American Stage's New Venue
Among the many things that there are to do in St. Petersburg, we have great live theater here. Although I’m sure there are lots of smaller theater groups that I don’t know about, American Stage and St. Petersburg Little Theater are the two organizations that come to mind for me when I think of live theater. St. Petersburg Little Theater, currently in its 84th season, prides itself on being the St. Petersburg place to see local, non-professional talent performing mainstage productions each year. I’ll do a future post on St. Petersburg Little theater, but today’s post will focus on American Stage and their brand new, very cool venue!
American Stage, for those who aren’t familiar, is a professional regional equity theater. It had its beginnings in 1977, when it was founded as the Palisades Theater Company. The theater’s first home was at what is now Eckerd College, and over the years, they moved into an old converted movie theater and then an old auction gallery. The auction gallery building was the American Stage home from 1984 until earlier this year – it was the American Stage that some of you came to know and love, with all its quirks but also all of the warmth and intimacy that was a part of the theater experience. It was a fairly old building on 3rd Street South, across the street from Dew Cadillac until a few years ago, and across from the new Publix in recent years. The building was tired and cramped and certainly a bit cantankerous and uncooperative at times, but that never seemed to impact the enthusiasm of the American Stage staff or the actors or the theater-goers who continued to support them year after year. In truth, American Stage did not just survive, they thrived and grew and gained even greater support over time.
On Saturday night, my wife and I attended the second production at American Stage’s new home at the corner of 3rd Street and 2nd Avenue North. The facility is located in a portion of the new downtown St. Petersburg College building, directly across the street from Williams Park. The building is spacious, open, airy, modern, and everything works! There are plenty of restrooms, unlike the old American Stage home. There are multiple levels – the lobby and box office are located on the ground floor, accessible via the main entrance on 3rd Street North. From there, you can take an elevator or a large, open staircase to the second floor, where there is an open seating/waiting area with several tables and chairs, a bar/concession stand, and the Raymond James Theater. The third floor houses the offices for the American Stage staff and administrators, a costume shop, and a rehearsal area.
New Raymond James Theater at American Stage
The new theater retains the very intimate feeling that the original American Stage always had, with all seats in fairly close proximity to the stage. Seating capacity was only increased by 40 seats, so there is no sense of being lost in a giant space. A very nice change is that the new seats are wider, have higher backs, and are much more comfortable than the seats at the old theater. And there’s a great armrest feature – seats are grouped so that couples sitting together share an armrest between their two seats, but on the left and the right of each seat pair, there are double armrests with space in between, so you never have to battle with your neighbor for armrest rights! That may not seem like a big deal, but it really is a nice touch, one which we appreciated.
Since I’m writing about American Stage’s new home, and since I am certainly not qualified to write as a theater critic, I won’t go into any detail about the play that we saw, Doubt. But I will say that my wife and I both loved it, as did my daughter and son-in-law, who were there with us. The actors received a standing ovation with great enthusiasm from the audience. If you are able to see it, I highly recommend it!
If you love theater and you’ve lived in St. Petersburg for awhile, you already know about American Stage and I don’t need to encourage you. But if you are new to the area and would like to experience great theater, head to downtown St. Petersburg and check it out! In an era when professional theaters around the country are closing down because of the difficult economic climate, American Stage has again proven itself to be a standout, garnering support to open a wonderful new theater, and we are lucky to have it in our city.
To learn more about American Stage or to view their schedule or purchase tickets, visit the American Stage website.
