In a bare-bones warehouse located off of a South Lake Union alley, a group of young college grads are working to fill the industrial space with something new.

Not new furniture or new paint. New ideas.

"A lot of the theaters around here produce the same plays over and over. It's just on repeat," said Steven Ackley, the artistic director of the boom! Theater Company. "We really want to investigate how performance can be different."

The boom! Theater Company, which moved into the warehouse space off Fairview Avenue last August, is a group of 11 local artists that write their own work, then produce and perform it. During the day, the members range from preschool teachers to cooks. But at night and on weekends, their life is all about experimenting with peoples' ideas of theater.

"We want people to think, 'wow, this is not a night at the theater I've seen before – I wonder what's next'," said boom! member Zachary Nystrom.

Right now, the group is working to produce a 12-week blitz of original performance art called the New Works Festival. Hosted at the boom! space and opening February 16, the festival will feature six original mini plays and an art installation in its first month. Visitors to the boom! space can enjoy three shows per evening. There will be dark comedies, light comedies, creepy performances and beautiful ones too. The festival is all about variety.

"The space is pretty much revolving every night. It feels like you are changing locations almost," Ackley said.

Funded by donations, money from the members' own pockets and random rental fees from karate lessons, the festival offers art to the community at a low cost. Local artists are invited to participate, and the group lets them perform at their venue for free.

The boom! group started out in 2009 as a student interest group at Cornish College of the Arts and grew into a self-sustaining theater company through its resourcefulness. When the group had no venue to practice in, they used someone's living room and moved the furniture out. When they needed a new set, they took an old one apart and reused all the wood and screws. One member even built his own rain machine when a previous production called for a brief but dramatic drizzle.

As far as the name, "boom!" means exactly what it sounds like, the group says.

"It means 'boom, now – boom, right here'," said member Ellen Steves.

The New Works Festival kicks off with an opening party February 16 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for one night or $18 for a two-night pass. Performances rotate and run Thursday through Saturdays at 8 p.m. Every four weeks, there will be a new round of work featured. For more information, visit www.boomtheatercompany.org.

Posted by DiscoverSLU on Feb. 1
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