Florida Repertory Theatre

Form 990 program service accomplishment during the pandemic, Florida Repertory Theatre made the decision not to return to in-person performances until covid cases dropped and vaccination rates in our area rose. The organization provided robust virtual programming for youth and theatergoing audiences, created an outdoor performance venue in order to bring patrons to the Theatre to partake in its cultural and educational programming. In the spring of 2021, the Theatre began to make plans for its return to indoor, in-person theatrical performances, classes for youth, and to resume its touring Theatre series for young audiences. Beginning in the summer of 2021, Florida Repertory Theatre began planning its return to indoor performances for its Theatre going audiences, as well as a return to its many educational programs for students across southwest Florida. After so many months away from providing a cultural outlet for the community in its two performance venues, Florida rep put together a season that celebrated family, human connection, and that gave audiences an escape from the previous year of isolation and loss. Florida Repertory Theatre's professional season opened in september 2021 with a world premiere cabaret event called let's fall in love, as a salute to nat king cole, sammy davis, jr., bing crosby, frank sinatra, and tony bennett. The immersive cabaret was co-written and conceived by the Theatre's associate artistic director, jason parrish, and a chicago-based actor/singer, evan tyrone martin. The music was arranged by longtime Florida rep artist and collaborator, victoria casella. Mr. martin, a bipoc performer, starred in the one-person cabaret that chronicled the life and career of nat king cole, and how his life crossed baths with the other iconic american singers of the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. Performed in the artstage studio Theatre, the cabaret event transformed the intimate venue into a smoky jazz club from the 1950s - and audiences had a front seat to a musical celebration that payed homage to the music and voices that shaped the music of the early and mid-20th century. In october 2021, Florida rep welcomed audiences back to the historic arcade Theatre with the famous ghost story, the woman in black, as an offering for halloween. The production featured a small cast and uses theatricality to tell a now-famous story of a haunted mansion in england. The production featured two artists well-known to Florida rep audiences and even one young local actress who began her professional career as a child in Florida rep's education programs. November and december of 2021 saw the first collaboration between Florida rep's conservatory program and the professional Theatre with a production of the classic american musical, west side story. Florida Repertory Theatre and its education department partnered to produce the musical with a cast made up of professional actors and members of actors' equity association, the 2021-2022 professional acting intern Company, and over 30 middle and high school students from schools across southwest Florida. The co- production featured a professional director, professional designers, and a core group of professional actors onstage alongside Florida rep's conservatory students for a first-ever collaboration meant to give young people a professional experience in Florida rep's professional season. The production served as a learning experience for the Theatre's young artists and acting interns, and introduced each of them to a professional musical and how it was produced. The audience reaction was overwhelmingly positive for this one-of-a-kind partnership. In january and february 2022, the Theatre's professional season took a look at two different plays about relationships. Morning after grace played in the arcade Theatre in january, and was a new play about two people finding love and connection late in life. The new comedy/drama by carrie crim features three lead roles for actors over 65, and unlike many roles for mature actors, these characters are three-dimensional, complicated, and true to life. They are flawed, fall in love, have secrets, and one of them even comes out to his 95-year-old father after a long career in professional sports. The play resonated with our audiences, many of whom are at the same stage in their lives. Down the hall in our artstage studio Theatre, january and february of 2022 saw the opening of the pulitzer prize winning american classic, driving miss daisy by alfred uhry. It is part of Florida rep's mission to produce a wide variety of plays, and each season tries to choose one american classic. The story unfolds over four decades in post wwii atlanta, and tells the story of an unlikely and life-changing friendship between a wealthy jewish woman and the proud black man who's hired to be her chauffeur. Over time, they show each other how friendship can cross all boundaries and proves that familiarity has the power to change the world. Audiences flocked to the artstage to see the touching and hopeful story of how friendship can help to break down barriers. Florida rep produced two more new plays in february of 2022, both featuring powerful and vibrant roles for women. Florida rep joined a short list of regional theatres to produce into the breeches by george brant on the arcade Theatre stage, a new play that tells the story of a Theatre troupe in 1942 that finds a way to persevere in the midst of the crisis that was wwii. Just like Florida rep did during the pandemic, this play was a love letter to the pioneering spirit all theatres showed during the pandemic shut downs, and drew a comparison between wwii and the present day. Into the breeches featured a mostly female cast digging into some of shakespeare's most famous texts, and tells the story of the women left behind when the boys were off to war. They decide that the community needs them, and they take on all the roles themselves to lift their community's spirits and raise awareness for the war effort overseas. February 2022 in the artstage studio Theatre saw the revival of a doll's house, part 2 by lucas hnath. Florida rep was in final dress rehearsals for that production when the pandemic shut down began in 2020, but Florida rep was determined to give the production a live performance despite the closures. This time mounted in the black box Theatre, a doll's house, part 2 is a modern sequel to a world classic from the 19th century. The play picks up 15 years after nora helmer famously walked away from her marriage - the first character in western literature to do so - and shows us how ibsen's iconic characters might have fared in the years after the split. This new play was a tony award nominee in the mid-2010s, and featured some of Florida rep's ensemble members back on the stage together for the first time since the pandemic. During the first 6 months of the 2021-2022 season, Florida rep followed strict covid safety guidelines laid down by its performers' unions, local health officials, and the cdc. To that end, masks were required for all audience members through early march, 2022. Audiences were smaller in those months as cases of delta and omicron variants continued to spread in the community, but many loyal patrons came in masks. In mid-march 2022, Florida rep was able to lift masking mandates as covid cases dropped, and the change in policy coincided with the opening of buddy: the buddy holly story on the arcade Theatre stage. The musical tells the story of holly's meteoric rise to stardom over an 18-month period in the early 1950s, and featured a cast of eight professional actor/musicians. The production was meant to bring new patrons to the Theatre and provide a first-rate, broadway-quality musical production for southwest Florida audiences. The community responded with overwhelmingly robust ticket sales, and an out-pouring of good will and gratitude for a musical that provided a much-needed escape. Even in the midst of the post-pandemic months, buddy quickly broke records to become the highest grossing production in Florida rep's history - as well as the most well-attended. The high caliber production values, skilled actor musicians, and the score of rock 'n' rolls' greatest hits made this the perfect production for the community. The 2022 season closed with another new play, maytag virgin by audrey cefaly in the artstage studio Theatre. Cefaly's play takes place in Alabama, and chronicles the year-long romance between lizzy and jack, two forty-something school teachers in Alabama. The story of renewal and hope finds two people dealing with loss and grief in two wildly different ways, and shows audiences that it is never too late or too scary to start over. Florida rep's education department opened the season strong with the conservatory co-production of west side story, fall, winter, and spring classes for students aged 5 to 18, and culminated with its third trip to the junior Theatre festival in atla