Starring: Samantha Maguire, Roy Banks, Kimberly Banks, Will Montero, Selena Washington, Jacqueline Jones, Nick Massi, Gloria Live, Idris Thomas, and many more.
Category: Productions
Rise of the Prickly Pear
American Stage is proud to launch our commitment to 21st Century Voices with a New Play Festival featuring live staged readings of four new plays from four exceptional up-and-coming playwrights from Tampa Bay and beyond.
A committee comprised of a diverse cross-section of community members worked with our producing artistic director to read, evaluate and discuss hundreds of new play submissions from all over the United States. The selected works will be featured in staged readings and workshops and will provide audiences the opportunity to contribute to the plays’ development through audience talk-backs following each play reading.
Individual Tickets: $10 per reading
All-Access Pass: $30 General Public | $20 American Stage Subscribers & Act 1 Club Members
Sponsored by Rebecca & Michael Alford and Susan & Pete Greenbaum
Rise of the Prickly Pear
By Radha S. Menon
Rise Of The Prickly Pear is about love and betrayal, set in 1958 Santiago De Cuba and 1980 Miami. Che Guevara and his ‘bearded ones’ are holed up in the Sierra Maestra fighting a bitter battle as revolution grips the nation in a dire struggle against American imperialism, while two local women battle each other and bust up over love.
Twenty years later these women reunite in Miami and must face each other and get to grips with the past.This play arose from curiosity and bloomed into an exploration of the illusive nature of beauty and a study into humanity’s ingenious knack of reinvention after betrayal has obliterated one’s status quo.
Director – Erica Sutherlin
Assistant Stage Manager/The General – Matt Acquard
Futuro – Nick Hoop
Marianna – Isabel Natera
Hermosita – Jessy Julianna Quinones
Pedro – Joe Parra
Ramon – David Valdez
Dog Act
TAMPA REPERTORY THEATRE & CREATIVE LOAFING PRESENT
CONVERSATION STARTERS
A post-apocalyptic vaudeville, Dog Act follows Zetta Stone, a traveling performer, and her companion Dog, a young man undergoing a voluntary species demotion, as they walk through the wilderness of the former Northeast U.S. with their little troupe. They are heading toward a gig in China, if they can find it—and if they can survive to reach it. A theatrical, darkly comic variation on the classic doomsday genre – the post-apocalyptic wilderness was never funnier!
Monday, February 13th, in the CL Space, 1911 N. 13th Street, Tampa. 7: 30pm Curtain. Tickets are $10. Cash bar on site. And stick around for the discussion afterwards.
The Vagina Monologues
Carrollwood Players Theatre presents a CWP Black Box Production of The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler
A Staged Reading in the CWP Black Box Theatre
Directed by Beth Behner
Three Performances Only
Friday, February 3, 2017 at 8 pm
Saturday, February 4, 2017 at 8 pm
Sunday, February 5, 2017 at 3 pm
Tickets: $10…
https://carrollwood-players-theatre.ticketleap.com/vagina-monologues/
The Vagina Monologues introduces a wildly divergent gathering of female voices, including a six-year-old girl, a septuagenarian New Yorker, a vagina workshop participant, a woman who witnesses the birth of her granddaughter, a Bosnian survivor of rape, and a feminist happy to have found a man who “liked to look at it.” Funny, outrageous, emotionally affecting, and occasionally angry, The Vagina Monologues confront words to demystify and disarm them – and the audience witnessing them.
Strong adult language and themes.
CAST
Tana Gundry
Patricia Coyle
Alexa Sheppard
Rebecca Ginsberg
Leanne Germann
Deb Kelley
Pamela Slagg
Jen Martin
Petra Sussman
Trish Farber
Gemma Davimes
Kym Welch
Val Sanford
Taylor Hendershot
Isabel Bertram
Samantha Janek
Almost, Maine – Staged Reading
Come see me in a staged reading of this wonderful show.
Carrollwood Players Theatre presents a CWP Black Box Production of Almost, Maine by John Cariani
A Staged Reading in the CWP Black Box Theatre
Directed by Mike Cote
Two Performances Only
Sunday, January 15, 2017 at 7 pm
Sunday, January 22, 2017 at 7 pm
Tickets: $10
https://carrollwood-players-theatre.ticketleap.com/maine/
On a cold, clear, moonless night in the middle of winter, all is not quite what it seems in the remote, mythical town of Almost, Maine. As the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, Almost’s residents find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and often hilarious ways. Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. But the bruises heal, and the hearts mend—almost—in this delightful midwinter night’s dream.
“ALMOST, MAINE is a series of nine amiably absurdist vignettes about love, with a touch of good-natured magic realism…witty, romantic, unsentimental. A beautifully structured play, with nifty surprise endings (most but not all of them happy).” —The New York Times. “Sweet, poignant, and witty. Nearly perfect.
AMOST, MAINE’s charm is real. It packs wit, earns its laughs and, like love, surprises you.” —New York Daily News. “Mega-hit ALMOST, MAINE lands somewhere between Norman Rockwell and Our Town.
