Dramatically Speaking: Working together

Jamie Ulmer • October 15, 2024

Collaboration and community on display

Creating theatre is all about collaboration, and that has been especially evident at TL over the past few weeks.


First, the cast of “Young Frankenstein” demonstrated incredible teamwork. When illness kept some actors and crew from performing, everyone pulled together to cover roles and keep backstage operations running smoothly. Bravo to everyone involved for showing that the show truly must go on!


Next, we partnered with the enthusiastic artists from the newly formed Bicycle Face Productions. Their presentation of new 10-minute works by local playwrights—graduates of TL’s playwrighting workshop over the past year—was a fantastic showcase of the creative energy alive in our community.


Finally, we want to extend a heartfelt thanks to all who contributed to our recent fundraising concert featuring Yesterday and Today: The Beatles Interactive Experience. With a new format and date, this event was a departure from our traditional fundraiser (Dueling), but thanks to everyone in the audience and behind the scenes, we raised funds to support the theatre, particularly The Penguin Project.


All of this success is a result of extraordinary collaboration—on stage, behind the scenes, and in the audience. Together, we continue to prove just how much the community is at the heart of everything we do.


See you at the theatre,

Jamie Ulmer

Executive Director

Dramatically speaking is a monthly blog by TL's executive director. This column also appears in our weekly e-newsletter.

Theatre Lawrence News & Announcements

Three people posing in front of the Lorraine Motel sign in Memphis.
January 28, 2026
“THE MOUNTAINTOP” MEMPHIS TRIP SERIES: LORRAINE HOTEL The National Civil Rights Museum is a complex of museums and historic buildings built around the former Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2016, the museum was honored by becoming an affiliate museum of the Smithsonian Institution.  Civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. stayed in Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in early April 1968, while working to organize protests around the ongoing Memphis sanitation strike. While standing on the balcony outside his room on the evening of April 4, King was suddenly shot once through the neck by an unseen assassin's sniper's bullet. King fell to the ground, bleeding from his head and neck. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, but the wound was fatal. He died at the hospital an hour after the shooting.
By Jamie Ulmer January 26, 2026
Why The Mountaintop matters now: a powerful look at Dr. King’s humanity, the voices of the civil rights movement, and a journey that shaped this production.
January 23, 2026
A heartfelt thank you and bravo to everyone who auditioned! It was an utter joy to watch every single one of you, and extremely challenging to settle on just one cast from a pool of such tremendous talent. -Maeghan Bishop-Brienzo
More Posts