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For Alley Cat Players, maybe a home at last

After five years of searching, the nomadic troupe has landed in the Isaac Center, and it feels like home.

By SHERRI DAY
Published March 18, 2005

The Alley Cat Players may finally have a place to put out their shingle and stay a while.

Last month, the theater group began renting space at the Isaac Center, a three-building compound on E North Street that abuts Interstate 275.

This move is noteworthy, troupe leaders said, because it could end a vagabond existence since its inception in 2000.

The actors' first home was Ybor City's Silver Meteor. In 2001, the troupe relocated to Viva La Frida! restaurant in Seminole Heights and began the outdoor theater that would become the group's trademark. But the elements, wind, rain, sun and heat, prompted the actors to search for more insulated environs.

Last spring, the Alley Cat Players found a temporary home at the N.T. Village Music Garden on Franklin Street, just north of the Tampa Theatre. But difficulty scheduling rehearsal and performance space made for another unhappy home, troupe leaders said.

In the Isaac Center, the group ponders a long-term stay.

"Our audience has been investing a fair bit of effort in a "Where's Waldo?' exercise," the group's director Jo Averill-Snell said. "We have a one-year lease with an option to renew, and we just could not love the landlord and the people we're sharing the space with more."

Opened in a former church in 2003, the Isaac Center is home to a video production company, a gospel music foundation and an after-school program. Two churches also use the center's main sanctuary for worship services.

Adding the Alley Cat Players to the center's tenant roster pleases the buildings' owner, who envisioned the area as an artists' hub.

"It just enhances the community culturally," center manager William Sanders said. "They have the same vision we have, and they attract the same type of people. It has broadened the Isaac Center and exposed the center to another genre."

The theater company's primary dwelling is a small studio on the center's grounds. The building houses a 30-seat theater, where the group plans to host poetry readings and perform eclectic works. To personalize the space, the actors painted the walls "jazz blue" and covered the windows in burgundy fabric.

For the first time, the troupe is able to store their costumes and props in a dressing room. Before moving to the Isaac Center, various troupe members carted those items home, Averill-Snell said.

The center's 275-seat main sanctuary is just across the lawn. The Alley Cat Players plan to rent that space several times a year to stage larger productions, including an April performance of Romeo & Juliet. The troupe plans to stage more works during the year including readers' theater, workshops of new plays and dance performances.

Already, the new locale is a hit.

"For so long, we were really at the mercy of whoever's space we were in," said Clare Ward-Jenkins, an Alley Cat board member and development consultant. "Now to have a space of our own, it's really exciting because it just gives you the chance to expand and do the things we want to do."

Ultimately, the Alley Cat Players want to become a part of the neighborhood and be regarded as a happening cultural spot.

"We're proud of the work we've done to date, but this season is a real jumping off point in terms of how much we're doing and our growth," Averill-Snell said. "For a small theater company, five years of steady performances is a track record that says we're not going away."

Sherri Day can be reached at 226-3405 or sday@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 17, 2005, 08:41:04]