Unlike traditional play readings with a group of seated actors simply reading the script aloud, this staged reading features a set, costumes, action, lighting, music and sound effects.
Mild adult language and themes.
CAST
Isabel Bertram
Patricia Coyle
Samantha Janek
Robert Pelaia
Jim Moss
Brian McCreight
Tickets: $10
https://carrollwood-players-theatre.ticketleap.com/maine/
Nightfall with Edgar Allan Poe
This Halloween weekend the creative team of Aaron Washington and Keith Eisenstadt will be providing audiences with a different style of haunting. On the evening of Saturday October 29th and afternoon of Sunday October 30th, Washington and Eisenstadt will present ‘Nightfall with Edgar Allan Poe’. The show will be a collaboration between directors; Aaron Washington, Keith Eisenstadt, and Lauren Rodriguez. To support literature and the arts in local classrooms, producers will be donating a portion of each ticket sold through DonorsChoose.org. Performances will be held in The Studio @ The Carrollwood Cultural Center.
Edgar Allan Poe is amongst the most influential of American Poets; with a flair for the dramatic. Poe’s works fit perfectly with the mission of Washington and Eisenstadt; to celebrate literature and the arts and support the education of the same. The drama written by Eric Coble, features four of Poe’s most haunting tales; “The Pit and the Pendulum” directed by Washington, “The Raven” and “The Tell Tale Heart” directed by Eisenstadt, and “The Fall of the House of Usher” directed by Rodriguez. The pieces are arranged and performed to highlight the dramatic elements of the writing and presented in a way that will give the audience chills. At the beginning of the show, Edgar Allan Poe stands alone in the flickering darkness of his mind, trying desperately to convince himself, and us, that he’s not mad. Enter the world of Poe and check your heartbeat at the door.
“Nightfall with Edgar Allan Poe” will be presented by Washington and Eisenstadt on Saturday October 29th at 8pm and Sunday October 30th at 2pm. Performances will be held in The Studio @ The Carrollwood Cultural Center located at 13345 Casey Rd in Tampa. Tickets are priced at $20 and are available by calling The Carrollwood Cultural Center Box Office at (813) 269-1310 or at the door one hour before show times. For more information, find Washington and Eisenstadt at http://www.facebook.com/WashingtonEisenstadt.
Broadway World Article: Link to Article
Heartland for Children
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot – May 13 – 22, 2016
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot has been praised as a “profound and wildly entertaining” comedy since it premiered ten years ago. Set in a time-bending world between heaven and hell, this darkly comic piece tells the story of Judas Iscariot as a trial is set to determine his ultimate fate. Lawyers and saints are pitted against each other as they delve into Judas’ childhood and call for the testimonies of Mother Teresa, Caiaphas, Saint Monica, Sigmund Freud, and even Satan.
Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens
Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens is a celebration of living through the stories of those who have died. This unique musical, where actors play 5-6 characters a piece, is told by the individuals who have had their lives forever represented as a panel on an AIDS quilt. Through the use of poetry, comedy, music and drama, this one-of-a-kind musical shows us that we have to breathe in every second of life, and enjoy every simple moment that we have.
Almost, Maine – February 2016
![ALMOST MAINE POSTER (1) [11306]](https://isabelnatera.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/almost-maine-poster-1-11306.jpeg)
THE GRAND CENTRAL STAGE THEATER COMPANY PRESENTS
JOHN CARIANI’S PLAY
ALMOST, MAINE
Production Dates: February 26-28, 2016
Almost, Maine is a play by John Cariani, comprising nine short plays that explore love and loss in a remote, mythical almost-town called Almost, Maine.ST. PETERSBURG, FL—The Grand Central Stage Theater Company will premiere its first staged production with the play, Almost, Maine. The upstart theater company hopes to make a mark in St. Pete’s growing theater community with writer John Cariani’s tale that takes place on a cold, clear, moonless Friday night in the middle of winter. Yet all is not quite what it seems in the remote, mythical town of Almost, Maine. As the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, residents of Almost find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and often hilarious ways. Knees are bruised; hearts are broken. Love is lost, found, and confounded. But the bruises heal and the hearts mend – almost.
The New York Times called the play, “a whimsical approach to the joys and perils of romance (where) magical happenings bloom beneath the snowdrifts,” in one of the many favorable reviews.
“Sweet, poignant and witty,” said The New York Daily News.
“John Cariani aims for the heart by way of the funny bone,” – The Star Ledger.
Almost, Maine is directed by the trio, Karleigh Chase, Michele Young and Jamie LaBudde, who make certain you’re in for a good time with an experienced crew of talented actors, many of whom are from The Andi Matheny Acting Studio.
Tickets are $20 at the door.
Performances are Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26 and 27th at 8:00 pm, and a matinee on Sunday February 28th at 3:00 pm.
For ticket reservations or information, call: 813-956-1186
The theater is located at the Andi Matheny Acting Studios, 2260 1st Avenue South (at 23rd Street), St. Petersburg, FL 33712
http://www.andimathenyactingstudios.
Isabel Natera 