At The Heart of the Matter with Laurie Thomas

NEWS | MONDAY, MAY 25 | BY FUSION STAFF WRITER, RUDOLFO CARRILLO

As preparations are made towards mounting this year’s Twentieth Anniversary production of FUSION’s premiere short works festival, THE SEVEN, this reporter took time to research and discuss the upcoming productions with those in the know—people at the heart of the matter, as it were.

Laurie Thomas is one of the founders of FUSION. Her work with and among the folks who form FUSION—which makes the magic keep pouring respectably and transformationally from its campus at 700–708 1st St. NW—is both notable and diffuse.

That long list of awesome attributes now includes providing a compelling theme to this year’s production of THE SEVEN.

More importantly, Thomas’ one-act, “The Hail Mary,” one of the hundreds of manuscripts submitted to a blind jury during the call for works pertinent to this year’s set of lauded productions, scored in the top and will be produced as one of THE SEVEN. The 2026 festival, celebrating its Twentieth Anniversary in Albuquerque, is known as “The Heart of the Matter.” THE SEVEN premieres on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at 7:00 PM.

I kept that fact, that noble and knowable conceit, close as I sat down to dialogue with Thomas. We talked about FUSION and THE SEVEN; those two light-filled entities were at the heart of our conversation.

Rudolfo Carrillo: Can we start out our story by talking a little bit about you and your work…how you got involved with FUSION and then how that led to THE SEVEN?

I moved here in 1999 from Seattle; I’d been in Seattle for about fifteen years, prior to that, the Bay Area. There was a theatre company that was starting up when I moved here. It was Southwest Repertory Theatre. So I just started volunteering for them. I just introduced myself, and then I [eventually] became the literary manager for the company. Eventually I did a play with Jacque [Jacqueline Reid] at Southwest Rep. And that’s where I met Jacque. And at that point in time, she and Dennis [Gromelski] were thinking of starting a theatre. So through my working relationship with her in the play, she thought that I might be a good fit, the third musketeer… FUSION sort of became and started advancing in 2001.

Over the years FUSION has really built itself into the premier theatre company in Albuquerque, and also the premier destination for arts, music, and literature in this big town of ours. Did you foresee that happening when you joined up in 2001?

No, I don’t think any of us saw that happening. But it was clear that when we had the great opportunity of purchasing the properties that FUSION now has…all of a sudden, a world opened up where we could sustain other art forms. Not just theatre. Of course as all of this was going on, as far as expanding the vision, the pandemic had a lot to do with it. We were sitting around, not able to produce. When we shut down [due to COVID in March 2020], we were essentially two days away from opening a play. Afterwards, we did quite a bit of online production, but it was clear that the arts were changing and probably changing for good. Dennis really envisioned the multi-use of these spaces, particularly in the renovation of the buildings, how the buildings would be renovated, or particularly 708, what that would look like, what kind of theatre space could be supported there. We realized pretty fast that making a traditional fixed theatre seat space was not going to be fruitful, ultimately. We had the time, and nobody was producing; we took the time to really renovate and envision what the FUSION arts campus would look like. And so it came to be.

What was notable about that type of arts campus and the innovative production formats it supports?

One of the things that I think made it or make it notable are in-house productions, especially productions like THE SEVEN; the whole format of short one act plays and a traditional juried selection process is compelling. The thing that makes THE SEVEN unique is that the winners, the winning seven, actually get their plays produced. That’s very, very rare. Usually what you’re getting is what’s called in the theatre, a concert reading. And that means there might be a little bit of, you know, light staging, but mainly music stands and stools, and you’re just reading from there.

Why did you all choose to expand the format from concert readings into full productions of the short play winners of THE SEVEN?

Dennis’ dad, Brad, was a playwright. I think Dennis realized that there is a real struggle for playwrights to get their work produced, to get it mounted rather than just read or workshopped. He felt a real desire to bring work to the next level, and also in a format in which the playwright has to give the play over to a director and the actors. This is also unusual to a certain extent. The impetus or the real motivation for Dennis was, okay, at a certain point, if you really want to be a professional playwright, and he knows this through his dad’s life, you have to give that play over to others.

Can you tell me a little bit more about that creative process?

