by alun montgomery
From Fernandina Beach down to Daytona Shores and over to Gainesville, theater companies throughout the region are gearing up for another ambitious season. The coming year promises a slate of productions as rich and diverse as their sources, from both grass-roots and touring national companies alike. From classic to contemporary works, musicals to straight theater (pardon the expression), crowd-pleasers to cutting-edge and original works, there is plenty on the Jacksonville stage menu this year to please even the pickiest palates.
The area’s professional, community, and college stage companies lay claim to a long-standing theater tradition, Theatre Jacksonville in particular boasting its status as the longest continuously operating community theater in America. What’s more—sweetening the pot—every few years the Jacksonville theater scene gets an infusion of new blood and ideas from both her transplants and her native sons and daughters, their skills, education, and passions nourished both here and abroad. Management and production values are reflected in the mix, largely for the better.
The region’s most prominent professional theaters—the Hippodrome State Theatre in Gainesville and the Alhambra Dinner Theatre in Jacksonville’s Eastside—can typically be counted on for traditional crowd-pleasing fare, and the relative abundance of resources assures shows of uniformly consistent quality and production values.
Yet they by no means hold a monopoly on quality, either for performances or production values. Thanks to a growing audience base, the Jacksonville Cultural Council, generous private contributors, and the largess of the Jacksonville Community Foundation and founder Tom Nehl, the area’s community theaters are anteing up and kicking in, and most can be counted on for at least one or two bona fide kick-ass productions. You can count on finding a classic American playwright, a well-boiled chestnut, a contemporary Broadway favorite, and an ethnically diverse production on nearly everybody’s schedule.
Now - February 2.. Orange Park Community Theatre presents Come Blow Your Horn by Neil Simon.
A bachelor is suddenly joined by his younger brother, his father, and various others as he tries to continue his independent, very single lifestyle. Doors open 30 minutes prior to curtain for general audiences, and one hour prior to curtain for Season Ticket and Pass holders. Directed by Susan Carcaba. Info: (904) 276-2599. Location: 2900 Moody Avenue, Orange Park.
Now - February 3.. Hippodrome State Theatre presents The Dead Guy by Eric Coble.
The Pitch: You get one million dollars to spend over the next seven days. A camera crew follows your every move and broadcasts your adventures on national television. The Hook: At the end of the week…you die. The Best Part: The American public gets to vote on the method of your death! Equity Theater. Info: (352) 375-HIPP or thehipp.org. Location: 25 SE 2nd Place, Gainesville.
February 1 – 16. (Main Stage). Players by the Sea presents Julius X by Al Letson, Jr.
By grafting the plot and some of the text of Julius Caesar together with the story of Malcolm X’s murder, playwright Letson offers a classic demonstration of Shakespeare’s infinite adaptability. The play explores how allies can become assassins and how the struggle for power can turn toxic. Community theater. Info: (904) 249-0289. Location: 106 6th Street N, Jacksonville Beach.
February 8 – March 9. (Main Stage). Limelight Theatre presents A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry.
After moving to Chicago’s South Side in the 1950s, a poor black family struggles to deal with poverty, racism, and inner conflict as they strive for a better life—and a substantial insurance payment could mean either financial salvation or personal ruin. A moving portrait of dreams deferred, A Raisin in the Sun is the first play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway in the 1950s. Community theater. Info: (904) 825-1164. Location: 11 Old Mission Avenue, St. Augustine.
February 9 at 2 pm and 8 pm. Celebrate black history month at the Ritz Theatre & LaVilla Museum with Raisin’ Cane, the theatrical portrait in prose, poetry and jazz.
This one-woman show starring Jasmine Guy captures the power, beauty and brilliance of the Harlem renaissance. Info: (904) 632-5555 or visit ritzlavilla.org. Location: 829 N. Davis Street Downtown Jacksonville.
February 14-24.. Jacksonville University presents The Grapes of Wrath by Frank Galati.
This adaptation of John Steinbeck’s masterpiece recreates the story of the Joad family, driven from their Oklahoma farm and forced to set out, with countless other unwilling migrants, to the promised land of California. A portrait of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice and power, and of one woman’s stoic strength, the play captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. Info: (904) 256-7374 Location: Swisher Theater, Jacksonville University.
February 29 – March 15.. Theatre Jacksonville presents The Ruby Sunrise by Rinne Groff.
Hailed by The Boston Globe as “a gem”, The Ruby Sunrise begins when a 1920s tomboy feverishly works to develop her latest invention – a little something called “television”. Twenty-five years later, her daughter will stop at nothing to bring her mother’s incredible story to life during TV’s Golden Age. But will it get the truth it deserves? The Ruby Sunrise turns out to be more than a history lesson; it becomes a brilliant commentary of the affects of 1950s McCarthyism and the narrow-mindedness of television networks. Theatre Jacksonville Rating of R (Language not suitable for children) Community theater. Info: (904) 396-4425 or theatrejax.com. Tickets: $15-25. Location: 2032 San Marco Boulevard, San Marco.
