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Director tries for success with energetic 'Business'

The leader of the Broadway Theater of Tampa advocates bringing a professional attitude to community troupes as it stages its second production.

By LOGAN NEILL
Published August 4, 2006

SPRING HILL - A year ago this week, Tampa director Seth Travaglino saw his long-held dream of starting a community theater company come true.

The inaugural production of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change was a huge success for Travaglino's fledgling Broadway Theater of Tampa, selling out shows in Tampa and Spring Hill.

When Travaglino's second production, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, plays this weekend at Stage West Community Playhouse in Spring Hill, he's banking on similar results.

"I think people will find it to be a lot of fun," said Travaglino. "I've got a great cast that's energetic and imaginative, and they've really embraced the production."

Though just 25 years old, Travaglino has an extensive theatrical resume. A graduate of the University of South Florida with a bachelor's degree in theater performance, his acting and choreographic talents have been lent to the Carrollwood Players, the Solerno Lyric Theatre and to Tampa's Triple Threat Theater.

But it was Travaglino's desire to see his own visions come to life that convinced him to form the Broadway Theater of Tampa.

"Just because it's community theater doesn't mean it can't be done with a professional attitude," said Travaglino, who teaches drama at the Independent Day School in Tampa. "My goal is to bring more to the nonprofessional stage than people are expecting."

A takeoff on the Horatio Alger rags to riches idea, How To Succeed chronicles the life and times of J. Pierpont Finch, who rises from window washer to chairman of the board of a major company by back-stabbing fellow employees. Introduced in 1961 with Robert Morse in the role of Finch and Bonnie Scott as his secretary and love interest, Rosemary, it was revived in 1995 with stars Matthew Broderick and Megan Mullally of Will and Grace fame.

For his adaptation, Travaglino says he was fortunate enough to snare actors Terry Farley and Leslie Kelly, veterans of Tampa Bay area community theater stages, who were able to fit rehearsals and performances into their busy schedules.

Travaglino said he had been impressed with Farley, a drama student at the University of Central Florida, ever since he worked with him in a community production of Fame two years ago.

"He's very creative and has this amazing ability to think on his feet," Travaglino said. "He really drives the show."

Interestingly, Farley and Kelly both spent summers studying Broadway theater in Ann Reinking's Broadway Theater Project in Tampa.

Despite his drama company's reputation for high-quality performances, Travaglino laments that time and resources have limited the expansion of his horizons. In addition to the Independent Day School in Tampa, the only venue to host performances has been Stage West.

"The people at Stage West have been very good to us," Travaglino said. "Anything we do in the future we'd like to take there."

Logan Neill can be reached at lneill@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1435.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: The musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, presented by Broadway Theater of Tampa

WHERE: Stage West Community Playhouse, 8390 Forest Oaks Blvd., Spring Hill

WHEN: 8 p.m. today and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday

TICKETS: $12, available only at the box office. For information, call 352 683-5113.

[Last modified August 3, 2006, 20:03:59]