2012 – 13 Season
Creative Loafing Best of the Bay
- Best Artistic Director – David M. Jenkins
Mainstage Season
Fahrenheit 451
By Ray Bradbury
Directed by Katrina Stevenson
Sep. 5 – 30, 2012
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper ignites. This cautionary tale reminds us not only of the evils of government tyranny but of individual complicity and inaction. This powerful drama mixed with elements of both comedy and horror was adapted for the stage by Bradbury himself, inspired in part by Francois Trouffaut’s 1966 film.
The story centers on the inner struggle of Guy Montag who has worked as a civil servant for ten years burning books. He has become increasingly unsure about what he is doing with his life. It is not until he meets Clarisse, a young girl filled with strange ideas, that he is led into a dangerous and truly combustible situation. Now he must choose between continuing his nonexistent existence and risking everything for the right to think freely.
Gorey Stories
A musical entertainment adapted by Stephen Currens
Music by David Aldritch
Based on the work of Edward Gorey
Featuring a special encore mini-concert tribute to The Tiger Lillies
Directed by David M. Jenkins
Oct. 24 – Nov. 18, 2012
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Not so much of a return as a reboot, Jobsite revisits their wildly popular 2007 production that enjoyed a sold-out four-week run. Perfect for the halloween season, this production is a monochromatic musical love letter to all things Edward Gorey. Following the 75-minute musical entertainment there will be an encore of selections from The Tiger Lillies’ Gorey End album, which was written from a box of unpublished stories sent to them by Edward Gorey. Gorey Stories features beloved tales such as “The Hapless Child,” “The Curious Sofa,” and “The Gashleycrumb Tinies.”
Expect a pared-down cast, a fleshed-out band with a new sound, and bigger and better production values! The Tampa Bay Times said of the 2007 production that “It’s a collision of Dr. Seuss, Charles Addams and Edvard Munch. Combine that look with Gorey’s morbid but jaunty stories, verse and songs, and you end up with a memorable theater experience.”
Hay Fever
By Noel Coward
Directed by David M. Jenkins
Jan. 9 – Feb. 3, 2013
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Hoping for a quiet weekend in the country with some guests, David Bliss, a novelist, and his wife Judith, a retired actress, find that an impossible dream when their high-spirited children Simon and Sorel appear with guests of their own.
A housefull of drama waits to be ignited as misunderstandings and tempers flare. With Judith’s new flame and David’s newest literary “inspiration” keeping company, as the children follow suit, the Bliss family lives up to its name as the “quiet weekend” comes to an exhausting and hilarious finale worthy of a Feydeau farce.
Much Ado About Nothing
By William Shakespeare
Directed by David M. Jenkins
Mar. 13 – Apr. 7, 2013
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
One of the most popular and charming of Shakespeare’s comedies (and one of the few where the female lead doesn’t have to dress up at some point as a dude), Much Ado About Nothing features a classic battle of the sexes couple in Benedick (an arrogant and confirmed bachelor) and Beatrice (his favorite sparring partner).
While the feisty couple hides their infatuation beneath witty barbs, young love blossoms as Hero and Claudio race to the altar. When the wicked Don John conspires to break up the wedding, will false accusations and misunderstandings prevent the young couple’s happy ending? Will Dogberry and his misfit watch save the day? Witty wordplay, passionate poetry and clever plot twists make this the perfect romantic evening to share love and laughter.
Behind the Gates
By Wendy Graf
Directed by Karla Hartley
May 1 – 26, 2013
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Jobsite partners with the Tampa Jewish Community Center & Foundation for the eastern United States premiere of this controversial and important play.
A parent’s worst nightmare: 17-year-old Bethany disappears while on a school trip to Israel. As her parents feverishly search throughout Jerusalem for their daughter, they find themselves lost in a hidden world where ancient and modern collide, conflicting cultures and politics clash, and extreme orthodoxies and passionate feelings of nationalism try to coexist while growing more volatile with each passing day.
The Lonesome West
By Martin McDonagh
Directed by Paul Potenza
Jul. 10 – Aug. 4, 2013
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
A return to Leenane and one of Jobsite’s favorite playwrights! Jobsite has previously produced McDonagh’s The Pillowman, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and The Beauty Queen of Leenane. The Lonesome Westis part of a trio of plays all set in the small town of Leenane in rural western Ireland.
Valene and Coleman, two brothers living alone in their father’s house after his recent death, find it impossible to exist without the most massive and violent disputes over the most mundane and innocent of topics. Only Father Welsh, the local priest, is prepared to try to reconcile the two before their petty squabblings spiral into vicious and bloody carnage. A shotgun, a new stove, a collection of plastic saints, a pretty young girl, and more poteen than you could swing a dead cat at – what could possibly go wrong?
Ensemble
Job-side Productions
Poe
From the works of Edgar Allan Poe
Created and performed by Giles Davies
Oct. 31 – Nov. 4 & Nov. 11, 2011
Wed. 8pm, Fri. – Sat. 10:30pm, Sun. 6:30 pm
Tickets: $13 or $6 with a Gorey Stories ticket stub at the door, cash only; FREE for Jobsite season ticket holders.
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Suicide Punchline
Created by Jen Tuder in collaboration with Candace Stimpson
Directed by Candace Stimpson
Mar. 17, 2013
Sun. 8pm
Tickets: $15; $10 for Jobsite season ticket holders.
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Suicide is only the beginning for survivors. Join solo performer Jen Tuder as she cross-examines her ghosts, knocks ‘em dead at cocktail parties, and enters dioramas of the afterlife. In Suicide Punchline surviving is the opposite of solving.
The Ballad of Hipster McBigballs
Directed and written by Christen Hailey
Apr. 5 – 7, 2013
Fri. – Sat. 11 pm, Sun. 7 pm
Tickets: donation at the door; FREE for Jobsite season ticket holders.
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
The Ballad of Hipster McBigballs takes place in Christen Hailey’s bizarre Perilousiverse (her previous offerings were Sexy, Sexy Murder and Chapel Perilous). Think of it as another prequel story somewhere on a different point in the time/space continuum.
An Evening Out with Mr. FunnyBlackMan
Written and performed by “ranney”
Directed by Chris Rutherford
Aug. 2 – 3, 2013
Fri. – Sat. 11 pm
Tickets: $5 at the door;
FREE for Jobsite season ticket holders.
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
An Evening Out with Mr. FunnyBlackMan is an evening of comedy about unanswerable questions, tooth aches, smelly old people, evolution, abuse, Kenny Rogers, the implausibility of politics, transcendental sex, sweet doggies, the electric slide, abortion, time travel, how “ranney”s father invented hip-hop, post-apocalyptic living, the birth of Christ, why people laugh, random thoughts, how to know if you’re dying, PBS fundraisers, the birth of Satan, the American drug epidemic, intimate farts, Superman’s true weakness, why we love fortune cookies, crack ho nostalgia, running for president, dream apps, the hatred of children, and more.
