Aaron J. Schmookler wants Tacoma to be a theater town.

"Tacoma, I think, is having trouble in the theater realm. It always seems to be teetering on the brink of success or failure, as a place to do and see theater," he tells me.

"I have this deep-seated sense, that I feel certain is true, that what Tacoma needs to become a great theater town is just more theater."

That is the driving impetus behind Schmookler's new Tacoma theater company, Gold From Straw, which will begin its inaugural season May 20 with John Patrick Shanley's Doubt.

Schmookler's aim, and the company's tagline, is simple:

Surprise. Delight. Inspire.

"I see a lot of theater I don't like ... anywhere I go," says Schmookler. "I don't like it for artistic reasons, sometimes, and sometimes I don't like it for ideological reasons."

Of course, a new theater company in Tacoma is reason for excitement, but small independent companies often bring to mind gloom and doom, the works of abstract and depressing Irish and Russian playwrights, and oddly staged art pieces.

This is not necessarily the goal of Gold From Straw.

"There is a trend, not just in theater but in art in general, to do either light and fluffy or dark and dreary and hopeless," Schmookler says. "Dark and dreary I don't mind, but hopeless I find difficult. As an artist, I want to be sowing seeds of hope in the world."

On the other hand, Schmookler will not resort to purely "light and fluffy" fare, or more traditional productions. "We're not relying on the chestnuts to draw in audience because people ... already know they want to see it. I want them to come because of the way they're affected by the work, the way they are inspired by the work," he states plainly.

Gold From Straw balances this line carefully, beginning its inaugural season with Doubt.

"Doubt is both an excellent piece of literature, and a really good thing to be doing for our first time out ... The fact that it's been a film recently, the fact that it's won a Pulitzer, will bring people in without sacrificing what we're going for," says Schmookler.

Don't be mistaken: Gold From Straw is nominally a professional company. Says Schmookler, "I see professional theater as an attitude, more than a set of rules."

Not that this means forgoing the monetary side of the equation entirely. ...

"I want to pay everybody who's involved in any substantial way. What that means right now, because we're brand new, is that everyone gets a little something ... a thank you," he says.

Primarily, Schmookler strives to see Gold From Straw pushing Tacoma theater forward.

"Community is a really important thing to me, and part of why I think theater is such a magnificent thing," he tells me. "It's not professional theater as opposed to community theater. It's professional theater for the community."

Fortunately, this vision is not a unique one, and Gold From Straw has seen remarkable support. "I've been thrilled and excited and even a little bit surprised at the warmth of the welcome I've gotten from actors, designers and what in a lot of communities would be competing producers," says Schmookler. "All of the local producers have been very welcoming and supportive, and even literally, tangible helpful."

It remains to be seen whether Gold From Straw will survive, or will go the way of the Horatio, Studio 21, and other like-minded Tacoma ventures. But succeed or fail, it is a step in a positive direction for the growing potential of Tacoma theater.

More info at goldfromstraw.org.