Jim Sorensen

 Tampa Repertory Theatre has announced the cast for its production of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical Next to Normal, with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt.

Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men is a 2014 Dramatic Comedy that premiered off-Broadway at the Public Theatre in New York City on November 7, 2014. Directed by the playwright Lee, and featuring Austin Pendleton as “Ed”, Pete Simpson, James Stanely, and Gary Wilmes. Following its run off Broadway, the play was then produced by Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, opening in February 2017 and running until March 26, 2017. Young Jean Lee’s play made its transfer to Broadway with Previews beginning at the Hayes Theatre June 29,2018, with its official opening night on July 23. Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, and featuring a cast of Armie Hammer as Drew, Josh Charles as Jake, Paul Schneider as Matt, Kate Bornstein and Ty Defoe as “Stagehands-in-Charge,” and Stephen Payne as Ed. Both Tom Skerritt and Denis Arndt had ties to the production but left before opening and during previews.

STRAIGHT WHITE MEN explores identity, privilege, and masculinity in contemporary America as three brothers, Matt, Jake, and Drew, reunite with their father, Ed, for Christmas. Guided by the 'Persons in Charge,' the audience gains a new perspective on heterosexual males.

TampaRep presents Straight White Men, a provocative comedy exploring identity, privilege, and masculinity in contemporary America. Follow three brothers as they navigate family dynamics during the holiday season.

Arthur Miller’s Masterpiece The Crucible is a 1953 play that is both dramatized and fictionalized around the true events of the Salem Witch Trials between 1692-93. Written as a Political Allegory on McCarthyism, Miller used its dramatizations to detail a time in which the United States Government persecuted people who were accused of being a part of the Communist Party. The Crucible was first performed on January 22, 1953 at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway. The original production featured performances from E.G. Marshall, Beatrice Straight, and Madeline Sherwood. Though the play was widely criticized often through hostile remarks, Miller’s play went on to win the Tony Award for Best Play of 1953. A year later, a remounted production was performed and in its wake, the play became a classic. Later esteemed as a central piece in the Canon of American Drama, and regarded as one of Miller’s finest works.

It's all over the place in style and tone, but the acting and Miller's wondrous words save the day.

Tampa Repertory Theatre and ThinkTank Theatre will co-produce a stark and powerful production of Arthur Miller's classic play The Crucible, running from September 29th through October 15th at Stageworks Theatre in Tampa, with the Opening Night Celebration on Saturday, September 30th at 6:30pm.

ThinkTank Theatre is teaming up with freeFall and Stageworks Theatres for their May Cabaret Series appropriately named ‘Both Sides of the Bay Cabaret’. The cast will feature local favorites and newcomers as well members of ThinkTank’s Young  Artists’ Ensemble Company. 

Sometimes a show comes along that is so powerful, at times shattering, with a top-flight cast, that it deserves two Broadway World reviews. Tampa Rep's production of THE ELEPHANT MAN certainly fits into that category. My BWW colleague, Drew Eberhard, saw the show at its final preview, and I had the honor of attending its opening weekend. At the play's center is a performance by Paul Potenza in the title role that should have anyone reading this sentence to stop what they're doing and obtain their tickets ASAP. THE ELEPHANT MAN runs at the HCC Studio Theater in Ybor City thru February 19th, so you better hurry.

Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man, premiered at the Hampstead Theatre in London in November of 1977. Pomerance’s play also transferred to the National Theatre in London for an “In Rep” residency. From January to March of 1979 it played off-Broadway, and made a transfer to the Booth Theatre on Broadway later in 1979, but the production closed in 1981 after 916 regular performances. The Elephant Man received revivals in 2002 and 2014.

TampaRep's second show this season will play throughout February at the Hillsborough Community College Ybor Campus in the Performing Arts Building.

Theatre is not theatre without an audience. Throughout the pandemic, many wondered when it would be safe to gather together again for the enjoyment and enrichment of a well-told story. Now that theatre lights are slowly rising to full again, TampaRep is extending an invitation to every household and budget level.

John Patrick Shanley’s The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, is a complex and intricate story that dives not only into the depths of our subconscious but boldly sits on the surface level of our emotions as well. Allowing us as the audience to not only deep dive within the minds of these characters, but into our own past or current circumstances. Shanley’s piece while complex is told within the length of 3 scenes ultimately ending with the audience making up their own conclusion to not only the events of the story but our own lives as we’ve grown so accustomed. John Patrick Shanley achieves masterful work here even with this being an earlier part of his repertoire. Shanley, most famously known as the Pulitzer Prize/Tony Award-winning playwright for Doubt, and the Oscar-winning Moonstruck has written 23 plays most of which he has gone on to direct, and is a Screenwriter on 9 Feature Films. Out of his 23 plays few have been performed in the Tampa Bay area, so it’s a much-needed breath of fresh air that TampaRep has decided to produce one of his earlier works, and still find relevance in the piece today. Director Chris Marshall, who has wanted to direct a Shanley play for some time says it best in his Director’s Notes, “...Our process has been about using the power of language to connect, though to do so is terrifying. It’s been equally about fierce listening and seeking to be affected as a listener, something we do less and less of these days. In these spaces (the theatre as theatre and as the room to hold scenic representations), we have finite opportunity, space, and time to connect, to learn, to discover. What a gift.”

Rehearsals have begun for the Tampa Repertory Theatre's production of The Dreamer Examines His Pillow by Tony Award-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley. The play has not been staged professionally anywhere in Florida since it was created in 1986. 

KING LEAR is the debut of an educational collaboration between TampaRep and the USF School of Theatre and Dance. For this production, students will study and create under the guidance of professional designers working on the project. And In addition, late artistic director C. David Frankel will be memorialized with an annual scholarship at USF.

Tampa Repertory Theatre presents KING LEAR at USF. Opening Friday, February 4th and running just three shows a week through February 20th.

Peppered with infectious Abba songs, it's like bubblegum for the soul.

The St. Petersburg Celebration of the Arts is celebrating the work of William Shakespeare with local arts and cultural organizations presenting variations on the Bard's work during the month of February. American Stage will feature a one-night-only performance of An Evening With Shakespeare's Lovers with Shakespeare and Shakespeare-inspired scenes, sonnets, and songs.

The traditional and beloved tale of greed, reflection, and redemption in the wake of the Christmas season recently hit the stage at Orlando Shakes this past weekend-and no, it's not the tale of the Grinch. Whether you're a seasoned Charles Dickens fan, entirely versed in his holiday classic, 'A Christmas Carol' and the lessons it brings every year, or you're introducing someone new to the story, you might just find that Orlando Shakes' take on the story deserves a spot amongst your own family traditions.

Orlando Shakes in partnership with UCF's production of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and adapted by Jim Helsinger runs from November 28 - December 30, 2018. Tickets (starting at $30) are available now by phone (407) 447-1700 ext. 1, online at orlandoshakes.org, or in person at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center (812 East Rollins Street).