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New Curtain To Rise

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By KATHY GREENBERG Tribune correspondent

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 22, 2009

There's a shiny newness to the American Stage Theatre Company's 2009-10 lineup.

First there's the fresh playlist of award-winning shows about second chances. And then there's the first production in a brand-new space.

"New is an important idea for us this year," said Todd Olson, producing artistic director for the St. Petersburg company.

Yet with all this newness, audiences will still see the same high standards that won the company "Best Theater" 11 years in a row in the annual Best of the Bay survey by Creative Loafing.

"Fences" (Sept. 27-Oct. 11) opens the season in the group's new home at Raymond James Theatre. Set in the 1950s, it is the third installment in August Wilson's 10-play cycle exploring 10 decades of the African-American experience. Wilson won a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for his story about a baseball player who becomes a garbage collector when he's too old for the game. His bitterness over the past affects his family's future.
American Stage is the only theater of its size to produce the complete Wilson cycle.

"We've dedicated ourselves to a decade of special occasions," said Olson.

Next up comes Steve Murray's "This Wonderful Life" (Nov. 20-Dec. 27), an adaptation of the holiday film classic "It's a Wonderful Life," starring Jimmy Stewart. This is the ultimate cautionary tale about second chances.

After the bell rings for Clarence, Noel Coward steps in with his farcical "Blithe Spirit" (Jan. 22-Feb. 7), pictured at right. A novelist remarries and is then haunted by the ghost of his first wife. Imagine the larks when a "happy medium" steps in to help out.

To keep in touch with its audience, American Stage surveyed patrons and board members to learn which productions they wanted to see this season. The top choice for both groups was "Driving Miss Daisy" (March 12-28). Alfred Uhry won a Pulitzer Prize for his tale about a friendship that a Jewish widow and her black chauffeur never saw coming.

Hippy-loving, new-age "Hair" (April 23-May 16) follows in Daisy's tracks until American Stage brings in David Mamet's comedy "November" (June 11-27). The play shows Mamet's lighter side, which invented an incumbent president who flocks to the turkey industry for campaign funds.

From one devil to another, "The Seafarer" (July 23-Aug. 8) closes the season. Irish playwright Conor McPherson introduces Sharky to Satan in this dark comedy about - what else? - second chances.

"Lysistrata" is officially the last show produced in the old theater, but the staff has been working in the new building for the past two months. The transition is akin to looking back at footsteps in the sand.

"Over here at Raymond James Theatre, we haven't seen a single rat, and the roof hasn't leaked down onto our computer screens. 'Lysistrata' is still rehearsed in the old space, and it's feeling more and more like an old building as people leave it," Olson said.

"By the time we come out here, we'll be really ready to work on this new palette."

Subscription prices range from $91 to $209. Tickets prices are $26 to $45, depending on date and time of performance. To purchase subscriptions or tickets, call (727) 823-7529 or visit www.americanstage.org. The new building is at the corner of Third Street North and Second Avenue North in downtown St. Petersburg.

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