TAPE MACHINE Rehearsal Space Opening in Austin
AUSTIN THEATRE ARTISTS ROY LAZORWITZ AND MOLLY FONSECA LAUNCH NEW EAST AUSTIN PERFORMANCE AND REHEARSAL SPACE - TAPE MACHINE
Tape Machine aims to make producing live performance more accessible with flexible rental and payment models designed around the realities of independent artists
Austin theatre artists and producers Roy Lazorwitz (Dirty Gold & One Big Yes) and Molly Fonseca (Broad Theatre) are launching TAPE MACHINE, a new independent performance, rehearsal, and gathering space at 2505 G East 6th St. in East Austin.
The new venture grew out of a problem both Fonseca and Lazorwitz have encountered repeatedly in their own work: finding affordable, flexible space to make theatre in Austin.
As the city’s creative landscape continues to evolve, independent performing artists are increasingly navigating limited rehearsal space, rising production costs, and a shortage of small venues where developing and producing new work is financially feasible. Fonseca and Lazorwitz realized they were in a position not only to navigate those challenges for their own projects, but to become an active part of addressing them for other Austin artists.
“I kept having the same conversations about space with other companies and independent artists—where do we rehearse, where can we afford to produce, and how do small companies take a chance on something new when so much of their budget has to be committed before they ever sell a ticket?” said Fonseca. “Eventually the question became: if I know this is a problem, and I have an opportunity to help solve a piece of it, why wouldn’t I?”
TAPE MACHINE will operate differently from a traditional event rental facility, with policies developed specifically around how independent artists and small arts organizations actually work. Plans include flexible rehearsal rentals that can be paid in installments, sliding-scale hourly rehearsal bookings, and performance rental structures that allow artists and organizations to pay venue costs directly from ticket revenue rather than requiring the entire rental cost upfront.
The goal is not simply to provide another room for rent, but to lower some of the financial barriers that can prevent independent artists from getting their work in front of an audience.
Austin has built an international reputation around its creative identity, from its longstanding music community to its rapidly growing comedy scene. Fonseca and Lazorwitz see TAPE MACHINE as an investment in another vital piece of that ecosystem: the artists creating intimate, experimental, independent live performance.
“The most formative experiences I’ve had as an artist came with friends experimenting in basements, living rooms, barns, and broken down old buildings. Getting older usually means experimenting stops because it becomes increasingly difficult to find a suitable space at an affordable price,” said Lazorwitz. “But getting older shouldn’t mean we stop experimenting. It just means we need to experiment with access to clean bathrooms and air conditioning.”
The approximately [1,100]-square-foot East Austin space will accommodate rehearsals, performances, readings, workshops, classes, meetings and other small-scale creative events. Initial plans include approximately 50 seats and a flexible layout that can be adapted for different productions and accessibility needs.
For Fonseca and Lazorwitz, preserving Austin’s creative identity requires more than celebrating the artists already here. It means creating conditions that make it possible for them to stay here, experiment here, and continue making work here.
“We hear a lot about keeping Austin weird,” Fonseca said. “But weird needs somewhere to rehearse. It needs somewhere to put on a show. It needs places where artists can take risks without the cost of the room making the risk impossible. We want to help create one of those places.”
TAPE MACHINE plans a soft opening on November 12, 2026, with their first original show, The Mighty, a night of storytelling from local artists. Regular rentals and programming will begin in January 2027.
More information about rental rates, booking, programming and the venue’s official opening will be announced at www.tapemachineatx.com and @tapemachine.atx on IG. Rental inquiries can start here for now: https://bit.ly/tapemachineatx
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Fonseca is a director, actor, producer and co-founder of Broad Theatre, an Austin nonprofit dedicated to developing and producing new plays by and for people of marginalized genders. Lazorwitz is a director, producer, and artist with a background in storytelling, sketch comedy who, most recently was co-founder and Artistic Director of Dirty Gold Theatre. Together, they bring experience not only creating and producing independent theatre and original performance, but dealing firsthand with the practical challenges of finding places in Austin in which to make it.
