American Stage Breaks Season Subscription Record

American Stage Theatre Company's 31st season has seen several high points, not the least of which is the recent announcement of the record number of subscriptions the theatre sold for its 2009-2010 season. As of July 26, American Stage has sold 3,138 subscriptions, only the second time in the theatre's history that they have had over 3,000 subscribers.

"In the first 27 years of our history, American Stage had never come close to selling 2,000 total subscriptions for our Mainstage Series, until our 2005-06 season, when patrons purchased over 2,200," said Todd Olson, American Stage's producing artistic director. "Over the past five seasons, we have nearly doubled the number of our subscribers, and increased our total attendance by over 40 percent."

As most professional theatres around the country are loosing patrons, American Stage is seeing continual growth under the guidance of Olson, who came to St. Petersburg in 2004.

"Our patron base has grown so much over the last few years that we had to move into a new building to keep up with the growth," said Olson.
The 31-year-old theatre, which was honored by St. Petersburg as the city's Resident Professional Theatre Company in 1987, opens its 2010-2011 season in September with Charles Ludlam's quick-change comedy, THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP, starring Matthew McGee and Brian Web Russell.

Subscriptions are on sale for the upcoming season, which includes the Tampa Bay
area premieres of August Wilson's Ma Rainey'S BLACK BOTTOM; celebrated playwright Terrance McNally's return to St. Petersburg to help with his comedy, FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE; as well as the American Stage in the Park production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical RENT at Demen's Landing Park.

American Stage Theatre Company is located in the Raymond James Theatre at 163 3rd Street North in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. The box office can be reached at (727) 823-PLAY (7529) or by logging onto www.americanstage.org.

American Stage is a not-for-profit professional theatre founded in 1977. The company's mission is to create the most satisfying live theatre in the Tampa Bay area, accessible to all members of the community. Their vision is to preserve the greatest human stories from our past, while creating the most defining stories and storytelling of our time. The Hough Family Foundation is the Season Sponsor, Raymond James is the Mainstage Sponsor, Bank of America is the Education Sponsor and WUSF 89.7 is the Radio Sponsor of American Stage.

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