Baker Street Beginnings
Heckscher Theatre for Families Production
By: Aaron Krause - Sep 09, 2026
Famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes has made several dismissive and critical remarks about women in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories. But in her new play Baker Street Beginnings, versatile playwright Gina Montét manages to flip the script without denigrating Holmes or Doyle. Instead, she’s written an endearing, humorous, and thrilling tale about Doyle’s possible spark for Holmes.
Baker Street Beginnings kicks off Theatre Lab’s new season, the first in its intimate new theater space, as its annual Heckscher Theatre for Families production. The play runs for two more weekends in the Marleen Forkas Studio One Theatre on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus. The running time of this world premiere is about 75 minutes without intermission.
Baker Street Beginnings takes place in 1870s London, where eventual Holmes author Doyle is an apprentice to Dr. Joseph Bell, the real-life physician and inspiration for Holmes. When a thrilling new mystery emerges, Doyle and friends must unravel a web of intrigue, danger, and deception to uncover the answer. In addition to Bell and Holmes, real-life characters in the play include British political activist Emmeline Pankhurst, who helped women win the right to vote, as well as writer, barrister, critic and theater manager Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula.
Director Matt Stabile, Theatre Lab’s Producing Artistic Director, keeps the pacing brisk enough to maintain our interest while ensuring audiences can follow the action. The production is consistently energetic and theatrical, with over-the-top performances to keep young audiences’ interest. Fortunately, the performers don’t play their characters all at the same volume, keeping the show from becoming monotonous. In particular, actors portraying secondary characters commit to an over-the-top style without sacrificing sincerity. Contrastingly, cast members playing major characters use a more grounded, understated approach. Stabile has also effectively blocked the show so that movement always feels natural.
Mostly, the cast is uniformly strong. In addition to portraying Doyle here, Jonathan White has another connection to Holmes; he and his brother created the comedy/mystery Sherlock Holmes: Vampire Slayer! White also slays in Theatre Lab’s Baker Street Beginnings, deftly capturing Doyle’s youth, vitality, eagerness, and inexperience. But White also makes us sense his character’s potential for wisdom. He’s thoughtful, observant, dynamic, and well-read. At one point, White’s Doyle tries to pull back the reins on Pankhurst and her fight-first mentality: “Hold on there, Lancelot – let’s try words first this time,” he tells her. With equal passion and sincerity, he recites lines such as “Emmeline’s the strongest person I’ve ever met.” Touchingly, toward the end, White, as Doyle, says, “No matter what, I will keep the memory of our special adventure forever – in here,” placing his hand on his heart. During scenes between Doyle and Bell (a well-spoken, authoritative, yet pleasant Daniel Llaca), White and Llaca establish a strong enough chemistry that their close mentor-mentee relationship is credible.
Clare Bawarski embodies Emmeline’s strength as Pankhurst, playing her with courage and determination. She consistently stands tall and remains decisive, and even ready to fight, never settling for playing the damsel in distress. But in a bravura performance, Bawarski also turns on Emmeline’s charm, and is willing to admit that she fears nothing – except the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come from Charles Dickens’ novella, A Christmas Carol. At least she fears something; this enhances her humanity, and her willingness to openly admit this endears us to her. Bawarski’s Pankhurst is also endlessly curious, open-minded, and assertive without being nasty. “Will the two of you stop acting as if I am a helpless infant? I am not the sister in a Jane Austen novel!” she says, betraying a mix of annoyance and self-assuredness.
In her script, Montét describes Stoker as “brilliant with a dark streak. A fascination for all things gruesome balanced with a bleak sense of humor and fun flair for the dramatic. An Irishman.” To his credit, Doriyan Caty captures his character’s “fun flair for the dramatic.” He wears a red and black cape (period costumes by Dawn Shamburger), which he sometimes spreads with a flourish, as though he’s about to fly or simply call attention to himself. But Caty fails to capture Stoker’s dark streak. Instead, he plays Stoker with a flamboyantly giddy approach that doesn’t seem to fit the character as Montét describes him. In one scene, Stoker eagerly anticipates his next adventure, saying, “Please let it be a cemetery. Please let it be a cemetery.” You’d expect the actor portraying Stoker to deliver the line with a touch of dark mischief, but Caty recites it flamboyantly, which sounds unlike the Stoker Montét describes. Also, Caty doesn’t speak with a convincing enough accent to make us believe that Stoker is Irish.
