It shined up into a gem of an idea.The Fine Arts Center staff has mulled over the idea of creating a new space for theater productions for a number of years. They were intent on finding a “black box space” — that is an intimate space often literally painted black — to devote to development of new work, says Scott RC Levy, the FAC’s director of performing arts and producing artistic director.After considering other spaces inside the building, Levy realized they were missing what was right in front of them.“Nobody recognized the Fine Arts Center has a small theater on the second floor that’s called the Music Room,” Levy says. “It was originally intended for music recitals, but it is a small jewelbox of a proscenium theater. To me, it’s one of the most art deco places in the whole (building).”

Auspiciously, this year is the 25th anniversary of the Fine Arts Center’s Theatre Company, and they plan to celebrate all year long. Levy is amped up to offer a more diverse theater program that includes community organizations and potentially caters to an entirely different audience than the Main Stage attracts. It is also a chance to offer the public an affordable alternative. All shows in the Second Stage season are $15, and subscribers to the Main Stage season get first dibs.

The Music Room seats 108 patrons and will anchor the four shows in the new Second Stage season. The Main Stage season hosts six shows this year in the SaGaJi Theatre, which seats about 400 people.“The idea of the season is a continuation of my own history, my own aesthetic of developing new works for stage and works appropriate for the whole family,” Levy says.The Second Stage season kicks off with “Make Sure It’s Me,” a dramatic new work by Kate Wenner, an Emmy-award winning producer of “20/20.” Tim Muldrew, the Fine Arts Center’s assistant director of performing arts, directs. Local actors Jason Lythgoe, Emory John Collinson and Christine Vitale star.Wenner’s play focuses on the disturbing number of U.S. troops returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with traumatic brain injuries. Levy discovered the show during his last job as the producing artistic director of the Penobscot Theatre Company in Bangor, Maine. (He joined the FAC in 2011.) There he created a new play festival, and “Make Sure It’s Me” was one of the two dozen read on stage.“It became a really discussed play,” he says. “The year it was in my fest it was voted audience favorite.”Discovering Wenner did the bulk of her research in Colorado Springs sealed the deal for Levy.The first show is described as a “workshop production,” with the “faintest idea of production values,” Levy says. Wenner will also be on hand for the first weekend and last few days of rehearsals, and will stay through the production run. The collaborative process is intended to help the playwright gather feedback and potentially rewrite less successful parts of the script.Her presence is the number one reason Muldrew said yes to directing.“It’s fun to watch that happen, with the actual author who is hearing her script for the first time,” he says. “There are eight performances of it, so it’s a great thing to constantly update.”The subject matter of the play, however, is the most challenging part.“Most of these cast members haven’t been to Iran or Afghanistan, or understand explosive devices and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder),” Muldrew says.An in-house training was planned with a staff member from the local Wounded Warrior Project that helps raise awareness of and aid to injured service men and women.The three remaining shows in the Second Stage season include “It Came Upon a Midnight Deadly,” a holiday production by local group WYNOT Radio Theatre and a spring break production of the musical “Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical.” The latter will also tour local schools for two weeks in April. Finishing up the season in mid-to-late April is “Rough Writers: A New Play Fest,” which will solicit submissions from around the world based on a yet to be determined theme. Chosen scripts will be presented in a series of readings, and Levy hopes to have the playwrights on hand as well.