Although her title tells us she's President of TBPAC, in fact Judith Lisi is responsible for bringing quite a few homegrown theater events to the Tampa Bay area. In the 2002-03 season, her Center Theater Company produced a fine version of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson and teamed up with Jobsite Theater to give us a creditable Titus Andronicus and a very moving Beauty Queen of Leenane. Then there was Claude McNeal's joyous Satchmo: The Life and Times of Louis Armstrong, and the comic So a Lawyer, a Priest and an Atheist Walk Into a Bar, directed by the ingenious Wendy Leigh and featuring John McGivern, Doug Cooney and Rob Nash. Next, add the shows produced by other local companies but housed at TBPAC — the fine Dog & Pony production of Edward Albee's The Zoo Story; Jobsite's irreverently reverent The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) and luminous Cloud 9; and Stageworks' provocative Talking With … and Tale of the Allergist's Wife — and what you've got is evidence of a tasteful artistic director, devoted not only to her own creations but to those of others as well. Brava, Judy! The local theater scene wouldn't be the same without you.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2003.