February 29-March 23.. Hippodrome State Theatre presents Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams.
This provocative play concerns a man’s mysterious death, the secrets that could destroy his reputation, and the lengths to which his mother will go to protect his memory. Equity Theater. Info: (352) 375-HIPP or thehipp.org. Location: 25 SE 2nd Place, Gainesville.
February 29 – March 1. (Studio Theater). Players by the Sea presents Life on the Diagonal by Barbara Colaciello Williams.
This one-woman show celebrates life’s mysteries and imperfections with humor, sexuality and a little A.D.D. Community theater. Info: (904) 249-0289. Location: 106 6th Street N, Jacksonville Beach.
March 7 – 29.. Orange Park Community Theatre presents Play On!, a comedy by Rick Abbot.
Have you ever wondered what actually goes on back stage during the production of a play? This show will answer those questions and a whole lot more… Directed by John Pope. Info: (904) 276-2599. Location: 2900 Moody Avenue, Orange Park.
March 14 – 29. (Main Stage). Atlantic Beach Experimental Theater presents Ladies at the Alamo by Paul Zindel.
This biting, explosive, and very funny play examines the behind-the-scenes intrigues and power struggles that beset a famous regional theatre and its long-time artistic director. Community Theater. Info: (904) 249-7177. Location: Adele Grage Cultural Center, 716 Ocean Boulevard, Atlantic Beach.
March 28 – April 12. (Main Stage). Players by the Sea presents Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams.
Within the broken-down environs of a cheap Mexican hotel, the human needs and conflicts of a group of people thrown together by circumstance become explicit. Community theater. Info: (904) 249-0289. Location: 106 6th Street N, Jacksonville Beach.
April 11 – May 11. (Main Stage). Limelight Theatre presents Biloxi Blues by Neil Simon.
The second chapter in the saga of Eugene Jerome, Neil Simon’s youthful alter ego, finds Eugene in Army boot camp toward the end of World War II, where he learns to accept the peculiarities of his diverse fellow recruits and the abuse of his unstable drill instructor, managing in the process to lose his virginity and fall in love. A 1985 Tony winner. Community theater. Info: (904) 825-1164. Location: 11 Old Mission Avenue, St. Augustine.
April 17 – 19. Jacksonville University Presents Lysistrata by Aristophanes.
The eponymous heroine rallies the women of Thebes and Sparta to withhold sex from their husbands until they end the Peloponnesian War. Aristophanes’ timeless—and definitive—comedic meditation on sexual politics. A student-directed production. Info: (904) 256-7374 Location: Studio Theater Phillips Fine Arts Building, Jacksonville University.
April 18 - 20. (Stage 2). Atlantic Beach Experimental Theater presents The Calling, an original work by local playwright Deborah Jordan.
Meet the author at the Opening Night Reception on April 18. Info: (904) 249-7177. Community Theater. Info: (904) 249-7177. Location: Adele Grage Cultural Center, 716 Ocean Boulevard, Atlantic Beach.
April 18 – May 3.. Theatre Jacksonville presents Absence of a Cello by Ira Wallach.
This refreshingly literate comedy chronicles the trials of a brilliant-but-broke scientist as he tries to enter the corporate world. Theatre Jacksonville Rating of PG. Community theater. Info: (904) 396-4425 or theatrejax.com. Tickets: $15-25. Location: 2032 San Marco Boulevard, San Marco.
April 26 - 27 (Stage 2). Atlantic Beach Experimental Theater presents She’s Wonderful, a drama by Ruth Coe Chambers.
World premiere of the 2007 First Coast Writers Festival playwriting contest winner. Taking place over a period of a few hours, the play explores the backgrounds of three women - a daughter, her mother and a neighbor – and reveals how experience shapes our personalities. Community Theater. Info: (904) 249-7177. Location: Adele Grage Cultural Center, 716 Ocean Boulevard, Atlantic Beach.
May 2 – 17 (Main Stage). Players by the Sea presents The Underpants by Steve Martin.
Exposing more than “underpants”, Steve Martin turns an obscure 1911 German play by Carl Sternheim into a relevant yet hilarious examination of momentary fame in modern America. Community theater. Info: (904) 249-0289. Location: 106 6th Street N, Jacksonville Beach.
May 9 – 24 (Main Stage). Atlantic Beach Experimental Theater presents To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday by Michael Brady.
A rich family comedy-drama about the tenuous ties that connect husbands and wives and parents and children. Community Theater. Info: (904) 249-7177. Location: Adele Grage Cultural Center, 716 Ocean Boulevard, Atlantic Beach.
May 13 – 18.. The FCCJ Artist Series presents Roundabout Theatre Company’s Broadway production of the searing courtroom drama, Twelve Angry Men.
The Broadway production’s record-breaking run earned three Tony Award nominations and unanimous praise from the critics. Location: Wilson Center for the Arts 11901 Beach Blvd.
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