The Straz Center’s Broadway investments return Tony Award®-winning shows to our stages and keep new shows in the works. The Straz Center isn’t just a tour stop for big Broadway show-stoppers. Most of the time, we’ve been on the ground floor as a producer, investing in the show and banking on its success. Every year,... Continue Reading →
Editor’s Note: Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, its Straz run rescheduled due to the COVID-19 crisis from May 5-10, 2020 to July 13-18, 2021, was to be featured in the Straz Center’s publications this month. The article features Tampa DJ Ann Kelly of WDUV-105 FM, who accompanied The Straz team last year to preview the... Continue Reading →
Before COVID-19 disrupted the world, The Florida Orchestra’s table at The Straz in May was set with "Beethoven’s Fifth," Superhero Soundtracks and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. https://youtu.be/t7XBpHFpmuw When announcing the cancellation of the remainder of the orchestra season, TFO noted its instinct was to provide hope, comfort and healing with the power of music.... Continue Reading →
We put together this list of resources for artist assistance. Part of The Straz’s mission is to support local artistic talent, and usually we’re able to do that by offering stages, gigs like Live & Local or Arts Legacy REMIX and unique opportunities to collaborate. But when audiences must stay home, our best effort to... Continue Reading →
The Straz Center’s senior writer gives you fun, simple instructions on how to write a script you can produce, direct, perform and film at home. Hello, everybody! Marlowe Moore here, the Straz Center senior writer, with a step-by-step guide for writing a script with kids from middle school to high school. You can easily adapt... Continue Reading →
The 2019 Acoustic Guitarist of the Year happens to be a Tampa native. One of the things we love about being this area’s performing arts center is that we get to host so many incredible Tampa Bay-area talents early in their careers. One such—guitarist Christie Lenee—appeared in the Jaeb Theater in 2018, already crowned 2017’s... Continue Reading →
This Q&A from the cast of Hysteria sheds a little light on the renowned British troupe and will hopefully get you even more excited to see this exclusive United States debut at The Straz. How would you describe Spymonkey to a stranger? Aitor Basauri (joint artistic director, performer): Spymonkey is a unique and original form... Continue Reading →
Take the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, The James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital and the Straz Center, add an epic effort in community engagement, and you get VetArtSpan. The year-long collaboration culminates this Friday in a free performance event in the TECO Theater featuring veterans, civilians and community leaders.... Continue Reading →
The annual festival, founded by Tampa actor, writer and director Rory Lawrence, takes place at The Straz and other locations Aug. 30-Sept. 1. In 2013, Rory Lawrence stood on the eve of the inaugural Tampa Bay Theatre Festival. After attending similar theater festivals in Atlanta and D.C., Rory thought Tampa needed one. He had no... Continue Reading →
TFO public relations manager Kelly Smith takes over our blog this week with some pro tips for finding your perfect concerts in the new orchestra season. The Straz is a proud partner with The Florida Orchestra, who holds many of its concerts here. Guest blog by Kelly Smith, public relations manager, The Florida Orchestra Deciding... Continue Reading →
Meet classically-trained Philly pop punk rocker Kevin Sitaras, director of the Patel Conservatory’s super popular Rock School. Rock School at the Patel Conservatory puts together people who want to be in a rock band. The drummer may be a 65-year-old retiree, the guitarist a seventh-grader, the lead singer a recent transplant working her first professional... Continue Reading →
The Americans with Disabilities Act turns 29 on Friday. We’re celebrating with a free concert in Maestro's Restaurant featuring incredibly talented local artists of mixed abilities. Let’s meet a few. On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the world’s first comprehensive civil rights law acknowledging the right of access and inclusion for people... Continue Reading →
This interview, the second in a two-part series on non-performing jobs in the performing arts, features two of our extraordinary bartenders: Diane Jones and Suzanne Rubin. If you’ve been coming to The Straz for a few seasons, chances are you’ve found yourself face-to-face with the Straz Center’s dynamic duo of drink slingers hustling and jiving... Continue Reading →
Sip, our new outdoor bar made from a 1966 Airstream Safari, mixes retro with metro. Wally Byam did not mean to start Airstream. What he meant to do was devise a way to go camping with his wife so she wouldn’t have to sleep on the ground in a tent. She also suggested it would... Continue Reading →
In honor of Broadway’s hit 80s fantasia ROCK OF AGES playing at The Straz June 11-15, Straz staffers busted out our old 80s hair pics—just for you. As you’ll see, we were *not* afraid to let it flow. Well, folks, this is it. We’re in the final countdown before the 10th anniversary tour of ROCK... Continue Reading →
The Straz Arts Education’s Broadway Buddies program unites kids from different learning backgrounds. A little bit exchange program, a little bit Big Brother/Big Sister, a little bit theater boot camp and a lot of laughs – that describes the remarkable new program launched by Acting Director of Community Engagement and Education Programs Alice Santana and... 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 →
How a Russian defector built couture fashion from ballet costumes during the rise of New York City Ballet Chanel. Gucci. Givenchy. These famous fashion houses earned notoriety for their signature styles, making their designs easily recognizable – the Chanel suit, the Gucci bag, the Givenchy dress. In the golden age of American ballet, during the... Continue Reading →
Broadway offers a passel of snortingly good times with its unending parade of parodies. The latest on our roster of roastables is Spamilton: An American Parody, which opened last week and runs until May 12. Behind every iconic work of entertainment lurks a laughing matter waiting to be born. Whether those matters manifest as films... Continue Reading →
Ultra fan fave Tap Dogs returns with new blokes, new moves and new drummers—the jaw-dropping duo of Warped Tour veteran Caitlin Kalafus and Final Fantasy percussionist Noriko Terada. For those of us who were around in the 90s when Tap Dogs made its first tours in the United States, the sight of barrel-chested, be-jean-shorted Aussie... Continue Reading →
