Meet Tom Neile | Owner/director at Doghouse Theater, Delray Beach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tom Neile and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tom, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I had spent 14 years at an improv theater in Miami. I became an instructor there, then a creative director, then one of the ownership/management team. Over the years, I could see what worked and what did not. I also had become a founding member of another improv troupe, Sick Puppies, in Boca Raton. Being a part of these two organizations gave me plenty of insights. The troupe in Boca never really had a permanent home of its own. It kept moving from place to place. Sometimes, it was without a performance space at all. A space became available in Delray Beach. I decided to cash in my shares in the Miami theater and create a home for the Sick Puppies team. I partnered with the founder of Sick Puppies, with whom I had a very solid relationship. We were on the same page regarding many things, which was the opposite of my experience in Miami. So we combined our expertise and I signed the lease.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
When I was five years old (very long ago), may father would set up a tape recorder on the living room coffee table and improvise comedy scenes with me. He was a funny, funny man. Also, I grew up in a time when kids’ programming wasn’t “good for you” or “therapeutic.” It was just damn funny and clever, and slightly geared toward adults. So, rather than being talked down to or shown examples of how to behave (we got plenty of that elsewhere), I was schooled in cleverness.

I’ve been doing some sort of comedy for most of my life. But I never saw it as a career or pursued it in any systematic way. It was just a thing to do for fun. I’ve done standup, written for the stage, and finally took it more seriously in the eary 200s, when I joined a comedy improv theater in Miami. I learned quite a bit there, and was fortunate to also have met and been taught by great improvisers/comedy writers from elsewhere, including Chicago, New York City (my hometown) and Los Angeles.

I became one of the owners onf the Miami theater at a time when it was failing and in financial and existential trouble. A few of us stepped in, invested a little money and a lot of effort into bringing it back to life. Later, we expanded it and made it work well.

If there is one thing that I value above everything else when it comes to Doghouse Theater, my theater in Delray Beach, it’s quality. It doesn’t matter what kind of PR you do, what kind of fancy stuff you surround yourself with, how much noise you make. If the product isn’t high quality, then you’re just a junk dealer.

We do not ever compromise on that. The one thing that turned the Miami theater around was: let’s focus on quality. We did only that and insisted on it, and audiences doubled, then doubled again. Never take the easy way. Never pick the low-hanging fruit. Assume that people (those in your troupe and those in the audience and those in your classes) are intelligent, and play to the height of thaat level of intelligence. Over time, it pays dividends.

Was it easy? Well, I opened the theater in February 2020. Im March 2020, we closed it due to Covid. It remained closed for 18 months (still paying rent, though). But I developed an array of online shows that we all did four nights a week, every week, for 18 months until we opened. That kept the cast together and focused, it kept our name and vibe alive. And it helped solidify our brand in our own minds.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m sure this question relates to Miami. I haven’t spent much time in Miami since Covid, so things have probably changed.

I live in Boca, and have lived here even when I was heavily involved in the Miami theater. And My wife and I would head to Miami at least a few times each month. We loved it there. I love Miami. I’m from New York City. So I appreciate being near a big city and doing things that you can only do in cities.

I loved Miami Beach. We spent tons of time on Lincoln Road. When I was in the PR field (had a Creative Consulting business that we began in the mid-1990s), I had clients in Miami. I went to the very first Florida Panthers game at the Miami Arena. We even named a cat (long deceased) after one of the Florida Panthers. But yeah, loved South Beach. We drove down there almost every weekend.

Coral Gables is also a great area. Miracle Mile was always a favorite place, particularly when I was working down at the theater in Coral Gables. Spent lots of time on Giralda. And while I frequently visit coffe shops up where I live, I miss the true Cuban coffee that I used to drink morning, noon and night in Miami.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
What we do is improv (with a little standup comedy thrown in). Improv is a team effort, start to finish. I decided to create this little theater because the team of performers was so solid and talented that I felt they deserved a place to call home. The leader of the Sick Puppies Comedy troupe is Casey Casperson. He’s my partner in the venture. Whatever I’m not, he is. What ever he’s not, I am. Also a shout out to another mainstay at Sick Puppies Comedy and at Doghouse Theater, the incredibly talented and unique Aniela McGuinness. If anyone is the true heart of the organization, it is she.

Also, a shout out to Dash Ruiz and Alicia Garcia. They put me in touch with you. I’ve worked with them for years and have the greatest affection and respect for them and for their talents. I don’t see them much these days, but maybe we can rectify that.

Website: doghousetheater.com. or sickpuppiescomedy.com

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