What is Pieces of Eight’s purpose?

Pieces of Eight is Loudoun County’s only lab theatre.
We are applying for 501(c)3 tax-exempt status.

Our purpose is exploration:
* To give non-professionals who take theatre seriously a vehicle to explore their craft as actors, directors, designers and writers. 
* To give audiences the opportunity to explore new theatrical material and to deepen their enjoyment of more well-known plays through innovative and challenging new productions.

Pieces of Eight was formed in the spring of 2008 by local actors Nancy McCarthy, Mike Minnicino and John Van Eck. The troupe is named after the 18th century Spanish coins used worldwide; the small “pieces of eight,” when combined, were sought by pirates as they represented guaranteed fortune. So too, Pieces of Eight seeks treasure in small, intimate plays (or pieces) of eight or fewer actors.

What is a "Lab Theatre"?

The idea that actors and directors need a laboratory in which to experiment has been kicking around since the early 1900s and the work of Stanislavsky and others. Since the 1960s, many lab theatres have completely narrowed their focus to training, and some do not even consider it useful to actually perform the works under discussion.

Pieces of Eight, on the other hand, is devoted to performance. We want to create a theatre laboratory in the broadest sense: a supportive place where non-professionals who are not afraid of a little rigor can learn, test, collaborate, and push their limits – and do better than they have done before.

All are welcome who share these goals. 

                        If you want to keep up to date on Po8Lab 
                        developments, please join our Facebook group .