Guided by the Light: The Wayward Artist Theater is Reborn in an Irvine Church

Joel Beers
12 hours ago
7 min read

Orange County’s most adventurous theater company finds a new home and is presenting “The Christians,” a provocative choice for the religious venue.

Kelly Franett (left) as Pastor Paul and Max Lund as Associate Pastor Joshua are part of the cast of Lucas Hnath's 2016 Obie-Award winning play "The Christians," about a megachurch that faces a schism after its lead pastor announces he no longer believes in hell. The Wayward Artist production opens at the Irvine United Congregational Church. Photo courtesy of the Wayward Artist/Jon Ingal

In December 2024, The Wayward Artist was finished.

After eight seasons of bold, socially conscious work – the kind that challenged audiences as much as it entertained them – Orange County’s most adventurous theater company was calling it quits. This, despite its summer production of “The Motherf**ker with the Hat” being a smash hit, one that dominated the 2025 OC Theatre Guild Awards.

But its lease at the Grand Central Arts Center in Santa Ana was ending. Key members had moved away or moved on. Finances, still shaky after the pandemic, were tight. As 2024 progressed and conversations turned to the future, it became clear to some that “maybe the best decision was to go out on top,” said founding artistic director Craig Tyrl.

Tyrl, for one, was ready. He had stepped down as artistic director in 2023, moving to the company board while leaving his full-time teaching job at Cal State Fullerton. He said the changes weren’t a midlife crisis at age 52. He was answering a different call.

The Calling

Craig Tyrl began his MFA in acting at Cal State Fullerton at age 40 and is currently artistic director for the Wayward Artist and administrative pastor at Irvine United Congregational Church. Photo courtesy of Craig Tyrl

Tyrl had volunteered at Irvine United Congregational Church since 2009. But running a theater and teaching full-time limited his involvement.

In 2023, he took a leap of faith – literally – accepting an administrative position at the church and beginning the process of becoming a reverend.

So when Wayward went dark, he was at peace.

“The first few months after Wayward closed, it felt like it was over,” he said. “And there was a part of me that was glad to be free of the responsibilities that come with leading a theater.”

That lasted four months.

By summer, Wayward was back with “Godspell,” directed by Tyrl. On. Nov. 14, Wayward opens Lucas Hnath’s 2016 Obie Award-winning “The Christians.” The play is about a Christian megachurch that threatens to tear apart after the pastor delivers a sermon in which he expresses his view that hell doesn’t exist. It is a play about faith, doubt, the difficulty of communication and reconciliation.

It is also a play set in a church. And that’s only fitting, because this production, like “Godspell” will be performed in a church: the very one where Tyrl now works.

The Church

Founded in 1979 in what was then one of America’s most conservative counties, Irvine United Congregational Church (IUCC) is part of a landmark experiment in American religious history: the 1957 merger of four independent Protestant traditions with different systems of governance, historical backgrounds, and doctrines into what would become the United Church of Christ (UCC).

The Congregationalists, Christian Connection churches, Reformed Church and Evangelical Synod each brought different governance, theology and history. The union allowed each congregation autonomy while uniting them under a covenant to act as a united family of faith.

Today, roughly 4,600 UCC congregations nationwide embrace the denomination’s core values of inclusivity and social justice, though interpretations range from moderate to boldly progressive.

And then there’s Irvine United. It began with 20 members meeting in a middle school. But when the Rev. Bill Plumer arrived as the new pastor in 1984, he helped build IUCC’s first sanctuary – a geodesic dome – and anchored the church in the progressive theology that shaped him during the Civil Rights Movement.

At the height of the AIDS epidemic, IUCC opened its doors for memorials to those whose home churches had refused them. In 1991, it became the first congregation in Orange County to openly affirm LGBTQ+ members – a radical act for its time.

Today, IUCC describes itself as part of a denomination that fully embraces “all persons in the radical hospitality of God, and a “proudly progressive and fiercely non-creedal congregation that welcomes all people who want to follow Jesus but do not hold conventional Christian beliefs.” Its calendar reflects that mission: queer and disabled game nights, diversity and inclusion book studies, AA meetings, and drag queen bingo nights.

Production photos from "Godspell," which opened in July. The show was the first Wayward Artist production at its new home, the Irvine United Congregational Church. Photos courtesy of the Wayward Artist/Francis Gacad

The Friar That Wasn’t

Tyrl felt that inclusiveness the first time he walked through IUCC’s doors, on a whim in 2009 after hearing of a supposedly inclusive church.

“I was looking for somewhere I wouldn’t feel shamed for who I was,” he said. “The instant I walked in, I knew I’d found it.”

Raised in a charismatic Baptist church, Tyrl once thought his path would lead him to become an Augustinian friar. To prepare, he earned a graduate degree in theology from Villanova University. But as he wrestled with his sexuality, he realized “Friar Craig” wasn’t going to happen.

