2021 – 22 Season
Our 2021-22 season splits time between the Jaeb Theater for the first half before returning “home” to the Shimberg Playhouse to finish out the season. 2021-22 is composed of exciting shows we had planned for the disrupted 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, plus our annual Shakespeare tradition. We start with a regional premiere by one of the nation’s most unique young voices, follow that up with a palpable stage adaptation of a horror classic, then finally get around to what’s arguably Shakespeare’s best-known play. In the spring we return to the Shimberg after two full years with another lit adaptation by the author himself, bring you Brecht’s stark (and more than prescient) warning about authoritarian ascension, then end the season with a beautiful comedic drama about the fragility of happiness and tenuousness of hope.
Mainstage Season
Dr. Ride’s American Beach House
By Liza Birkenmeier
Directed by Roxanne Fay
Oct. 1 – 10, 2021
Preview Performances: Sep. 29 – 30
Jaeb Theater, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
It’s 1983 – the evening before Dr. Sally Ride’s historic space flight. A group of women friends gather on a sweltering St. Louis rooftop, each caught in their own failure-to-launch. This enticing juxtaposition thrusts the women into the space of their uncharted desires where they bump against American norms of sex and power in this intimate snapshot of queer anti-heroines.
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
From the novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Directed by Shawn Paonessa
Oct. 22 – Nov. 14, 2021
Preview Performances: Oct. 20 – 21
Jaeb Theater, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
On the fog-bound streets of Victorian-era London, Henry Jekyll’s experiments with exotic “powders and tinctures” have brought forth his other self: Edward Hyde, a sensualist and villain free to commit the sins Jekyll is too civilized to comprehend. When the dastardly Hyde meets a woman who stirs his interest, Jekyll fears for her life and decides to end his experiments—but Hyde has other ideas. The two sides battle each other in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse to determine who shall be the master and who his slave. This play presents a new and shocking version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of depravity, lust, love and horror.
Romeo & Juliet
By William Shakespeare
Directed by David M. Jenkins
Jan. 21 – Feb. 6, 2022
Preview Performances: Jan. 19 – 20
Jaeb Theater, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
20 years after establishing a Tampa Bay area tradition, Jobsite finally tackles the Bard’s most famous play. It’s 1985: an unprecedented epidemic and social unrest compete for the soul of our nation (sound familiar?) as Romeo and Juliet, the offspring of sworn enemies, defy their world by choosing love over hate. As relevant today as it was in 1595, this production uses the backdrop of the 1980s to explore the entrenched polarization that dominates contemporary culture and the tragic costs of intolerance and division. Jobsite’s Romeo & Juliet features an 80s-influenced original score by resident composer Jeremy Douglass and high-definition video design by director David M. Jenkins. Jobsite’s approach to Shakespeare has historically been powered by sociocultural influence, and this will be no exception with inspiration drawn heavily from two other pastiches set in the 1980s – Stranger Things and the graphic novel Prince of Cats.
A Clockwork Orange: A Play with Music
By Anthony Burgess, adapted from his novel
Directed by D Granke
Mar. 4 – 27, 2022
Preview Performances: Mar. 2 – 3
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange lures audiences into a glass-edged, testosterone-filled underworld of a dystopian future. In 1962, the explosive tale of little Alex and his band of Droogs was a ground-breaking insta-classic teeming with sexuality and “a bit of the old ultra-violence.” The story feels as hauntingly relevant today as when the book was published in 1962 and when Stanley Kubrick’s Oscar-nominated film caused a stir in 1971. A Clockwork Orange remains an unapologetic celebration of the human condition and individual freedoms.
Animals Out Of Paper
By Rajiv Joseph
Directed by Tatiana Baccari
Jul. 15 – Aug. 7, 2022
Preview Performances: Jul. 13 – 14
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Ilana, a world-renowned origami artist, is going through a divorce and her dog has run away. She hasn’t answered her phone in two months. Then, her intercom buzzes. In walks Andy, a fan, a high school teacher who literally counts his blessings (he’s up to 7,904.) Andy introduces Suresh, an urban teen iPod addict and origami prodigy into Ilana’s life, folding the plot into complicated turns. A wise and richly layered comedy/drama from the author of Bengal Tiger at The Baghdad Zoo, Animals Out of Paper is “alternately wrenching and funny. It deals ruthlessly with the fragility of happiness, the tragedy of impulsiveness and the tenuousness of hope” (The New York Times).
Ensemble
Job-side Productions
Breadcrumbs
By Jennifer Haley
Directed by Alan Mohney Jr.
Mar. 14 – 22, 2022
Mon. – Tue. 8:00 pm
Tickets: $25, $20 for students and seniors
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
A reclusive fiction writer diagnosed with dementia must depend upon a troubled young caretaker to complete her autobiography. In a symbiotic battle of wills, they delve into the dark woods of the past, unearthing a tragedy that shatters their notions of language, loneliness and essential self. Most plays depend on words, but words are the crux of Jennifer Haley’s play.
Ship
By Douglass Williams
Directed by Nicholas Perez-Hoop
May 22–24, 30–31, 2022
Sun. – Tue. 8:00 pm
Tickets: $22
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Fresh out of rehab, Nell returns to her hometown of Mystic, CT with two goals: track down her former classmate who tried and failed to grow the longest fingernails in the world, and be promoted to the most high profile job in town: tour guide at the Seaport. Winner of the ATCA Osborn New Play Award, Ship is about starting over, learning how to be comfortable adrift, and staying afloat after a storm.
