A life in theater is about taking risks. The risk an actor faces at being rejected at an audition. The risk an entire theater company takes of the critics hating the finished work, or the risk of an audience not laughing in the right places.

Risk is the key word of the Try It Out Theater founded by Rich Madzel, of Wilde Lake. The theater company's goal, as the name implies, is to give new playwrights, actors, directors and support staff a chance to test themselves on a real stage with an audience that has paid for tickets, Madzel said.

Madzel started his theater career a little later in life. His first experience was as one of the original members of the 50 Plus Players, a theater troop for people ages 50 and older in Howard County.

"I found that I really loved community theater but I didn't have any talent," Madzel quipped. "But I have a great talent for putting things together and being a spokesman."

Madzel also enjoys writing one-act plays and found it difficult to get them produced.

"If you're an actor and you go on enough auditions, someone will give you a chance," said Try It Out Theater stage manager Kathy Marshall. "If you want to do backstage work and you show up, you can work. If you write plays, no company will take a chance on an unknown because they can't sell tickets."

For that reason, Madzel started his own company, with about 30 members. The company now has two productions under its belt. Two shows were filled with original one-act plays written by people in the community. The first was held in March at the Theatre Outback at Howard Community College and the most recent was held this month (Dec. 6, 7 and 8) at the Black Box Theater at the Howard County Center for the Arts.

"We had a great response to both shows," Madzel said. "Even in the snowstorm we were filled to standing-room only."

Try It Out Theater is a great opportunity for everyone involved. For 16-year-old Latisha Jones, a junior at Long Reach High School, this could be the start of something big. She is the youngest playwright to be showcased by Try It Out.

"I've always wanted to be a writer," said Jones, who has won awards for her poetry and short stories. She contacted Madzel after she saw a flyer at school for the new theater. "They already had all their pieces for the first performance so I said I can act, too." Jones and her mother, A'ndrea, were both cast in the first show.

"After that Rich said, 'You're a writer - write.' So in three months I wrote Destiny's Advice," Jones said. "He liked it and suggested my drama teacher be the director. It was really amazing."

"What's great about Latisha is she thinks beyond her years," said Charles Robinson, an actor in the Try It Out Theater by night and an associate producer for Maryland Public Television by day. "She has no fear."

Latisha's show is about making choices. The plot revolves around twins deciding about whether to go to college, but the theme of indecisiveness is universal.

"People's reactions to the play when they saw it or read it showed me people of all ages can relate to it," Jones said. "People would say, 'My son was just like that,' or 'I was just like that.' My point was you just have to get started on the right path. Sometimes you end up floundering around anyway but you at least have to start."

It looks like she has taken her own advice.

"Latisha has wonderful enthusiasm and a lot of talent," Madzel said. "I know she will continue and be successful."

Something Jones learned from several people working on her piece was that you have to learn to adapt and be open to changes, she said.

"Writing is almost like giving birth," she said. "You work on it, let it develop for months. Then, once it's finished, you send it out into the world and pray that it's filled with enough good stuff to get by.

"Rich gave me the opportunity to show this to my little bit of the world," she said.

The Try It Out Theater is also a place for people to try their wings in different aspects of the theater. Rich Espey has been acting in Baltimore community theater for years but this was his first opportunity to write and direct his own piece.

"What's really nice is everyone understands the format of the evening," Espey said. "There is a question-and-answer period from the audience after each piece so the company knows how it's developing. These are all works in progress."

Theater is not only an escape from reality, it can also bring you closer to reality, Espey said.

"Good drama is all about conflict and being pushed to the limits," he said. "If you can examine people under the microscope of theater, you can learn how to get along with others. It could promote harmony in our society."

And organizing it all, Espey said, was a challenge.

"There was really a lot to coordinate," Espey said of Madzel. "He did it all without difficulty and a minimum of confusion and chaos. He made it look effortless."

And, the experience seems to have affected the young playwright: Jones wants to go to college and study writing.

"Latisha wants to be a writer," Marshall said. "Who else is ever going to put on her resume to college that she had a play produced? She has a good grasp of plot and character development. She has a good future. And she had a good start. Right here in Columbia."