(photo credit: Jordan Kubat/gala 2017/founding resident artist)

Written by Patrick Chavis

(Conversation over Zoom)

It seems sudden, but the Wayward Artist, a theater that has run in downtown Santa Ana for the last eight years, will close on December 31st. According to Co-Artistic Director Sydney Raquel, this is not a sudden decision; it has been an issue in discussion for the last two years.

“While I’ve been with Wayward since the beginning, most of our founding company members have moved on to a new path. Our co-founder, Kristen Campbell, moved on,” said Raquel. Raquel mentioned that when Kristen Campbell, the Co-Founder and Managing Director at the time, left Wayward in 2020, the constant leadership changes continued, creating challenges for the small theatre company. From 2021 – 2022, Mauri Smith was the Managing Director. As of 2023, Craig Holland had been the managing director of the theatre company. While management change was a factor, the most significant factor was the loss of Craig Tyrl, who was the main fundraiser and founder of the company.

“For about two years, Craig Tyrl, our founding artistic director, has been transitioning with a new career path, and it’s something he’s very passionate about, and we have all rallied behind him for being able to kind of hold two passions at the same time,” said Raquel.

https://iucc.org/

Tryl was given the Administrative Pastor position at the Irvine United Congregational Church in 2023 and will soon be ordained a pastor. Tyrl took a back seat as a board member at the Wayward, but his loss of contribution was too much for Wayward to sustain.

“When you lose a founder, no one’s ever going to be as passionate about the nonprofit as the person who founded it,” said Raquel.

“The main factor really is theater costs a lot of money.”

Even with the support of the donors and the city partners in Santa Ana, a huge dip in fundraising made it impossible to receive some of the grants they hoped for.

“Craig Tyrl (founder of the Wayward Artist) has initiated from the beginning, from the first show, through now, we’ve always paid every single person that has worked with us. Anybody who has a contract actor, designer, assistant stage manager, like any type of role there is, is a paid role. That’s something that we are very transparent about. It was a huge goal that Craig had when he first started the company. That was something that I found very inspiring in an era of community theater where sometimes it’s just the director who’s paid,” Raquel said.

Dismayed that this would be the first season they wouldn’t be able to pay their staff and crew, in the coming year, the group decided to end the Wayward Arist and stay true to one of their founding principles.

Getting people in the seats!

In its 8-year run, The Wayward Artist also had issues getting people into the seats for newer works.

Photo by Doug Catiller

“OC loves a certain type of theater, and it’s very easy to sell out musicals. It’s very easy to sell out very classic work. The OC community is very into that. Now, there is a very select group of people that are into something that’s a little new. The Chance put on Gloria, I heard that that was successful, you know. But there is the balance of that. They also put on very mainstream shows, like Emma the Musical,” said Raquel.

Actually!

Raquel reminisced about the opportunities the Wayward Artist provided for her and the community.

“In 2022, I was super lucky that Craig gave me my first directing opportunity. It was actually my first professional directing venture outside of college that will always hold such a special place,” Raquel said.

Actually, Wayward Artist (2023) Photo credit: Francis Gacad

Craig told Sydney to sit it in the audience during the first day of her production of “Actually,” a compelling two-hander from playwright Anna Ziegler, in the most simplistic terms, about an alleged sexual assault on a college campus. The Curtain awarded the show high marks in 2022 for the strong acting, direction, and writing, a true trifecta of talent.

“‘You go sit in the audience, Craig said.’ And I sat there, and it was fully packed. I wish I had recorded it. The kindest opening speech where he not only got to talk about how blessed we were to be collaborators, but that he was watching this, you know, happen for me, this opportunity happen for me, and that show was just truly a gift in every way. It has thus shaped how I have wanted to work since then,” Raquel said.

The Wayward Legacy!

As far as the legacy of the Wayward Artist is concerned, Raquel hopes everyone felt welcome. Whether or not they were able to act or work for Wayward. Raquel mentioned how much love and support she received from people whose lives were changed and helped because of the theatre company in the area.

Raquel thinks the way to bring more theatre to Orange County is to make our own opportunities.

“You’re not annoying. Make your own opportunity to say, this is what I’ve done for myself because nobody’s going to make that for you,” Raquel said. 

Some work from Director Sydney Raquel below: