2014 – 15 Season
Creative Loafing Best of the Bay
- Best Theater Company
Jobsite Theater brought the Bay area successful productions of more plays of real substance than any other local house. There was a remarkably intelligent version of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, set in 1920s Ybor City and featuring top actors like Maggie Phillips, Giles Davies, Roxanne Fay, and Ned Averill-Snell. Then there was Annapurna, in which Paul Potenza and Angela Bond sought desperately to make sense of the past and redeem the present. In The Last Night of Ballyhoo, a family of German-Jewish descent had to contend with a host of problems, including its own prejudice against Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe; and in Orlando, Sarah Ruhl translated Virginia Woolf’s parable about time travel and gender shift into an exquisite (all right, too exquisite) experience of theater magic. Under David Jenkins’s inspired leadership, Jobsite has become a real treasure, indispensable to our arts scene. – Creative Loafing
Mainstage Season
The Last Night of Ballyhoo
By Alfred Uhry
Directed by Gavin Hawk
Presented in part by the Tampa Jewish Community Center and Federation
Sep. 3 – 28, 2014
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Atlanta, Georgia, December 1939. Gone with the Wind is about to premiere on the big screen, and Hitler is marching on Poland. Adolph Freitag, his sister Boo, and nieces Lala and Sunny – a Jewish family so highly assimilated they have a Christmas tree in the front parlor – are obsessed with preparing for Ballyhoo, a lavish cotillion ball sponsored by their elite country club. Adolph’s employee Joe Farkas is an eligible bachelor and an Eastern European Jew down from Brooklyn, familiar with prejudice but unable to fathom its existence within his own religious community. His presence prompts college student Sunny to examine intra-ethnic bias, her Jewish identity (or lack thereof), and the beliefs with which she’s been raised. The family gets pulled apart and mended back together with plenty of comedy, romance, and unexpected revelations along the way.
“… a delightful comedy freighted with an uncomfortable message.” — New York Post
Vampire Lesbians of Sodom
By Charles Busch
Directed by David M. Jenkins
Oct. 29 – Nov. 23, 2014
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Jobsite joins a nationwide tribute to the master of camp, 30 Years of Charles Busch – A Celebration, in conjunction with the company’s favorite holiday! One of the longest running plays in Off-Broadway history, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom tells the saga of two fatally seductive vampiresses, a virgin sacrifice and her maker, whose paths first collide in ancient Sodom. Their bitter rivalry endures for nearly two thousand years with stops along the way in 1920’s silent movie Hollywood and contemporary Las Vegas. Moving between histrionics of classic horror cinema and the cheerful nastiness of the backstage melodrama of manners All About Eve, Vampire Lesbians sparkles with spectacle, homage and double entendre.
Some of Jobsite’s most successful and memorable productions have been focused around Halloween – from last year’s Macbeth to the monochromatic musical Gorey Stories to Clive Barker’s History of the Devil.
“Nothing escapes the demolition by laughter … The audience laughs at the first line and goes right on laughing at every line to the end, and even at some of the silences. That’s no mean achievement.” – The New York Times
Twelfth Night
By William Shakespeare
Directed by David M. Jenkins
Jan. 7 – Feb. 1, 2015
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm (Thu., Jan 15, 7:30pm)
Tickets: $28
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
A hilarious tale of gender confusion in which after being shipwrecked in a storm and losing her brother, a girl disguises herself as a man to be near the count she adores only to be pursued by the woman he loves. Meanwhile, one household cranks up the mischief-making by tricking the stuffy steward into believing his mistress has fallen for him. This treasured comedy brims with wild infatuations, drunken revels, swooning serenades, delightful high-jinks, and beloved characters. For local flavor, Jobsite is setting their production against a local backdrop: Prohibition-era Ybor City. “If music be the food of love, play on!” Weekday student matinees, multi-subject study guides, and other educational components available!
Orlando
By Virginia Woolf
Adapted by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Giles Davies
Mar. 6 – 29, 2015
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Preview Performances: Mar. 4–5 | Wed. – Thr. 8pm | Tickets: $14
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Sarah Ruhl, one of American theater’s most exciting young playwrights and recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, adapts Virginia Woolf’s quasi-autobiographical gender-bending novel about sex, love, and history into a joyous, dreamy piece of theater that toys with identity, time and space. Often called the longest love letter in literary history, Woolf’s Orlando tells the story of an English nobleman who lives for hundreds of years before falling asleep and waking up as a woman. In her new body, Orlando sets to the task of adapting to the strict gender roles of English society. Complicating Orlando’s new life is one fantastical problem: she is destined to live for hundreds more years.
Jobsite has previously staged Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone. Orlando displays Jobsite’s ongoing commitment to contemporary translations, approaches, and adaptations of classic works. The company has previously undertaken staged literature as varied in style and substance as The Hound of the Baskervilles, Fahrenheit 451 and Einstein’s Dreams.