Cast members playing smaller roles also demonstrate their acting prowess. In particular, Gustavo Garcia finds Mycroft’s broad comedy and short fuse and plays a pawnbroker with unforced eccentricity, speaking in a scratchy-voiced Cockney accent. Meanwhile, Paige Rogers fully commits to headmistress Charlotte Milverton’s no-nonsense demeanor and Madame Florence Cook’s dramatic quirkiness.
Michael McClain’s visually striking, seemingly sturdy, and well-constructed set design of the play’s world is flexible. On light-colored walls or backdrops appear windows and doors of different places in a brownish hue. A coat rack, street lamp, and arch help complete the picture.
In her script, Montét describes the set as “a puzzle emerging and shifting seamlessly through simple moves and versatile set pieces as the journey of the characters unfolds in unexpected ways.” Some set pieces function as projection screens onto which relevant information appears. For instance, as the show begins, lighting illuminates the word “Doctor” on a projection screen, placing us in the office of Dr. Joseph Bell. A bit later, a projection screen lists departure and arrival times for a scene set in a train station. The projection designer is Manny Zaldivar.
Eric Nelson’s effective lighting provides focus and helps establish each scene’s mood. Nelson mostly uses bright, realistic lighting, but also employs hues such as red, purple, green, and blue to create moments of nonrealism. Blinking lights reinforce the presence of a storm or a séance in session.
You don’t have to be a Holmes scholar or even a reader of the series to appreciate Baker Street Beginnings. Appropriately for Theatre Lab’s Heckscher Theatre for Families Productions (this is the eighth annual installment; Montét also wrote last year’s triumphant Heebie Jeebies: Tales from the Midnight Campfire), Baker Street Beginnings is an engaging play with something for every age group to appreciate (at the reviewed performance, there were children and senior citizens in the audience). Broad performances and magical effects, including a table rising seemingly by itself during a séance, should appeal to kids and kids at heart. At the same time, Montét includes enough substance to satisfy more mature minds looking for something in addition to spectacle, shivers, and surprises for their live theatrical fare. Empowerment for women, the powers of storytelling and observation, and the importance of following your dreams provide plenty of food for thought and discussion. To her credit, the playwright doesn’t overstuff her play with Holmesian or scientific terms to make some audiences feel like outsiders looking in. And she provides just enough exposition to orient us while landing us in the play’s world.
Montét has been active in South Florida theater for more than 20 years as a writer, director, educator, and actor. Among her many successful works are her environmental education and literacy incentive plays for younger audiences, which have been touring Florida since 2000. Montét possesses a versatile writing style that runs the gamut from gritty, thought-provoking dramas for adults to pieces appropriate for younger audiences. Her play Dangerous Instruments, which Palm Beach Dramaworks successfully staged in the spring of 2025, is as heartbreaking as Heebie Jeebies: Tales from the Midnight Campfire and Baker Street Beginnings are playful.
Whether you’re a lifelong Holmes fan or a newbie to this famous fictional detective, Baker Street Beginnings is bound to be an entertaining, moving, and thought-provoking play that will also delight fantasy fanatics. The characters are likable and eccentric, Montét’s writing is lively and full of references to popular, beloved works, and the themes resonate in 2026.
It’s fitting that Theatre Lab is presenting a play with the word “beginnings” in the title because the company is experiencing a new beginning of its own. Since its founding in 2015, Theatre Lab, the professional resident theater company at Florida Atlantic University, has operated out of its former Parliament Hall location, which used to house a Red Mango frozen yogurt stand. Baker Street Beginnings marks Theatre Lab’s first production in its new 155- to 200-seat Marleen Forkas Studio One Theatre. The company has kicked off its new era with a dynamic and believable production of Baker Street Beginnings, a play for all ages.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Theatre Lab’s Heckscher Theatre for Families’ production of Baker Street Beginnings.
WHEN: Remaining performances are 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, as well as 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20. Field trip performances for partner schools and organizations are at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday-Friday.
WHERE: Marleen Forkas Studio One Theatre on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus. It’s located in the Performing Arts Building (PA-51) on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus, located at 777 Glades Road in Boca Raton. Park in Parking Garage 2 (PK-88), which is closest to the arts complex. For most evening and weekend performances, special event parking is free and open to the public without a permit. Once you’re parked, exit the garage and walk left (west) along Arts Avenue. Turn left onto Palm Beach Avenue. The Performing Arts Building will be on your right, immediately past the University Theatre. Look for the tall white tower on top of the building. Once inside, walk down the hall past the Art Gallery; Studio One is on your left.
TICKETS: $25 for adults, up to one child free with each adult purchase. Additional child tickets are $5.