The construction of one new theater space in the Bay area would be news in itself. The fact that two are in the works is a major shift. Here are the details behind the deals, which would see both theaters in new homes for the 2008-2009 season.

American Stage. In a partnership with St. Petersburg College, American Stage will build a $4 million state-of-the-art 200-seat performance space on Third Street S. and Second Avenue N. in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg. The theater will be located inside a building that will probably also house the Florida International Museum and another, as-yet-unnamed, cultural institution. The new theater will offer a much larger lobby than does the current American Stage, more comfortable seating with no obstructed views, a greater number of bathroom facilities and hundreds of parking spaces in three nearby garages.

"It probably all started last July," says producing artistic director Todd Olson, "when we got an offer to buy our building." The offer was made around the same time that Olson was considering the possibility of moving his theater into a complex that would include the Palladium. But then, says Olson, philanthropist Bill Hough had the "better idea" of parlaying resources with St. Petersburg College. So the college's foundation loaned $2 million to American Stage — to be paid back with funds from the sale of the current building and from gifts to the theater — and the State of Florida matched it with $2 million of its own. The result: enough money for a brand new house.

As he looks forward to American Stage's move, Olson expresses some ambivalence about the company's current digs. "We were never really dissatisfied with our home here," he says. "We wish it had fewer rats, we wish it had fewer leaky roofs, we wish, you know, all the air conditioning wasn't about to collapse, but we were basically happy with it as a functioning space." Still, the move makes financial sense: Instead of being a sort of "homeowner," says Olson, American Stage will become "a tenant with a landlord [St. Petersburg College]" and as such the landlord "will carry over a lot of expenses that we had as a homeowner." An example: Once the move is complete, American Stage will no longer have to rent a scene shop miles from the theater at $22,000 a year.

The agreement with St. Petersburg College is for a 40-year lease with an option to renew for another 20 "so we felt okay making decisions for basically three generations," says Olson. He doesn't foresee any change in American Stage's programming, though, and the college will have no say in what gets produced. One not-so-small effect of all these changes, however, is that American Stage will only be able to stay in its current building until October 31 of this year. "So we're looking for a place to have a bit of an interim season throughout the following summer. It may be at the Palladium, but we're weighing a lot of options right now."

As for programming for that interim 2007-2008 season, Olson thinks one play is just about inevitable: Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, about a family that has to give up its beloved estate. "I can't think of anything better than that," he says. "I think it would be a perfect send-off."

Stageworks. After more than 20 years without a permanent home, Stageworks is preparing to move into a 6,000-square-foot theater, to be built in Tampa's Channel District. As part of a semi-residential, semi-commercial building currently under construction on the corner of 12th Street and Kennedy Boulevard, the new theater will boast 155 stadium seats, a sizable second-floor rehearsal space, a large lobby, two offices and a bar for refreshments. Parking will be in a newly built area over the theater. And this just in: Developer Ken Stoltenberg has now decided to give the theater space, worth $1.2 million, to Stageworks outright, and not just for 20 years, as originally announced.

According to Andrea Graham, chair of the capital campaign for the new theater, the move for a new space started about three years ago. Graham and Tampa businessman Mark Sena assembled a committee made up of representatives from the City of Tampa, Hillsborough County and the private sector. About a year and a half ago, some committee members reported that there was a development going up in the Channel District with Stoltenberg of Mercury Advisors, "and Ken is very … dedicated to creating mixed commercial, residential and arts spaces for the Channel District." Stoltenberg informed the committee that he was indeed looking for a theater to move into his building, and an agreement was soon reached.

The theater still needs to be constructed — the last time Graham saw it, there was only an empty box with dirt floors — but it has already been designed by upstate New York set designer R. T. Williams and several other professionals, including construction manager Paul Sierra, have offered their work gratis. Stageworks estimates that the build-out will cost $750,000 and has already raised about $360,000 (in cash and pledges), including $75,000 from Drs. Pallavi and Kiran Patel and family, $51,000 from Hillsborough County and $50,000 from the City of Tampa. Graham says the new theater should be ready for a "test run" in the summer of 2008, and then the full Stageworks season will begin in September. She also notes that Stageworks will rent out the space to other arts companies — and even businesses — as available.

So how does Stageworks founder and producing artistic director Anna Brennen feel about the move? "Well, I'm ambivalent; I'm scared to death," she says and laughs. "To be honest … it's a scary thing. Because you want it to succeed, you want to make sure that it happens and it is properly funded, underwritten, so that it will be there for posterity, not just a flash in the pan. … like so many theaters have been here [in Tampa]. And all of them have gone away, there is no theater here that occupies its own space and runs it by themselves. Not one theater has managed to do that and stay afloat. And I want to try to make sure that this one can and does."

Still, Brennen insists that her programming philosophy won't change for the new space, that Stageworks will continue to present new work, plays about major social issues and "important" classics. And more of them: Whereas this year Stageworks offers five mainstage shows, it will probably mount six or seven in the new space, each with a four-week run that can be extended "if the audience calls for it."

"That's a very helpful thing to have, isn't it?" Brennen says. "Opportunity? And we of course have never had that."

This article appears in Feb 14-20, 2007.