Laboratory Theater

Playwright Tracy Letts won a Pulitzer Prize and multiple Tony Awards for “August, Osage County.” His searing 2017 satire, “The Minutes” is just as good, although its Broadway run was cut short by the pandemic. The action takes place in the Big Cherry City Council, where the minutes of its last meeting have mysteriously gone missing and new Council member, Mr. Peel, is doggedly trying to find out how and why. Ryan Adair plays Peel.

This season will be Theatre Conspiracy’s last in Southwest Florida. Founder and Producing Artistic Director Bill Taylor has announced a lineup of 11 blockbuster shows for its farewell tour. Since the company is no longer at the Alliance for the Arts, it has arranged to stage this season’s shows in the Off Broadway Palm, Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium and The Laboratory Theater of Florida.

This week, four shows open, four shows close and 17 others continue their runs at equity and community theaters from Marco Island to Sarasota.

During the week of April 7, 2025, ten shows open, six shows close and 15 others continue their runs at equity and community theaters from Marco Island to Sarasota.

On Tuesday, the director of grants, Jessica McElwee, told the Fort Myers Public Art Committee that the city is preparing to open the application window for this year’s arts & culture grants. If all goes well, that window will open April 1 and close on May 16, 2025.

This week, four shows open, there’s a preview of another, seven shows close and 10 others continue their runs.

March promises to be just as busy for Southwest Florida theaters as February was. This week, four shows open, three shows enjoy one-night performances and 11 others continue their runs.

Laboratory Theater of Florida in Fort Myers announced this month that founding producing artistic director Annette Trossbach is retiring from the theater company. Trossbach reflects back on the triumphs and challenges that have come during her tenure, the theater’s impact on the Southwest Florida community, and highlights some of Lab Theater’s stand-out productions over the years.

Stephon Clark was standing in his grandmother’s backyard with a cell phone in his hand. Tamir Rice was playing with a toy gun in a park. In the play “Good Bad People,” Amiri Johnson was taking out the garbage at the homeless shelter where he lived. Rather than focus on the institutional racism that frequently gives rise to cases like these, “Good Bad People” shines a light on the grief experienced by the family members left behind.

Four shows open, seven productions close and 11 others continue their runs this week in Southwest Florida theaters.