Playwright’s ‘Beginnings’ Is Opening in Boca Raton, But Her Start Began in Miami

Jonathan White, Clare Bawarski, and Daniel Llaca in Theatre Lab’s “Baker Street Beginnings” written by Gina Montét and opening Saturday, Sept. 5. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography, courtesy of Theatre Lab)

Gina Montét may be opening her newest play in Boca Raton, but “Baker Street Beginnings” grew out of her work and people she met in Miami-Dade County. Theatre Lab premieres the play on Saturday, Sept. 5 at Florida Atlantic University

Her relationship with Miami started in 1991 when she said she moved from Iowa to study theater and film at the University of Miami. She ended up never leaving after graduating in 1994.

“I’ve been here ever since. I’ve put down roots. I’ve raised my three kids here. So, yeah, I am very Miami Dade,” Montét, who now lives in Cutler Bay, said.

Paige Rogers, Clare Bawarski, Daniel Llaca, and Jonathan White. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography, courtesy of Theatre Lab)

She traces her Miami theater roots to the Coconut Grove Playhouse, where she worked in production and began her playwriting career. In 1998, she wrote and directed the educational musical “Adventures With Louie the Lizard: The Quest for Little Fire” for the Playhouse’s school-touring program during Arnold Mittelman’s tenure as producing artistic director.

Montét continued writing and directing there for eight seasons. “I met my husband there — he’s a lighting designer (Eric Nelson) and now our oldest son works at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre.” Her son Kairick Nelson-Montet is an audio/video technician there. “We’re really a Miami-Dade theater family. South Florida is home.”

Around 2000, she joined Fantasy Theatre Factory, now at the Sandrell Rivers Theater in Liberty City, but then an exclusively touring company rehearsing above a storage facility near Bird Road and the Palmetto Expressway. Montét wrote plays for the company. Matt Stabile, now Theatre Lab’s producing artistic director, was one of her collaborators.

“Several of the shows I did during my time there were written by Gina, so I’ve been a fan of her writing for decades,” Stabile said.

Jonathan White and Gustavo Garcia in “Baker Street Beginnings” by Miami Playwright Gina Montét. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography, courtesy of Theatre Lab)

The two later became founding members of Mangrove Creative Collective, a company that developed South Florida stories. Theatre Lab presented readings of Montét’s work and premiered her dark comedy “Overactive Letdown” in 2022. Stabile acted in the premiere of her “Dangerous Instruments” at Palm Beach Dramaworks.

That long friendship and artistic partnership led to “Baker Street Beginnings.” It is the second play the Boca Raton company has commissioned from the Miami playwright for its Heckscher Theatre for Families series.

“Matt and I met doing educational theater over 20 years ago, and one of the things that we always agreed on was that there is a real need for theater that caters to all age groups. We have a lot of theater that works really well for the K through 4,” said the educator. “We have a lot of really great mature theater for our mature audiences.”

But, she said what is missing is anything for children in the fifth-grade age group and into early high school.

Miami Playwright Gina Montét imagines Sherlock Holmes’ beginnings in a new play commissioned by Theatre Lab at Florida Atlantic University. (Photo courtesy of Theatre Lab)

“There really isn’t a whole lot of quality material. Theaters aren’t really catering to that age group, and as somebody who teaches that age group? Well, Matt knows that I’m always on the lookout, and so when he reached out to me, I said, ‘I would love create pieces that that work for all generations, not just young person educational theater, which I think we see a lot.”

Stabile said he had been struggling to find family productions that met the same standards of imagination and quality as Theatre Lab’s other work, and Montét was the first writer he thought of.

“Today’s young people are really sophisticated,” Montét said. “They have access to a lot of different kinds of entertainment, and so we want to meet them where they are.”

For the playwright, that means creating theater that children, parents and grandparents can experience together, rather than a children’s show with a few jokes thrown in for the adults.

Theatre Lab commissioned “Baker Street Beginnings” and Montét’s “Heebie Jeebies: Tales from the Midnight Campfire” at the same time in spring 2025.

” ‘Heebie Jeebies’ was a play that I had written for my students actually, and then we adapted it for a smaller professional cast.”

Jonathan White, Clare Bawarski in “Baker Street Beginnings” at Theatre Lab at Florida Atlantic University. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography, courtesy of Theatre Lab)

The original play for 30 of her students and then for six professional actors, became Theatre’ Lab’s top-selling family production when it premiered last September, according to Stabile.

“The idea was that we could present the show with six actors and, if our school partners wanted to do it at their schools, they could adjust the cast size to fit their needs,” Stabile said.

For her second commission, “Baker Street Beginnings” began with an idea Montét had been considering for some time: Sherlock Holmes was partly inspired by Dr. Joseph Bell, one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s (the Scottish writer who created the character of Sherlock Holmes) medical-school professors and a man known for drawing conclusions through close observation.

“I started to imagine what that might have been like, how that inspiration might have taken hold of a young Conan Doyle, and there are a lot of historical figures in the play that were around at the time when he was coming of age, and they are also coming of age. I was excited about this imagined adventure where all these people team up, and their paths intersect before their emergence into greatness.”

Her play travels to 1870s London, where Doyle is still a teenager and Holmes does not yet exist. The aspiring doctor is taken under Bell’s wing, then pulled with his friends into a mystery involving intrigue, danger and deception.

Centering Doyle instead of Holmes gave Montét something the famous detective audiences never met: a protagonist unsure of himself. She saw in Doyle a character close to the age of the young people in the audience.

Writing a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery about the beginnings of the detective was, Montét admitted, “a tall order.” She had never written a mystery before, but it was what attracted her to the project.

The play combines historical and fictional characters and treats London almost like a game board, moving through different locations and introducing figures who might have crossed paths at the time. Six actors portray about 15 characters.

Jonathan White, Paige Rogers, and Clare Bawarski in Theatre Lab’s “Baker Street Beginnings.” (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography, courtesy of Theatre Lab)

There are puzzles audience members can try to solve along with the characters, experiments in an apothecary and humor to keep the danger from becoming too dark. Montét also planted an Easter egg: another writer from the period, one with an affinity for the macabre, crosses Doyle’s path.

The play was read at Theatre Lab’s Owl New Play Festival in April. Although the festival audience was primarily adults, its response reassured Montét that the story could work across generations.

“Even if we hadn’t already committed to a second play, we would have immediately gone back to her again. The play was a big hit, again, and underwent relatively few changes over the summer before we got into rehearsals in mid-August,” Stabile, who is directing the play, said.

“Baker Street Beginnings” is the first production in Theatre Lab’s Marleen Forkas Studio One Theatre. The larger space allows for a more expansive production than “Heebie Jeebies,” with period costumes, special effects and a set that moves the action through Doyle’s London.

“Finding something that works for everybody is something that I really want to provide. It isn’t just a  mystery. It’s got comedy, said Montét. “It really does have something for everybody, and Theater Lab is absolutely bringing everything to the table in terms of production value.”

WHAT: World premiere of “Baker Street Beginnings” by Gina Montét, directed by Matt Stabile

WHEN: Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m., Sept. 5-20. Detective Science activities begin one hour before public performances.

WHERE: Theatre Lab, Marleen Forkas Studio One Theatre, Performing Arts Building (PA-51), Room 103, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton

COST: $25 for adults; one child admitted free with each adult ticket; additional children’s tickets are $5

INFO: 561-297-6124 or fauevents.universitytickets.com

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.