Annapurna
By Sharr White
Directed by Summer Bohnenkamp and David M. Jenkins
May 1 – 24, 2015
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Preview Performances: Apr. 29 – 30 | Wed. – Thr. 8pm | Tickets: $14
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
After twenty years apart, Emma tracks her ex-husband, the cantankerous poet Ulysses, to a trailer park in the middle of nowhere for a final reckoning. What unfolds is a visceral and profound meditation on love and loss with the simplest of theatrical elements: two people in one room. Annapurna is the 2012 finalist for the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and enjoyed an LA premiere in 2013 starring real-life couple Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman. Mullally and Offerman take the play Off-Broadway in spring of 2014. Jobsite is proud to offer the southeastern US premiere of this funny, focused, and insightful work.
“… at the heart of each character, is a lyricism that simply can’t be suffocated. Sharr White has created two fine and ferociously damaged people caught in the emotional whirlpool of not being able to live with or without each other.” – Huffington Post
Occupation
By Ken Ferrigni
Directed by Chris Holcom
Jul. 10 – Aug. 2, 2015
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $28
Preview Performances: Jul. 8–9 | Wed. – Thr. 8pm | Tickets: $14
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
In 2017, a crushing national debt, skyrocketing inflation, and crippling unemployment have frozen the United States’ access to global credit. Against the backdrop of economic catastrophe, the US government finds an unexpected savior when China agrees to purchase Florida for $5 trillion. This doesn’t rest well with a radical, violent insurgency holed up in the Everglades who will stop at nothing to oust the Chinese proconsul and his army. How far will this militia go to keep the States united? A scalding satire, fans of Jobsite’s production of Tim Robbins’ potent Embedded will not want to miss this dystopic wild ride. Hailed as one of the most daring and ingenious plays Off-Broadway last year, Jobsite is honored to offer the U.S. regional premiere of Occupation.
Ensemble
Job-side Productions
Vamp
Starring Coco + Homo
Nov. 14–15, 2014
Fri. – Sat. 10pm
Tickets: $15; $10 with Vampire Lesbians of Sodom ticket stub; FREE for Jobsite season ticket holders.
All tickets will be sold only at the door.
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Upon This Rock
Written and performed by Roxanne Fay
Nov. 16–17, 2014
Sun. 6pm, Mon. 7pm
Tickets: $20; $15 for students and senior citizens; FREE for Jobsite season ticket holders. All tickets will be sold only at the door.
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
An Evening of Local One Acts
Directed by Caitlin Eason
Jan. 18 – 19, 2015
Sun. – Mon., 8pm
Tickets: $10; FREE for Jobsite season ticket holders.
All tickets sold only at the door.
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
From Within
Written and Directed by April Bender
Co-produced with Ghost Light Theatre Tampa
Jan. 25 – 27, 2015
Sun. – Tue. 8 pm
Tickets: $10; FREE for Jobsite season ticket holders.
All tickets sold only at the door.
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Coming to the theater world for the first time; this original dark comedy stars Jessy Quiñones, Christen Hailey and Ryan Bernier. Don’t miss out on this intriguing and insightful play; full of twists and turns laced with acid wit! From Within will change the way we see ourselves and the world around us.
Sins of the Mother
A Staged Reading Written and Directed by Israel Horovitz
Feb. 21, 2015
Sat. 8 pm
TECO Theatre, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Tickets: $25; $12.50 for students; FREE for Jobsite Rock Stars.
All tickets sold only below or at the door, and NOT available through the Straz Box Office.
This one-night only evening with theatrical treasure Israel Horovitz caps off a week of residency with Jobsite, where he directs his own play featuring a quartet of Tampa Bay actors in a play bursting with banter and the rhythms of working-class one-upmanship. This very special evening includes a Q&A with Horovitz after the reading and then a meet and greet/book signing to follow.
Breaking Philip Glass
A Staged Reading
Written by Israel Horovitz
Jul. 12, 2015
Sun. 6:30 pm (15 minute run-time, followed by a 30 minute talk-back)
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Tickets: $5 donation at the door; FREE to Jobsite Rock Stars and anyone with a ticket to Occupation.
Jobsite is thrilled to offer one of the first American readings of a new one-act play by the award-winning, internationally-acclaimed playwright Israel Horovitz, who wrote the piece in response to the Charlie Hebdo murders.
Superwoman Died Tonight
Written and Performed by Lori D. Shannon
Directed by Gavin Hawk
Jul. 19 – 20, 2015
Sun. 8pm; Mon. 7:30pm
Tickets: $5; FREE for Jobsite season ticket holders.
All tickets sold only at the door.
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Superwoman Died Tonight is a one woman show based on a collection of original works based on Lori D. Shannon’s life experiences with her family. Superwoman Died Tonight also explores the myth of the strong Black woman and the burden of trying to live up to a lifetime of unrealistic historical and social expectations.
