says McKeever, who lives in Davie. “To the national theater scene, Florida Stage was one of the best and most committed regional theaters when it came to new works.”
McKeever should know.
Two of his plays, Running with Scissors and The Garden of Hannah List, received world premieres at Florida Stage. Running with Scissors has been produced in Germany, with plans in the works for a European tour, says McKeever, who is readying his latest work, Stuff, for a world premiere this month at Caldwell Theatre.
Florida Stage seemingly came a long way over its 24-year history.
It began in 1987 as The Theatre Club of the Palm Beaches, which presented plays at the Duncan Theatre Second Stage at what is now Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth.
The Theatre Club became Pope Theatre Company and moved to Manalapan in 1991. After the theater ended its relationship with benefactor Lois Pope in 1997, it changed its name to Florida Stage.
The company moved to the Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse last summer and had hoped to develop new audiences there.
But that never happened.
Subscriptions dwindled, and the company listed $1.5 million debt.
The company had sought subscription renewals for next season right up to its last performance.
Its summer performance, a return of the musical Ella, also was canceled, and Kravis Center CEO Judy Mitchell says people who bought tickets to the show through the Kravis Center’s box office can choose tickets to a show in the Rinker, Persson Hall or the Gosman Amphitheatre.
Blades says Cultural Council members will offer coupons or vouchers to those who renewed subscriptions for next year.
As for Tyrrell, he is taking time to reflect on his career, and is looking ahead to what’s next.
“I don’t think I have an interest in starting another company, “ he says, citing the ups and downs of the business side of theater.
“We’ll see what opportunities I’m given,” he says. “Now I have to consider offers from others doing the plays that they choose.”
Still, he look back with pride at Florida Stage.
“I’ve had such a good run at it and feel so damn lucky.”
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