» American Stage

• New Home for American Stage

  Written by Bob Horn No Comments
  Last Updated: June 11, 2009

  

  Got live theater? In a great location? In a fantastic new building?

  We sure do! St. Petersburg now has a wonderful new theater facility located right in the heart of the city. Downtown St. Petersburg, version 2009, is a place that’s filled with activities, events, museums, entertainment, great restaurants, and more. It seems as though there are more fun things happening every time I take a few minutes to look around. One of the greatest treasures of our city, if you have any interest at all in live professional theater, is American Stage.

  The American Stage Theater Company has been hosting and producing top quality theater for over 30 years, dating back to 1977.  For the first two years, they were known as The Palisades Theater Company, and they were based at Eckerd College (then Florida Presbyterian College).  In 1979, the Junior League of St. Petersburg provided funding to convert an old downtown movie theater into a small playhouse, but in 1984, that building was condemned.  Florida Power/Progress Energy stepped up to the plate and sold them a former auction gallery building at less than half of its fair market value.  That building became the American Stage that has been American Stage’s home for the past 25 years.  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 Tuesday night, my wife and I attended the first 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.

  

  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, Tuesdays With Morrie.  But I will say that my wife and I both loved it, several friends who attended loved it, and 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.