Florida Studio Theatre facts for kids
The Hegner Theatre Wing at Florida Studio Theatre.
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| Address | 1241 North Palm Avenue |
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| Location | Sarasota, Florida |
| Public transit | Sarasota County Area Transit |
| Type | Theatre |
| Opened | 1973 |
Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is a major professional theater in Sarasota, Florida. It is a non-profit organization, which means its main goal is to create art, not to make money. FST is known for putting on modern and new plays.
The theater started in 1973 as a small group that traveled to perform. Today, it's one of the biggest regional theaters in the country based on its number of subscribers. Every year, FST welcomes over 225,000 people to its many programs. These include plays for adults, musical shows, programs for kids, and even comedy improv.
FST has a campus with five different theaters in downtown Sarasota. These are the Keating Theatre, the Gompertz Theatre, the Goldstein Cabaret, the John C. Court Cabaret, and Bowne's Lab Theatre.
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History of the Theatres
FST began in 1973 with founder Jon Spelman. It was a traveling theater group that performed in unusual places, like migrant camps and prisons. In 1980, it became a resident theater, meaning it stayed in one city. Richard Hopkins was named the new artistic director.
Keating Theatre
After moving around for a few years, FST found a permanent home in 1983. It moved into the old Sarasota Woman's Club building, which was built in 1915. The building was going to be torn down, but it was saved and sold to the theater. In 1985, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places because of its importance.
This historic building became the Keating Theatre. At first, it could only seat 72 people, but now it holds 173. It is used for FST's main plays and for its Children's Theatre shows.
FST also has a special program called Write-a-Play, which started in 1991. It encourages students from kindergarten through high school to try playwriting. The program gets over 2,000 new plays from kids every year. The winning plays are even performed on stage at the Young Playwright's Festival. Students from all over the world, including Russia and Israel, have taken part.
Cabaret Theatres
In the 1980s, FST started performing cabaret shows. A cabaret is a type of musical performance in a relaxed setting, like a club or restaurant. By 1995, FST opened its own space for these shows.
This space was later named the Goldstein Cabaret. It was the first theater at FST just for musical cabarets. The shows usually feature songs that are all connected by a theme. The theater is small, seating 100 people, and has a bar where you can get food and drinks during the show.
In 2013, FST opened a second cabaret space called the John C. Court Cabaret. It is part of a new building called the Hegner Theatre Wing. This theater also hosts musical shows and is a venue for the Jazz Club of Sarasota. Famous jazz musicians like Dominick Farinacci have performed there.
Hegner Theatre Wing
The Hegner Theatre Wing is a modern complex that includes three of FST's performance spaces.
Gompertz Theatre
In 2003, FST bought a building that had a long history. It was first a movie theater in the 1920s but closed during the Great Depression. It reopened in the 1940s and showed many different performances. Over the years, it was home to several other theater companies before FST bought it.
FST renamed it the Gompertz Theatre. After major renovations, the theater reopened in 2012 as part of the new Hegner Theatre Wing. It now seats 237 people and is used for FST's main stage plays.
Bowne's Lab Theatre
The third theater in the Hegner Wing is Bowne's Lab Theatre. It opened in 2014 and is named after John Bowne, an ancestor of a major supporter of the theater.
This "lab" space is for more experimental or serious plays. It is also the home of FST Improv, the theater's comedy improvisation team. Improvisation is a type of live theater where the story, characters, and dialogue are made up on the spot.
Famous Productions
FST has produced many successful shows. Here are a few highlights:
- Unchained Melodies (2019): This musical revue was a huge hit. It broke a record for having more than 20,000 people come to see it.
- A play by Sarah Bierstock (2018): This play was first read to an audience as part of a new play festival in 2017. The theater then decided to produce it as a full show the next year.
- Blue Suede Shoes (2018): This show about the music of the 1950s became FST's longest-running production ever, with 191 performances.
- Relativity (2016): FST asked the writer Mark St. Germain to create this play about Albert Einstein. It had its world premiere at FST.
- Fly (2015): This play about the Tuskegee Airmen was shown at FST before it went on to be performed Off-Broadway in New York City.
- Black Pearl Sings! (2009): FST's popular production of this play helped it become one of the most-produced shows in the country during the 2009-2010 season.
- Smokey Joe's Café (1999): FST was the first regional theater in the U.S. to get the rights to perform this hit musical while it was still playing on Broadway.
