First, let's get this straight: The new School for the Performing Arts, announced a few weeks ago by the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, is not any kind of high school or degree-granting institution. "We're not involved with the school system," says Judith Lisi, president of TBPAC. "This is for training programs. My model for this is actually in New Haven. We had a place called the Neighborhood School for Music, and maybe that's where I got "school' from. And that's simply what it is: It's a place where individual instruction takes place, group instruction takes place, there are different courses on things, but all to do with the performing arts." The building of this new four-story, 45,000-square-foot addition to TBPAC relates to you budding or already-blooming playwrights, actors, dancers, and musicians. Whether you're 6, 16 or 60, this school will invite you to come, take classes and possibly graduate to a role in one of TBPAC's productions.

It'll offer you dance studios and music studios, multipurpose rooms for theater or music, one big multipurpose room that can handle large rehearsals, and, of course, a performance space. Instruction will cover both classical and modern dance, classical music and jazz, straight theater, musical theater, technical theater and more. And there'll be a library of the performing arts, open to the public, where you can find material on composers and writers, as well as scores, scripts, essays and videos.

This is a big deal. The building of the school — scheduled to begin in spring 2003 — may be the single most important Tampa Bay performing arts event since TBPAC itself was built. "I think," says Lisi, "that having a place that's dedicated to learning the performing arts and celebrating creativity — I hope it's going to elevate the community in a sense."

It's hard to see how it can miss. Some of us art lovers who grew up in Tampa remember when theater was something that happened elsewhere — in Sarasota, say, or Miami. Some of us remember when the major center of local culture was the dwindling Shakespeare section at the old Archway Bookstore on Florida Avenue. And now — a four-story building devoted to propagating the performing arts? It should have happened 40 years ago. It can't happen soon enough. They should break ground tomorrow.

And making it all the more exciting will be the school's proximity to the professional goings-on at the Performing Arts Center. One result, Lisi says, will be opportunities for master classes, where guest artists will make contact with the school's enrollees. And she says students at the school will have an advantage in getting into shows at TBPAC: "We'll get them on the boards in our operas, in our theater company, and in the cabaret shows. Well, you know what's happened already with people like Kissy (Vaughan) and Quentin (Darrington); they got right on the boards. Well, that's the only place you really learn. You have to get wet. And there'll be a lot more opportunities for kids like that."

Imagine this: You're 9 years old and you think you love acting. Now you don't have to wait half a year for the school play. Or maybe you're 39 and you want to take up the cello. "I'm a strong believer in adult learning," says Lisi. "You know, I don't think creativity stops, necessarily, when people are 21. And I think there is a need. And the other thing is, because Tampa is still learning about the performing arts, if people have an interest in learning about something, they should have that opportunity."

Hey, they should have had that opportunity a long time ago. Some of us had to leave town to get an education in the arts. Some then decided to pursue their careers there — outside the Bay area. It's hard to estimate how much the cultural life here has lost over the years because of these moves. Yes, there are some strong programs now at public schools: Philip Shore Elementary and Blake High schools in Hillsborough, Perkins Elementary and Gibbs High schools in Pinellas, and the University of South Florida. And, of course, Ruth Eckerd Hall has housed PACT Institute for the Performing Arts since 1983. Still, you can't help but wonder how many kids never had the chance to discover that they had real talent as musicians or actors or writers or directors.

The Center has raised almost $4-million of the $7-million needed for the school. It's scheduled to open in summer 2004.

When it does, we'll all benefit.

Home Town Heroes

Local Writers Alert! Someone's looking to produce your work!

The LiveArts Peninsula Foundation (producers of Webb's City: The Musical) and St. Petersburg's American Stage are teaming up to present The Floridians, three evenings of original one-character, one-act plays and songs about famous and not-so-famous characters from Florida's past and present.

Between six and 10 Florida writers and composers (applicants must be a native of Florida or a current legal resident) will be commissioned by LiveArts for the project. LiveArts and American Stage will develop the pieces through a workshop and through public readings as part of American Stage's New Visions series during the 2002-2003 season.

American Stage will produce the fully staged, final products in the summer of 2003.

Interested writers should send their resumes and a writing sample (up to 20 pages). Composers should send a resume and tape/CD of up to four original compositions. All submissions should be mailed to Bill Leavengood, Artistic Director, LiveArts Peninsula Foundation, 10 Fifth St. N., Suite 204, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.

The committee will review the samples, and writers/composers will be chosen based on their talent, voice (have something to say and an interesting/unique way of saying it), craftsmanship and strength of resume.

Writers should not send ideas or subject matter for the one-act play or song they might write.

The postmark deadline for submissions is April 15. Final selections will be made on or before May 15.

Contact Mark E. Leib at mark.leib@weekly planet.com or call 813-248-8888, ext. 305.

This article appears in Apr 3-9, 2002.