More company info

TeatroLAB Madrid is an open space for theatrical creation. For more than ten years, it has developed an ongoing practice of training, research, and stage production. Out of this process have emerged productions such as Our Town (Nuestro Pueblo), Proyecto Edipo, Gross Indecency, Cuatro corazones con freno y marcha atrás, Tragedia española, Ding Dong, Jubileo, and Robots, among others.

At the same time, TeatroLAB has collaborated with different companies and artistic teams on productions that have become benchmark works and box-office successes on the commercial theatre circuit, such as Burundanga, La madre que me parió, El Nombre, Berlín, Berlín, and Bestseller. These collaborations are part of its way of understanding theatre: a space where research and professional practice coexist.

The project was founded by Gabriel Olivares, who serves as the artistic director of this new stage. TeatroLAB Madrid brings together his experience and knowledge in the creation of a permanent company, while expanding its network of collaborators in order to consolidate a structure that can be sustained over time.

WHY A PERMANENT COMPANY TODAY

Madrid is home to an extraordinary level of theatrical activity. Every season brings new projects, new productions, and new artistic teams.

Within this context, a permanent company proposes a different way of working: continuity, artistic development, and growth over time.

A company makes it possible for actors’ training to remain active, for productions to continue evolving beyond opening night, and for performers to take part in different projects within the same artistic structure.

This model creates a space in which stage work can develop with perspective and depth.

The TeatroLAB Madrid company is built on a clear structure: training, research, creation, and the sustaining of a repertoire.

A company means process, continuity, and artistic evolution.

At the end of each season, the artistic direction team evaluates the work developed throughout the training process.

This evaluation takes into account the performer’s development, their commitment to training, their creative capacity within collective work, and their affinity with the artistic philosophy of the project.

Based on this ongoing process of observation and assessment, invitations are extended to join the permanent company.

Participation in training constitutes the main point of entry into the system, although joining the company is the result of a gradual selection process based on sustained work and suitability for the artistic project.

In this way, the company takes shape organically through the working process itself.

THE COMPANY · PRODUCTION LINES

The company works across three lines of production that coexist within the repertoire. These are not closed compartments: they are connected through an internal process of development, so that performers entering the company’s circuit may, sooner rather than later, take part in any of its projects.

Ensemble productions. Inspired by experiences such as Our Town (Nuestro Pueblo) and Gross Indecency, these productions function as a testing ground for new members joining the company. They are large-cast productions (with up to nine performers) in which actors demonstrate real solidity within the working method: applied training, composition, listening, and shared responsibility. Before taking on other levels of prominence, performers consolidate their integration into the company’s way of working here.

Experimental projects. This is the company’s active research line: formats, durations, hybrid forms, and dialogue with audiovisual language. These projects are spaces in which new tools are explored and tested, later feeding into the repertoire as a whole.

Genre productions. This line is more directly oriented toward the commercial circuit (comedy, thriller, suspense, horror, drama, musical theatre, etc.). It is led primarily by the company’s more experienced members, while new performers are integrated progressively—often through understudy work or supporting processes—with the aim of moving toward full participation within a reasonable period of time.

PRESENTATION / PERFORMANCE CONTEXT

This new stage of the permanent company is sustained by an ongoing performance framework in theatre venues. At present, TeatroLAB Madrid maintains an agreement with the venues managed by Abonoteatro.

This framework makes it possible to plan creation processes with a real horizon of premiere and continued runs. In addition, those productions whose artistic quality, viability, and commercial interest so warrant may also be developed for touring across theatres throughout the country.

FUTURE PRODUCTIONS

The company functions as a seedbed and incubator for new projects. Each season, new productions will be incorporated into the system with the aim of building, within a few years, a broad and active repertoire. These productions are conceived to remain on stage over several seasons through regular performances, becoming part of a stable structure.

There will be strategic pauses whenever necessary: breaks to regenerate audiences, commercial adjustments, cast replacements, scenic revisions, or changes of venue. Each production is developed as a tailored piece for the theatre in which it is presented, and adaptation to new venues is understood as part of the process.

In a context where most stage projects are short-lived, the building of a repertoire offers a real path toward continuity. The more productions that become part of the repertoire, the greater the possibility of participating in more than one project, and of achieving both artistic and professional stability.

Productions will be developed primarily from original plays or adaptations generated within the company’s own system, in collaboration with playwrights connected to the company as well as newly invited writers. At present, the company works with Gabriel Olivares, Ana Graciani, Dani Alés, and Pilar Ruiz, while remaining open to the ongoing incorporation of new playwrights.