“I see now I was just running from myself,” he said.

After what he calls his “years in the wilderness,” managing restaurants and partying, Tyrl moved to California in 2000. A year later, at 30, he enrolled in his first arts class – beginning ballet – at Saddleback College. Eventually, he discovered theater classes, which ignited something deeper.

Still, he wouldn’t audition for a play until age 40. It was “Damn Yankees” at Saddleback, directed by Cal State Fullerton professors who encouraged him to apply to the school’s graduate theater program.

“I had this voice in my head saying, ‘You’re too old, it’s too late, you don’t have the talent to make a career of this.’ But I didn’t listen,” he said. “I applied, was accepted – and at 40, I found my voice.”

Meanwhile, Tyrl remained active at IUCC. The idea for a theater company first surfaced during a church group Tyrl was part of. “Once it was out there,” he said, “I knew I had to do it.”

He estimates a quarter of Wayward’s supporters and donors over its eight years came from IUCC. It wasn’t just to support a fellow member of the congregation – Wayward’s mission of inclusivity and telling stories of the marginalized, the outcast, the unseen – echoed the church’s.

The Church and the Company

But even if their core values align, could Wayward really produce the same adult-themed shows it has excelled at?

“The question I was asked most when we brought Wayward to the church was whether we’d continue doing shows with adult language and themes – most of which I’d say were R-rated,” Tyrl said. “And my answer is yes. We’re not going to shy away from that, and I have no qualms about language or content in the sanctuary. My faith says God welcomes that.

“Now, will that relationship change our focus in any way? Yeah – but Wayward’s mission from the beginning has been to help transform this wayward world, to tell stories about the marginalized, the outcast, those society deems unworthy. And that is so culturally aligned with the church.”

Wayward pays rent to the church, which is below market value but higher than Grand Central’s, Tyrl said, and each season will need to be approved by the congregation.

But he sees no problems ahead.

Connie Jones, who as the church’s moderator (basically the church president) is part of that leadership along with Tyrl – now administrative pastor – and the head pastor, Rev. Dr. Sarah Halverson-Cano, agrees. She says while the church must approve each play, she also foresees no issues, but for a different reason.

“We respect Craig’s judgment and know that anything he would submit would be in alignment with what the church believes and our value statement,” Jones said. “Plus, I want to stress that a lot of us have gone to the plays at Wayward the past eight years. That’s what makes it such a good fit. Many of us are already supporters.”

"The Christians" is the second Wayward play to open in its new home, the Irvine United Congregational Church. PHOTO 1: Max Lund as Associate Pastor Joshua. PHOTO 2: Kelly Franett stars as the head of the church, Pastor Paul. PHOTO 3: Stacy Stallard portrays a church elder. Photos courtesy of the Wayward Artist/Jon Ingal.

The Light

If Tyrl thought he’d left Wayward behind earlier this year, he hadn’t – at least not physically. When the company vacated Grand Central, he kept one of its biggest assets: the lighting grid.

The church’s system was decades old – most bulbs burned out, fixtures high inside the dome. Wayward’s equipment was newer, technologically advanced and adaptable. He gave the lighting equipment to the church, which installed it over four days in March. He also brought in a dozen microphones and a sound board that greatly enhanced the sanctuary’s sound system.

During Holy Week, as Tyrl helped stage the Maundy Thursday service – a liturgical drama in which actors re-enact the Last Supper – those lights and enhanced sound revealed something else: a possible reconciliation of his two passions.

“Suddenly, the sanctuary had this amazing lighting and sound system, and when I saw the actors in that light, I had this eureka moment. I thought, ‘You know, we could do theater here.’”

He talked to the church leadership and found strong support from both them and the congregation for theater. He immediately began thinking about what show to mount in the sanctuary. He settled on “Godspell,” the first play he had ever directed.

“I was mistaken that I thought I had to give up one of my loves. What I realized is that it was figuring out how to do the two together.”

And the way to do that, he says, is to see the theater as an outgrowth of his ministry – not in terms of choosing plays that are safe and believer-friendly, or leading his cast in pre-show warmup prayer, but to continue to “use the power of theater and storytelling and ensemble building to help transform lives.

“Starting Wayward and building it from scratch was definitely one of the proudest accomplishments of my life,” he continued. “And to see it unfold in a new form, and to now take place in a sacred place, I just marvel at it. It is new and unexpected and I’m still trying to figure out how to wear the hats of Pastor Craig and Artistic Director Craig, but it’s a gift I am very grateful for.”

It might be a stretch to call The Wayward Artist and IUCC a match made in heaven. But it’s fair to say that even though it wasn’t a blinding light on the road to Damascus, illumination resurrected a theater company and guided the Wayward Artist on its road to Irvine.