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Theatre Lab at Florida Atlantic Earns Awards for 2024-25 productions

Theatre Lab’s 2025 production of “The Last Yiddish Speaker” by Deborah Zoe Laufer

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Theatre Lab, the professional resident company of �鶹��Ʒ��Ƶ’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, and one of the only theater companies in all of Florida exclusively dedicated to new work, received multiple awards for its theatrical work in 2024-25 season.

��“Fall is ‘theater awards season’ here in South Florida,” said Matt Stabile, producing artistic director of Theatre Lab. “We are thrilled and honored to have so much of our work, and that of the artists who joined us this past season, recognized by our community."

The Silver Palm Awards, recognizing outstanding contributions to South Florida Theater, recently took place in Wilton Manors. Theatre Lab artists took home three of the more than two dozen awards presented that evening including:

• Gage Callenius, Outstanding Performance, “The Last Yiddish Speaker”
• Iain Batchelor, Actor and Puppeteer, “The Impossible Task of Today”
• Nicole Perry, Performer and Choreographer, “The Impossible Task of Today”

"We are all so pleased to see these amazing performers’ work celebrated,” Stabile said. “In particular, Gage’s award really demonstrates the impact of our educational outreach programs and our mission of ‘new artists."

While he was still a high school student, Callenius was in Theatre Lab’s very first cohort of LabRATS - an educational outreach program geared toward mentoring young artists interested in pursuing theater arts as a college or career path. A few years later, he made his professional theatrical debut in a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere production, for which he has now been recognized by the Silver Palms.

In October, more than 125 finalists across 20 categories were announced for the 48th annual Carbonell Awards. The Carbonells are the region’s longest running theatrical awards program and honor theatrical excellence at more than 30 theaters from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach County. Theatre Lab garnered seven finalists across six categories including:

• Outstanding New Work: “The Last Yiddish Speaker” by Deborah Zoe Laufer
• Outstanding New Work: “The Impossible Task of Today” by Jeff Bower
• Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Lead Male Role, Play: Iain Batchelor, “The Impossible Task of Today”
• Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Lead Female Role, Play: Vaishnavi Sharma, “The Impossible Task of Today”
• Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Female Role, Play: Patti Gardner, “The Last Yiddish Speaker”
• Outstanding Lighting Design: Thomas Shorrock, “The Last Yiddish Speaker”
• Outstanding Sound Design: Matt Corey, “The Last Yiddish Speaker”

The winners were recently announced at the annual gala awards show which took place at the University Theatre on Florida Atlantic’s Boca Raton campus this year. Theatre Lab saw two of their finalists announced as winners:

• Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Lead Male Role, Play: Iain Batchelor, “The Impossible Task of Today”
• Outstanding New Work: “The Last Yiddish Speaker” by Deborah Zoe Laufer

“Theatre Lab is home to a welcoming, collaborative and well-intentioned group of artists which makes for such a wonderful place to work,” said Batchelor. “To have been recognized on a personal level this awards’ season for work done at this theater company feels doubly gratifying. I’m excited to be at Theatre Lab both as an artist and audience member in equal measure and I can’t wait for the next opportunity to support them.”

“The Last Yiddish Speaker” received its very first public reading at Theatre Lab in 2023 and then went on to become a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere – garnering productions across the country in 2025.

“We’re so proud to have been the home of this brilliant new play,” said Stabile. “We want the work we do here to have life all around the country and I think this play’s origin story and subsequent success illustrates our deep commitment to playwrights and doing whatever we can to help bring their work to life,” Stabile said.

“I’m absolutely thrilled and honored. South Florida has been my theater home for 23 years, and Theatre Lab has been my favorite place to work,” said Deborah Zoe Laufer, playwright. “Matt Stabile has helped develop every play I’ve written for over 10 years. It’s incredibly meaningful to be recognized for my work in this community, particularly this play at this particular time.”

Theatre Lab’s second decade of programming exclusively new work continues in 2025-26 with a season of all world premiere plays and the second annual Owl New Play Festival, featuring two full productions of new plays running concurrently and additional lectures and readings of new work in April 2026.

“We hope that this recognition encourages even more of our South Florida community to join us this season as we continue to establish Theatre Lab and �鶹��Ʒ��Ƶas the premiere location for new plays in the Southeast and eventually the nation,” said Stabile.

For more information about Theatre Lab, visit fau.edu/theatrelab

-FAU-

Tags: arts and letters