So how does the play play? You know, what really happens when you get it off the page? That, I believe, was the main motivation in the process. That’s also why we sort of constrict the rehearsal period for each play; each production is given essentially two three-hour rehearsals, and that’s based on our professional contract with Actors’ Equity. It reflects the number of hours that we are given to produce a full-length play, how that translates to 10 minutes of material. With that formula in mind, the players for each winning play only have a limited amount of time to rehearse. Then they actually have to go out!

It sounds like an intensely collaborative environment and audience experience, que no?

The great thing about producing these seven plays, and also doing readings of the others, is that we get to really work with a plethora of different theatre artists for the festival. It’s really fun and a great opportunity not only to collaborate with people that we’ve known over the years, but also with new people coming into the theatre community here in Albuquerque. We get to work with so many different people during THE SEVEN.

Why should Albuquerque audiences take in THE SEVEN?

Number one, it’s great storytelling condensed; if you’re not particularly connecting with one of the pieces, there is always going to be something that connects with you. We work hard to make a really satisfying evening of theatre. Audiences get to see a lot of diversity on stage, a lot of different actors from different backgrounds, different, you know, just different experiences, backstories. There’s a fun festival feeling to it as well. You know, if you go to music festivals, you can kind of take in all kinds of different types of music, all kinds of different voices, all kinds of different formats, and you get that feel at THE SEVEN as well.

FUSION Theatre Company presents THE SEVEN: The Heart of The Matter
FUSION | 708
708 1st Street NorthwestAlbuquerque, NM, 87102

PERFORMANCES

Thursday, June 4 at 7 PM
Friday, June 5 at 7 PM
Saturday, June 6 at 2 PM & 7 PM
Sunday, June 7 at 2 PM

THE SEVEN WINNERS

The Bradford Gromelski Jury Award Winner
THE SOUND OF LIGHT by Mary Donnet Johnson, Knoxville, TN

THE FORCE OF ATTRACTION
Ron Davies, Ottawa, Canada

THE HAIL MARY
Laurie Thomas, Albuquerque, NM

THE JULY EFFECT
Andrea Trotenberg, Highland Park, IL

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT HANG THAT MISTLETOE TONIGHT
Mike Byham, Southlake, TX

THE DARK CLOUD: A FABLE
James W. Perry, Manteca, CA

ALL ROADS LEAD TO PROSPECT PARK
Dan Perry, Los Angeles, CA

THE 2nd SEVEN

As a part of THE SEVEN short works fest, THE 2nd SEVEN is a staged reading for the next seven highest scoring submitted scripts.

Come experience a staged reading of the plays that finished 8–14 in the Jury selections for the 20th Anniversary of THE SEVEN, one of the nation's premier short works festivals. The degree of quality difference between all fourteen plays is merely shading—all are great plays!

WINNERS OF THE 2nd SEVEN
VISITING MASHA by Donald Ray Schwartz, Baltimore, MD
SOFTSOAP & HARD WATER by Logan Cutler Smith, Cleveland, OH
HOT, FULL-BODIED FINISH. by Paula Williamson, Richmond, CA
LYDGATE IN LOVE by Deborah Savadge, New York, NY
ONE MILLION by Vilém Dubnička, Pilsen, Czech Republic
LAURA WINGFIELD WALKS INTO A BAR by Kristen Field, Kalamazoo, MI
THE TIES THAT BIND by Nancy Temple, Needham, MA

Staged Reading on June 8 at 7 PM.

THE NM SEVEN

As a part of THE SEVEN short works fest, THE NM SEVEN is a staged reading for the highest-scoring scripts submitted by New Mexican playwrights.

Come experience a staged reading of the plays by New Mexican playwrights selected by the Jury for THE SEVEN, one of the nation's premiere short works festivals. Support local playwrights and enjoy hearing these exceptional plays!

WINNERS OF THE NM SEVEN
MEMORIES by Peter Schuyler, Albuquerque, NM
TO BE by Scott Harrison, Santa Fe, NM
SATELLITE by William Reynolds, Albuquerque, NM
CORPUS by Owen Conway, Albuquerque, NM
LEGACY by Karin Diann Williams, Albuquerque, NM
WHAT I MEANT WAS by Ryan Clarke, Albuquerque, NM
THE APPOINTMENT by Talia Pura, Santa Fe, NM

Staged Reading on June 12 at 7 PM.