In 1966, Broadway impresario Harold Hecuba stunned critics and audiences alike when he staged Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a musical. Hecuba’s audacious move created a sensation and the Hamlet musical was a hit. The celebration soon was overshadowed by scandal, though, when a group of mostly amateur actors claimed to have not only written the musical... Continue Reading →
The intellectual distance between Steve Martin’s early, catchphrase-heavy stand-up comedy and his first full-length play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile might seem great. Fear not, though, as fans of his early, funny stuff should recognize the same absurdist spirit that ran through Martin’s early routines in Picasso. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mCYzJu12zI “He used a lot of irony. He... Continue Reading →
The art of origami might mean more than you think Photo: Ned Averill-Snell Mother Nature loves to fold. Flowers, wings, you name it. Just look at us, human beings: our brains and guts are wrinkles doubling back on themselves; proteins, the building blocks of life are intricately folded amino acids. And if those amino acids... Continue Reading →
Jobsite Theater is returning to the Shimberg Playhouse after nearly two years and Producing Artistic Director David Jenkins sounds like a man finally heading home. “The last performance Jobsite did in the Shimberg was March 12, 2020, our preview for ‘Doubt,’” Jenkins remembers. “We were supposed to open the next night. And we got notified... Continue Reading →
There seems to be an almost cultural fixation with firsts – first car, first kiss – who are we not to play along? Later this month, Jobsite Theater opens its season with Dr. Ride’s American Beach House, a play set on the eve of astronaut Sally Ride’s historic 1983 launch as the first American woman... Continue Reading →
Guest Blogger and Jobsite Artistic Director David M. Jenkins gives Caught in the Act a look inside the nightmares and belly laughs of Shockheaded Peter https://videopress.com/v/dpzfcUxr?preloadContent=metadata A little bit Tim Burton, a little bit Edward Gorey, Shockheaded Peter is the phantasmagorical staging of Heinrich Hoffman’s 1845 pitch-black children’s book, Der Struwwelpeter. It’s a self-proclaimed “junk... Continue Reading →
David at the Straz Center Riverwalk Stage. David M. Jenkins is producing artistic director and co-founder of Jobsite. He holds a Ph.D. in communication (performance studies) from the University of South Florida, an M.F.A. in acting from the University of Florida and a B.A. in theater performance, also from USF. He has additionally studied with... Continue Reading →
With its roots in ancient culture, including ivory and clay figures found in Egyptian tombs, puppetry has long been employed in storytelling including the theater. Terracotta Ancient Greek dolls. Exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Room 56. Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, November 11 2009. Both Aristotle and Plato in ancient Greece, referenced puppets in their... Continue Reading →
In April 1992, widespread rioting, looting and assaults broke out in South Central Los Angeles after a jury acquitted four white L.A. police officers of excessive force in the roadside arrest and beating of a black man, Rodney King. The six-days of riots, which resulted in 63 deaths, nearly 2,400 injuries, 12,000 arrests and more... Continue Reading →
Actor, director and teacher Giles Davies has happily been working with Jobsite since the 2011 production of Quills. He has been seen in the company’s productions of Othello, 1984, The Tempest, Cloud Nine, Twelfth Night, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Macbeth, Fahrenheit 451, his one-person show POE and the Job-side project Check (which he co-wrote).... Continue Reading →
Over the loud lightning strikes from our seemingly daily thunderstorms we’ve heard your cries: “Break’s OVER.” The Straz Center and its resident theater company, Jobsite Theater, have worked during our COVID-19 intermission, with intermittent pauses to lounge on our chaises of course, to bring performances back to our stages with appropriate social distancing and cleaning... Continue Reading →
Jobsite Theater’s latest production, Doubt: A Parable, features wife-and-husband team of Summer Bohnenkamp directing and David Jenkins in a lead role. How do they do it? This week, Caught in the Act takes a deep-dive into the working-life-partners relationship of Summer Bohnenkamp and David Jenkins. The pair talks about the tricky business of work-life-love balance and... Continue Reading →
Jobsite Theater’s latest knockout of a show presents the work of Native American playwright Larissa Fasthorse. Obviously, she’s gonna have a few thoughts on Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving Play opened in the Shimberg Playhouse a few weeks ago to rave reviews. The play is terrifically funny, especially if you’re looking for someone to jab a sharp... Continue Reading →
Steve Martin may have made his way to the spotlight as a star on Saturday Night Live and in films like The Jerk and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. But there’s a lot more to this wild and crazy guy than a genius knack for comedy. This month, Jobsite Theater launched its new play season with... Continue Reading →
Jobsite Theater’s current offering in their record-breaking season is a work by one of the Royal Society of Literature’s designees for their “40 Under 40” initiative—and one of the most exciting young playwrights out of the box in a long time. Before she even graduated from University of Edinburgh, Lucy Kirkwood had caught the attention... Continue Reading →
Caught in the Act catches up with Jobsite Theater during rehearsals of their next exciting production, Edgar and Emily. Edgar as in Allan Poe. Emily as in Dickinson. Yes, the granddaddy of Southern Gothic literature winds up in the bedroom of the emdash enthusiastic belle of Amherst, Emily Dickinson. Confined to this space, made all... Continue Reading →
Jobsite Theater opens its 2018-2019 season with a return of Spencer Meyers in the lead role of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Spencer, who by day plays our unflappable group sales associate at The Straz, debuted as Hedwig in Jobsite’s 2013 production. Says Jobsite Artistic Director David Jenkins, “I always knew the prodigious talent inside... Continue Reading →
Gabbing about the importance of facing the awkward, the awful, the upending and the just plain weird in the theater with special guest Paul Potenza, artistic associate with Jobsite Theater. This week Caught in the Act caught up with Paul Potenza, 30-plus-year stage veteran in the Tampa Bay area and artistic associate with our resident... Continue Reading →
The unbelievable true crime story behind the swinging jazz standard “Mack the Knife.” Once upon a time, there was a five-foot-four London folk hero who inspired John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, which inspired Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, which contained the song “Mack the Knife,” which became a snappy lounge tune for... Continue Reading →
An in-depth convo with Straz Center Senior Director of Marketing, Summer Bohnenkamp, who directs her fifth production with Jobsite Theater – this season’s opener, The Flick. Jobsite Theater, almost 19 years into its illustrious reputation as one of the strongest regional theater companies in Florida and beginning their 13th as resident theater company of the... Continue Reading →