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Players try to get handle on what's next for arts hub plan

By JOHN FLEMING
Published January 24, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Last week, civic and business leaders announced an elaborate plan to create a downtown arts hub, with St. Petersburg College linking together the Palladium Theater, American Stage and the Florida Orchestra.

But whether the plan becomes reality - and audiences reap the benefits - depends on how the three arts organizations can make it work. Palladium and American Stage officials were enthusiastic Tuesday.

The orchestra, still reeling from the loss of an earlier grand plan in downtown St. Petersburg, was conspicuous in its silence.

But all involved are still trying to decipher what the hurriedly announced deal means.

American Stage artistic director Todd Olson on Tuesday likened the deal to "building the airplane while we fly it" while discussing the company's plans for a new theater facing Williams Park.

Dar Webb, executive director of the Palladium, is looking forward to the college taking over operations of the church turned community performing arts center. "It's a wonderful deal for the Palladium," she says. "If a toilet breaks, I'll just call the college to come and fix it."

To celebrate, the Palladium will present a free performance Feb. 2 by classical pianist Jeffrey Siegel.

Nobody connected with the orchestra - members of the board and management, music director Stefan Sanderling, musicians - would comment for this story.

"The orchestra's position is the most nebulous right now," said Susan Reiter, SPC's director of facilities planning and institutional services and a key aide to the school's president, Carl Kuttler, who masterminded the deal along with municipal bond tycoon William Hough, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, Progress Energy Florida CEO Jeff Lyash and Don Shea, chairman of American Stage's board of trustees.

SPC's board of trustees approved the deal this week in which the school will take over the Palladium from the nonprofit group that has run it since 1998. Theater board member Hough and his wife, Hazel, are donating $3-million to the college foundation. Their donation will be matched by $2-million from the state to create a $5-million endowment to help fund operations of the theater.

The deal has been in the works since last summer, but it was announced Thursday due to a looming deadline: Jan. 31, when application for the state matching funds needs to be made.

American Stage

American Stage, which plans to sell its current building for $1-million to Vector Realty, is moving to the SPC property that now holds empty storefronts. There it will build a new theater of about 200 seats.

"This deal allows us to transform ourselves from a small high-quality theater company with a leaky building to a small high-quality theater company with a really nice facility," said Shea, who put the ultimate price tag of the new theater at about $4-million.

On Tuesday, Olson met with architect Charles S. Canerday, who will design the project for SPC. They hope to replicate the intimate feel of the company's current 140-seat theater and incorporate state-of-the-art stage equipment.

American Stage expects to open the 2007-08 season in its current home, perhaps with Chekhov's classic drama of change, The Cherry Orchard - "a metaphorical choice," Olson said. It would then mount as many as four shows in another space, probably the Palladium, until its new home is completed in summer 2008.

"We want to keep our subscribers happy," Shea said. The theater has just under 3,000 subscribers for the current season.

The 880-seat Palladium demands bigger productions than the cozy American Stage. "It won't be two-character plays," Olson said, mentioning Master Class, Amadeus and Dracula as possible shows.

Florida Orchestra

Until a few months ago, the Florida Orchestra was to occupy office space at the city-owned Mahaffey Theater. The plan fell through after construction bids came in $1-million higher than expected. But the real deal-killer came when the city signed up with Live Nation to present touring Broadway shows at the theater. That means the orchestra will have far less access to Mahaffey for concerts and rehearsals.

The new arts hub plan would mean free office space in the college's four-story downtown building for the orchestra, plus reduced rates for rehearsal time at the Palladium.

On Thursday, an acoustics consultant will be at the theater to hear Sanderling and a group of orchestra musicians rehearse for Saturday's chamber orchestra concert. "The real question is the acoustics," Webb said. "We can devise temporary stage extensions," since the entire orchestra - as many as 100 musicians - can't fit on the stage.

"Availability of the space is not a problem," she said. "If it works acoustically, it will be perfect."

But it won't address the orchestra's perennial problem: performance space. For years, it has rotated between the Mahaffey, the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa and Clearwater's Ruth Eckerd Hall. The halls put the highest priority on their own schedules - particularly profitable Broadway shows.

The alliance with SPC would give the arts organizations a powerful partner. In Sarasota, for example, Florida State University has been a stabilizing force for the Asolo Theatre, the Ringling Museum and other cultural organizations.

SPC has a good arts track record too, with its new music center on the St. Petersburg-Gibbs campus and the Leepa-Rattner Museum in Tarpon Springs. "When you've got a partnership, everyone's chipping in and picking up a little piece," Reiter said. "In the end, everyone wins."

John Fleming can be reached at 727 893-8716 or fleming@sptimes.com.

[Last modified January 24, 2007, 05:40:10]