It was a very good year for theater in the Tampa Bay area. The established stages turned in some of their best work ever, and the new kids on the block — freeFall, Revolve, St. Petersburg Shakespeare Company and New American Theatre — helped jumpstart a more vibrant and various local theater culture. The following were the cream of a robust crop:

Hair. American Stage’s musical-in-the-park was a rousing, emotionally potent look back to the youth culture of the ’60s, with its ethic of love, acceptance of racial diversity, rejection of money-fever, search for sexual sanity and hatred of war and militarism. Eric Davis’ inspired direction unapologetically returned us to the Age of Aquarius, and begged us, without irony, to Let the Sunshine In. The singer/actors were superb, and Cynthia Hennessy’s choreography was extraordinarily exciting. Groovy.

The Seafarer. Tampa-based actor Richard Coppinger played epically disheveled Richard Harkin with something like genius, Christopher Swan was typically splendid as his deeply flawed brother Sharky, and Tom Nowicki, as the Devil come to win Sharky’s soul, was as cold and implacable as a County Clare winter. Brilliantly directed by Todd Olson, this American Stage production brought to wonderful life Conor McPherson’s unpredictable, fascinating tale of sin and redemption.

This article appears in Dec 23-29, 2010.