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Stage

American original

As American Stage prepares to move, architects imagine a stunning exterior to match the quality of the stage itself.

By John Fleming
Published April 8, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - American Stage is a beloved part of the local arts scene, but much more for what happens inside its theater than for its squat, virtually anonymous exterior. Architect Leandro Arroyo sees the project to relocate the theater to the so-called arts hub facing Williams Park as an opportunity to square the inside with the outside.

"It is a key location," said Arroyo, who is designing the project. "My thought is that the facade would be almost theatrical. Being in front of the park, I think it would become an icon for St. Pete."

To illustrate the point, Arroyo has made an artistic rendering of a possible facade for the theater, shown on the next page. Like most such things, "it's a lot of smoke and mirrors," the architect acknowledges, though the rendering does give an idea of what could be.

Arroyo's final plan for the new St. Petersburg College Downtown Center is not yet decided. But there is a good chance the theater will be located on the second floor rather than the ground floor, as originally thought.

"They're envisioning a first floor with a restaurant, a bookstore, a gift shop and a ticket center," said Todd Olson, producing artistic director of the theater.

"The downside of that would be to make our lobby an awfully public area. Being upstairs would make for a little more private lobby area and allow our patrons to overlook the park, perhaps with floor-to-ceiling glass. I would like to raise our lobby out of the busy-ness of the first floor."

Olson wants the new theater to have a configuration similar to the company's longtime diamond-shaped 144-seat space. "We're looking at having the audience on two sides of the stage with no more than 200 seats," he said.

American Stage plans to produce Chekhov's parable of change, The Cherry Orchard, at its old space to open the 2007-08 season in September, then perform the rest of the schedule at the Palladium Theater, which was recently acquired by SPC.

The downtown center will include an existing four-story building. Occupants will be American Stage, Florida International Museum, the administrative office of the Florida Orchestra (which agreed to its 40-year lease with SPC late last month), the school and possibly another cultural organization.

If the theater is on the second floor, Arroyo thinks it will be most efficiently served by an escalator. "There will be an elevator also for handicapped accessibility," he said. "But for the amount of people that come in to go up on the second floor you need a continuous flow that is only given by an escalator."

Arroyo said the entrance to the center may be at the corner where Third Street and Second Avenue N intersect.

Arroyo is a principal with the St. Petersburg architectural firm Canerday, Belfsky and Arroyo, which has designed many buildings for SPC as well as for Eckerd College, Stetson University College of Law, the University of Florida and the Pinellas County Schools.

Construction of the new building could take a year. The cost "could be between $8- and $12-million depending on how sophisticated the lobby becomes, how large the glass is, how simple or detailed the architectural elements are," Arroyo said.

American Stage board president Don Shea said the company will soon announce a fundraising campaign to help pay for the new theater and build up its endowment, now worth about $676,000. At the forefront of the effort will be the new director of development, Cynthia McGowan, who has done fundraising for the Boston Children's Museum, Smith College Alumni Association, Up With People, David Taylor Dance Theatre and R'Club Child Care.

'My Fair Lady' kicks off national tour here

An acclaimed production of My Fair Lady will be remounted and have five performances in September at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center before heading out on a national tour. Based on the Cameron Mackintosh/National Theatre of Great Britain production that was a hit in London, the Lerner and Loewe musical will star British actors Christopher Cazenove and Lisa O'Hare as Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. The company, directed by Trevor Nunn, will rehearse at TBPAC before giving performances Sept. 12-15. Tickets go on sale May 4. $32.50-$67.50. (813) 229-7827 or toll-free 1-800-955-1045; www.tbpac.org.

Season not complete without a 'Doubt'

Doubt, John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play on the crisis of the Catholic Church, headlines the 2007-08 season at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota. The Asolo will be one of the first regional theaters to stage Shanley's play, which will run Dec. 21-May 1. The U.S. tour of Doubt, starring Cherry Jones, is at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center April 24-29.

Asolo producing artistic director Michael Donald Edwards will open his second season at the theater by directing a new musical adapted from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities Oct. 19-Nov. 18. Other entries on the calendar include Misery by Stephen King (Oct. 24-Dec. 16); The Constant Wife by W. Somerset Maugham (Dec. 7-March 12); The Play's the Thing by Ferenc Molnar, adapted by P.G. Wodehouse (Dec. 14-March 13); The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead by Robert Hewett (January); Smash, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and based on George Bernard Shaw's novel An Unsocial Socialist (Feb. 15-May 2); Equus by Peter Shaffer (March 28-May 3); and Lady by Craig Wright (May 15-June 10). There is also a musical to be announced for May. (941) 351-8000 or toll-free 1-800-361-8388; www.asolo.org.

Summertime is drama time at the Banyan

Sarasota's Banyan Theater Company has become a reliable source of interesting theater during the dog days of summer. Its sixth season, performed at the Asolo's small Cook Theatre, includes the Ibsen classic A Doll House, directed by Gil Lazier (June 28-July 15); Enigma Variations, a drama about an encounter between a reclusive Nobel Prize-winning author and a journalist, by French writer Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, translated by Jeremy Sams (July 19-Aug. 5); and Faith Healer, a 1979 play by Brian Friel (Aug. 9-26). (941) 358-5330; www. banyantheatercompany.com.

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

[Last modified April 5, 2007, 12:40:59]