I was in the mood for a success story. After all, I spend most weeks writing about small, struggling theater companies trying heroically to fill 75-200 seats. Why not look, for a change, at a theater with a $45-million budget, 10,000 subscribers (that's not a typo), with four separate stages, one of which is the third most successful in the country and the fifth in the world? Why not pay a call at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center?
I did just that. And Judith Lisi, who's created this juggernaut over the last 16 years, welcomed me to her spacious fourth-floor office with the same warmth and grace she displayed when I first met her 10 years ago in a much smaller, less sunny space. Our conversation was far-reaching, touching all of TBPAC's stages (it's the Morsani which racked up the statistics cited above) and including everything Lisi presides over except the Patel Conservatory, which I'll discuss in a later column.
The basic message: Things are good. The Broadway series and the shows at the Jaeb continue to be moneymakers that subsidize less popular events on the other stages. The relatively new opera programming has been a great success, and Jobsite Theater, the resident company at the Shimberg, has had "a terrific year," one of the best since it was founded.
There's more to be done — Lisi said she's still searching for ways to increase Hispanic and African-American attendance, as well as "cross-over" audiences willing to look in on other cultures — but progress is being made: "It's better than it was; it's not as good as it could be, but we're going to get there."
In fact, in many ways, she's already there — but don't tell her. It might slow her down.
Some highlights:
We spoke about the 2,600-seat Morsani Hall, which this weekend offers the blockbuster The Lion King, scheduled to play for six weeks as part of TBPAC's Broadway series. "Broadway is incredibly successful," Lisi said. This current season — which hasn't ended yet — is already "tremendous," with one "huge" show after the next.
For example, just recently, Avenue Q was sold out, and the demand for Jersey Boys was so great, "I could have kept that another five weeks." At the time that we talked, Lion King had already sold 60 percent of its seats, and there were good indications that it too was headed for a full house. As for the Opera Tampa series, Tosca, which just played a few weeks ago — you guessed it. Every seat sold.
About the smaller (268 seats), but also profitable Jaeb space, Lisi noted that "when I got here, the Jaeb operated maybe three weeks out of the year. … And now the Jaeb operates 52 weeks of the year, and it makes the second-highest earnings after Broadway."
She said that her programming there is dedicated "to lighter, easily accessible" shows: "[People] can come with friends, sit around a table, informal, and whatever they see there, they are going to immediately get."
Lisi also noted that cabaret maven Claude McNeal, creator of several past Jaeb successes, has received a multimillion-dollar grant to stage a show on the subject of "what do we do about conflict?" — and that the Jaeb probably will host a workshop this coming summer. A Monday-night series featuring contemporary folk singers is still finding its way, but in general, the Jaeb is one of TBPAC's sure things.
Which brought us to the small Shimberg, home of TBPAC's resident company, Jobsite Theater. Lisi said she was particularly excited about the way Jobsite's artists tend to wear many hats — not only acting in plays but staging and designing them. "They really are a great little theater community," she said. "Was it rough when they started? Yes, it was a real struggle. But you know, all these people now, five or six years later, they are getting to be really seasoned."
As for other Shimberg productions, there have been several shows by Anna Brennen's Stageworks (whose longtime commitment she praises), and four or five edgy performance pieces that haven't drawn large crowds. But Lisi doesn't mind that these shows have to be "subsidized": "You want to have that so that people who are younger, a little hipper, who want to experience something new, they've got a place to see it."
The goal is to reach everyone, from the most conventional to the most adventurous.
Lisi recognizes that there is room for TBPAC to improve. "I would like to be able to do more dance," she said. "We try every year with classical and contemporary. We have an audience of about 800 people. We can't seem to get beyond that 800 mark."
Further, she'd like to see more young people coming to Center events — and hopes that, at the Patel, she's shaping a new generation of theater lovers. "Now, when these kids, 10 or 15 years from now, when they're having children, they're going to think that this place is theirs, they own it, it's part of their life," she said. "That's real important to us."
As for Lisi's importance, well, it can't be overestimated. Thanks to her, the Tampa Bay area has an arts center that's as formidable in its way as the Bucs are in sports. And Lisi wants to stay here to guide her team forward.
"I love Tampa," she said. "I just think Tampa's a great community. And you know, when you turn something around, that's not where you get fulfillment; you get fulfillment from how you build something. And Tampa — we're building something here. And I'm hoping over time we'll just make it a better place."
In fact, she's already done that.
This article appears in May 7-13, 2008.