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2023-2024 Season Reveal

2023-2024 Season Reveal will take place on April 22, 2023 at 6p.

Follow along on social media at #countdowntocivicreveal

Meet our 2023-2024 New Directors!

Kyle Brown has been involved in Civic in many capacities over the last few years. He has acted in shows such as To Kill A Mockingbird, The Boys Next Door, The Rocky Horror Show, and most recently in Daniel’s Husband as well as others. In addition to acting, Kyle has written multiple 10-Minute Play Festival scripts, worked tech in the booths for shows, taught a character acting class, and assistant directed Civic Youth Theatre shows such as Walk Two Moons, Flora & Ulysses, and She Kills Monsters. If you haven’t seen him in any of those roles, then you probably know him from slinging drinks and Twizzlers from behind the bar. Kyle is ready to rock it as a director this season for Civic Youth Theatre. 

Brian Tyrrell is making his Civic Theatre directing debut this season. A native of Washington State, he holds an MFA (1997) and MA (1980) in Theatre from Purdue University. His directing credits include everything from Shakespeare (Much Ado About Nothing and The Two Gentlemen of Verona) to Sondheim (Into the Woods and West Side Story). Beyond his 30+ years of directing on the academic level, his regional directing credits include Next to Normal, Rabbit Hole and The Rainmaker in Olympia, WA and assistant direction of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle.

A member of Actors Equity Association since 1987, his acting credits include multiple seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and single seasons with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and a national tour with the National Shakespeare Company in New York. Additional regional acting credits include productions in Indianapolis, Chicago, Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia.

For five years he served as the Playwriting Awards Chair for The Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival. He’s the co-founder of the Northwest Playwright’s Alliance at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

For the past twelve summers, excluding the 2020-2021 pandemic years,  he taught and directed at the Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York. His most recent directing credit is Shaw’s Saint Joan at Whitworth University in Spokane, WA, spring 2023. Brian is married to fellow Purdue Theatre alum Jana (Young) Tyrrell. Boiler Up! Brian looks forward to a return to his “artistic home” along the banks of the Wabash River.

Raquel Lopez has been a working actor, director, choreographer, playwright, & teaching artist for over 30 years. A San Diego native, her training began in musical theatre then moved to classical theatre after being accepted into The Old Globe Theatre program. Raquel went on to study improvisation & comedic scene writing at The Second City Chicago where she participated in two revues as both sketch writer and performer. As an improvisor, she was a regular at The Playground, Chicago and was a company member of Playback Improv Troupe with Urban Gateways, Chicago. Her additional training includes: I.O. Chicago, Acting Studio Chicago and Piven Theatre Company, Evanston.

Raquel’s work as a playwright includes her first play In Our Own Backyard (Eldridge Publishing) that received an “Honorable Mention Award” from The Beverly Hills Theatre Guild and was produced throughout the U.S and in South Korea. Other works include: “Malvolio or What You Will, A Transgender Story”, and “A Taco Truck on Every Corner, or Dreaming in English”. Her work has been produced at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2014) and Prague Fringe Festival (2018).

Raquel relocated from Reno, Nevada in 2018 to begin her current day job as Producing Artistic Director of Civic Theatre. Her most recent directorial work includes “A Poison Squad of Whispering Women” by Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos, produced by Civic Theatre, and staged at The Fowler House Mansion in Jan. 2020, and Fefu & Her Friends in Oct. 2021 for Purdue Theatre. Raquel is a proud alumna of The
Director’s Lab Chicago (Class 2017) & has directed 70+ productions.

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Derrick Coleman

Derrick Coleman is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and raconteur. He believes that

you excel at what you love. Derrick began his professional career in 1994 performing

with a local gospel group in Gary, Indiana. From there, he recorded, produced, and

performed with several local and nationally known artists in northwest Indiana and

Chicago for the next thirteen years. After moving to Lafayette, he began to establish

himself as a solo artist.

Derrick Coleman will perform at Season Reveal on April 22, 2023 at 5p!

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Los Chapporitos
Food Truck!

Los Chapporitos food truck will be at our 2023-2024 Season Reveal! They are CASH ONLY and will be set up and ready to serve at 5p April 22, 2023!

Meet Our 23-24
Artist-in-Residence

Hello!  My name is Taylor Cappelleri and I’m so happy to announce that I will be the Artist in Residence again for the 2023-24 Theatre Season! 

My family and I moved to West Lafayette about 10 years ago, because my husband was offered a position at Purdue University.  After a few years of living here, I met Julie Baumann, Director of Education and Outreach, who suggested I sign my daughter up for a kid’s class at Civic Theatre.  Fast forward seven years later, both my kids love the performing arts, and I’m creating art for the theatre that set them on the acting path.  It has been a true full circle moment for our family! 

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As for myself, my creative journey began as a young child who simply loved to draw.  My grandparents where extremely influential in fostering my love for creating and eventually I went to college to study Fashion Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC.  Although I enjoyed drawing and sewing, I fell in love with a 2D design class that required us to make art only using black and white paper!  Fast forward twenty years later, paper is the medium I chose to go back to when I started creating again in 2019.  During 2020 I spent a lot of time in my art room using art as a tool toward self discovery and healing. This is the story and process I shared in my first gallery show at The Arts Federation in October 2020.  Thereafter, I began offering a commissioned art experience called “Tell Me Your Story.”  This process gave me the honor of hearing people’s most precious stories and turning them into pieces of art.  In September 2021, Raquel Lopez, Artistic Director of Civic Theatre, reached out and asked if I would be willing to create the show art for the 2022-23 season!  Theatre is the art of acting out stories, and I was drawing stories, so it was a perfect fit! 

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The response to my artwork this season has filled my spirit with so much joy! I’m so grateful to have this opportunity to create for an organization that does so much to support artists of all kinds in our community! I’ve had the privilege of seeing almost every show this season and the talent that this small community theatre has fostered is remarkable! 

The Season Reveal Party for the 2023-24 show season is on April 22nd at 6p!  The shows and artwork for next season will be revealed that night!  I hope to see you there!

*All original artwork created for the shows are available for purchase on a first come first serve basis.  Once payment is received, the item will be marked as sold, and then delivered to you at the end of the show season.  To purchase a piece of original artwork please email Taylor at 8waysofme@gmail.com.  

*”Tell Me Your Story” commissions are currently closed.

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