In April, the Labyrinth Theatre and the Richardson Centre Theatre joined forces — having co-produced a staging of The Foreigner. They agreed to merge and signed a 10-year lease to move in together in their new, two-theater venue at Two Creeks Plaza, 2701  Custer Parkway,  in Richardson. This was two months after Labyrinth, an Equity company, had ceased operations. But it looked as though the ‘marriage’ would give the company renewed life.

But now comes word from Kevin Ash, who was the executive director of the new operation, that the CPR didn’t take. The merger happened so fast that they were unable to secure grants and other financing. The Theater at Two Creeks will continue, however, as the RTC’s home and a possible site for stand-alone productions from Ash. Ash, meanwhile, will begin teaching at the Parish Episcopal School.

His full letter is on the jump.

The Labyrinth began in 2004 and staged its plays in the Arapaho United Methodist Church — an indication of the company’s leaning towards “ethical, religious and morally profound ideas” in its stage works. The Labyrinth was also notable for its world premieres. Its association with Algonquin Productions in New York City often meant those premieres then went to the off-Broadway Algonquin Theatre.

I am saddened to report that our efforts to keep the spirit of The Labyrinth Theatre going in the form of an operating professional theatre were unsuccessful.  In spite of the grand strides we made, the circumstances that forced us to move so quickly meant that we were unable to put everything in place in time to secure grants and financing enabling us to continue as a professional entity. We do celebrate the many wonderful experiences and performances that we were able to achieve and produce in the time we were able to make The Labyrinth Theatre happen for all of us.

We were able to complete the performing space at Two Creeks Plaza in Canyon Creek where Richardson Theatre Centre will continue to operate and is currently putting on their productions. The new theatre there is a wonderful space that seats over 100 and continues to be improved. The vision is still that the new space there will eventually also house a black box theatre in addition to the larger venue that is complete. As for The Labyrinth, we are putting her to rest for now.  We may in the future mount some stand alone productions, and may do so at the Theatre at Two Creeks when that time comes.  We will be letting you know if that comes to pass for sure.

I have been afforded a wonderful opportunity at Parish Episcopal School, teaching in their Drama department, directing and designing, and helping to develop the program there into one of the top programs for the arts in the area.

I would like to thank all of you who supported us so faithfully and followed our efforts to continue with our grand experiment. We are extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish and we look forward to our new opportunities.

Thank you so much,

Kevin L. Ash

President KLA Productions