Actor, director and lighting designer, Karla Hartley has got to be one of the most versatile theater people in the Tampa Bay Area. She has directed such widely divergent plays as The Crucible and Psycho Beach Party, and she has designed and stage managed shows from such far-reaching locations as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is currently the Producing and Educational Programming Manager at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, and I last saw her when she played Dr. Scott and Eddie in TBPAC’s wonderful production of The Rocky Horror Show. (As if that isn’t enough, she also co-directed the show.) We are indeed fortunate to have her.
Her latest venture is directing Jobsite Theater’s production of And Baby Makes Seven. Here’s the unlikely plot: Anna, Ruth and Peter await the arrival of their newborn child, but first they must rid the crowded apartment of their three imaginary children. Playwright Paula Vogel redefines the meaning of family and completely blurs the lines between illusion and reality, power and subjection, friendship and love, female and male. I had the pleasure of interviewing Karla the week before the show’s opening.
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2000.