Arts Alive! podcast: Georgia Mallory Guy, ThinkTank Theatre

The phrase “theater for young audiences” doesn’t mean children’s plays. This is a point made crystal clear by Georgia Malloy Guy, our guest on this week’s episode of the Arts Alive! podcast.

Guy is the founder and artistic director of ThinkTank, a Tampa-based company that produces theater using the blueprint established by the national organization TYA USA – “to encourage the next generation of theater-goers,” as Guy says, by professionally producing (using a combination of adult and teen actors) shows that are miles beyond fairy tales, but not quite the full-scale adult stories from the likes of David Mamet or Tony Kushner. “You’ve got to have that middle meat,” Guy explains.

“And also if theater is a direct reflection of our lives and our community, then you’re missing a whole huge demographic of people – that means children, middle schoolers, high schoolers, their parents, their families, early college kids … it’s work that is meant to be done that reflects them. Because then they grasp the greater understanding of theater as a reflective mirror of society.”

ThinkTank’s “The Wolves.”

ThinkTank is onstage Jan. 13-22 with The Wolves, the Obie Award-winning Off Broadway play by Sara DeLappe. Performed at Stageworks Theatre’s home in the Channelside District, it introduces a competitive girls’ soccer team, and depicts the locker room conversations they have, over a period of time.

“It’s a beautiful play, written about the power of femininity but also the concept of group and group dynamics,” Guy says. “I think it’s a prime example of how ThinkTank approaches TYA, because you’re dealing with the lives of 16- and 17-year-old women, and the conversations they have. Very slice-of-life, present conversations.”

Click on the arrow below to listen to the podcast.