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Florida Studio Theatre 2017-18 Season Includes a World Premiere

The company has revealed its line-up for mainstage and cabaret productions.

By Kay Kipling September 21, 2017

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Most area theaters have already announced their 2017-18 seasons; now it’s Florida Studio Theatre’s turn.

Actually, FST had named its mainstage season opener, the Broadway musical Once (adapted from John Carney’s hit film set in Dublin, and featuring music by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) a while ago; that kicks off Nov. 8 and runs through Dec. 31 at the Gompertz Theatre. But this week the company has announced the rest of its mainstage season, along with its cabaret shows. (The Stage III season, featuring three works in the intimate Bowne’s Lab Theatre, will be revealed later.)

Following Once (which requires its hard-working cast to play musical instruments onstage as well as sing and act), the next show in the mainstage season may sound a bit more challenging. Simon Stephens’ Heisenberg takes its name from German physicist Werner Heisenberg, famed for his uncertainty principle involving the position and momentum of particles. But this two-character play is really about human connections, specifically the one between a 42-year-old woman searching for her missing son and the much older butcher she meets in a London train station. On and off-Broadway, the production starred Mary-Louise Parker and Denis Arndt, who was nominated for a Tony. Heisenberg is onstage Dec. 13 through March 4 at the Gompertz Theatre.

Karen Zacarias’ Native Gardens, about a culture clash between neighbors over a fence line, was acclaimed for its “hilarity” in a recent production at Chicago’s Victory Gardens theater. It’s on the Gompertz stage Jan. 24 through March 25.

Closing out the mainstage season is a first play by writer-actress Sarah Bierstock, Honor Killing, which focuses on a reporter uncovering the truth about the killing of a woman by family members outraged by her independence. This world premiere piece had its origins in the real-life killing of a Pakistani woman; it will run April 4 through May 25 at the Gompertz.

FST’s cabaret season typically offers some new, original music revues conceived by its creative staff, and that remains true this year. The season opens with Mack the Knife: the Bobby Darin Songbook, by Richard and Rebecca Hopkins, sure to include not only that major hit but probably familiar tunes such as “Splish Splash,” “Dream Lover,” “Beyond the Sea” and more. It runs Oct. 4 through Jan. 28 at the John C. Court Cabaret.

Following that is another revue highlighting hits from the 1950s, Blue Suede Shoes, which will be performed Nov. 29 through April 1 in the Goldstein Cabaret. Expect tunes from Chuck Berry to Elvis Presley to Carl Perkins in this rock ‘n’ roll production. The third show, Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits, a tongue-in-cheek collection of songs inspired by the Bard’s works, takes the Court Cabaret stage Feb. 7 through June 10.

Beyond the Stage III season to be announced, FST will also offer several productions in its children’s theater program, including Robin Hood, Deck the Halls, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Boy Who Liked Pulling Hair and other winning plays by various young playwrights. For more information, visit floridastudiotheatre.org, or call (941) 366-9000.

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