2017 – 18 Season
O brave new world that has such people in’t! – The Tempest (V.i. 186-187)
Jobsite Theater is delighted to announce the 2017-18 season, our 15th as resident theater company of the Straz Center in downtown Tampa. This season features two Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners, one of the most important pieces of musical theater ever written, a timeless and timely fantasy from the world’s greatest dramatic poet, and an exciting adaptation of one of the most influential pieces of 20th century literature.
“Every one of these exquisite stories showcase people struggling with their identities and humanity in the face of what is sometimes brutal, radical change. I can’t wait for Bay Area audiences to join us in our home for another fantastic year of shows. We’re looking forward to this journey of self-discovery and uncharted territory as we all collectively learn to navigate this brave new world.” – David M. Jenkins, Producing Artistic Director
Creative Loafing Best of the Bay
- Best Live Theater You Missed Because You Were Netflix and Chilling – Tampa International Fringe Festival (presented by Jobsite Theater)
Mainstage Season
The Flick
By Annie Baker
Directed by Summer Bohnenkamp
Sep. 1 – 24, 2017
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $29.50
Preview Performances: Aug. 30 – 31 | Wed. – Thr. 8pm | Tickets: $15
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Due to Hurricane Irma, an additional performance was scheduled for 8pm, Wed., Sep. 20
In a run-down movie theater in central Massachusetts, three underpaid employees (Brian Shea, Thomas Morgan, and Georgia Mallory Guy) mop the floors and attend to one of the last 35-millimeter film projectors in the state. Their tiny battles and not-so-tiny heartbreaks play out in the empty aisles, becoming more gripping than the lackluster, second-run movies on screen. With keen insight and a finely-tuned comic eye, The Flick is a hilarious and heart-rending cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world.
The Threepenny Opera
Books and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill, English adaptation by Marc Blitzstein
Directed by David M. Jenkins
Oct. 20 – Nov. 12, 2017
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $29.50
Preview Performances: Oct. 18 – 19 | Wed. – Thr. 8pm | Tickets: $15
Jaeb Theater, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Set in London in the 1800s, The Threepenny Opera is a musical satire about a notorious bandit (Chris Jackson) who marries a girl (Giselle Muise) much to the chagrin of her father (Jonathan Harrison), forcing the peeved patriarch to do everything in his power to imprison his son-in-law. Ahead of its time, the political and social themes in this iconic piece of musical theater get at the corruption of humanity and how it consumes us and forces us to consume one another.
The Tempest
By William Shakespeare
Directed by David M. Jenkins
Extended! Jan. 19 – Feb. 11 + Feb. 17 – 18, 2018
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $29.50
Preview Performances: Jan. 17 – 18 | Wed. – Thr. 8pm | Tickets: $15
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
On a distant island a woman (Roxanne Fay) waits. Robbed of her position, power, and wealth her enemies have left her in isolation. But this is no ordinary woman, nor an ordinary island. She is a magician, able to control the very elements and bend nature to her will. When the vessel carrying those who wronged her appears in the distance, she creates a vast magical storm to bring them to her – then they awake finding themselves in a place where nothing is as it seems.
HIR
By Taylor Mac
Directed by David M. Jenkins
Mar. 9 – Apr. 1, 2018
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $29.50
Preview Performances: Mar. 7 – 8 | Wed. – Thr. 8pm | Tickets: $15
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Somewhere in the suburbs, Isaac has returned from Afghanistan to help take care of his ailing father, only to discover a household in revolt. The insurgent: his mother. Liberated from an oppressive marriage, and with Isaac’s newly-out transgender sibling Max as her ally, she’s on a crusade to dismantle the patriarchy. But in Mac’s sly, subversive comedy, annihilating the past doesn’t always free you from it.
1984
Adapted by Michael Gene Sullivan from the novel by George Orwell
Directed by Shawn Paonessa
Apr. 27 – May 20, 2018
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Preview Performances: Apr. 25 – 26 | Wed. – Thr. 8pm | Tickets: $18
Special Matinee – 10:30am, Tue., May 8. All seats $11.50
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
1984 warns us with the story of Winston Smith, a small cog in the giant machine-state of Oceania. Physically and mentally under the omnipresent eye of Big Brother, Winston has been caught struggling for scraps of love and freedom in a world awash with distrust and violence. With the brutal “help” of four Party Members, Winston is forced to confess his Thoughtcrimes before an unseen Inquisitor and the audience – who act as a silent witness.
This ferocious and provocative adaptation of one of the most prescient works of literature was commissioned in 2008 by the Actor’s Gang under the direction of Tim Robbins.
Dancing at Lughnasa
By Brian Friel
Jun. 15 – Jul. 8, 2018
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $29.50
Preview Performances: Jun. 13 – 14 | Wed. – Thr. 8pm | Tickets: $18
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
This extraordinary play is the story of five unmarried sisters eking out their lives in a small village in Ireland in 1936. We meet them at the time of the festival of Lughnasa, which celebrates the pagan god of the harvest with drunken revelry and dancing. Their spare existence is interrupted by brief, colorful bursts of music from the radio, their only link to the romance and hope of the world at large. From small events spring the cracks that destroy the foundation of the family forever.
