Support System

Without the proper context, what’s transpiring on the brightly lit stage of the Cook Theatre in the Florida State University Center for the Performing Arts seems something out of an absurdist play. Actors and actresses are lined up, some portraying older characters, some acting as young children and one dressed as Santa Claus, and they take turns walking up to fake microphone stands and exchanging dialogue.
Interspersed between the conversations is a random assortment of noises, bells and rings.

This isn’t Sarasota’s newest experimental theater troupe, but the Asolo Repertory Theatre Guild’s Play Readers ensemble performing its annual holiday staged play reading of the Lux Radio Theater version of “Miracle on 34th Street.”

Founded in 1974, the Asolo Repertory Theatre Guild originally functioned as the theater’s main fundraising body, organizing events that reached out to potential patrons and supporters. However, as the years went by and Asolo Rep incorporated a development staff and corporate sponsors, the guild had to adapt and re-evaluate its role in the theater. The approximately 200 members, both theater-lovers and former performers, act as the regional theater’s honorary family, morale boosters and educational ambassadors.

“Our mission now is to be informed ambassadors, modest fundraisers and, most of all, support education and participate in hands-on outreach,” says Patricia Anderson, president of the Asolo Theatre Guild.

Anderson came across the guild by happenstance when a friend asked her to head a committee in the guild six years ago. She’s been an active member ever since.

The guild and the Asolo Rep Theatre form a symbiotic relationship, with the theater receiving the passionate efforts of a dedicated group of supporters and those supporters gaining access to some of the most respected and talented theater directors and performers in the country. Just recently, 65 guild members brought their own dishes to the Asolo for a potluck dinner with the 60-plus members of the cast and crew of “South Pacific.” It was a warm welcome for the motley theatrical crew who are constantly traveling for each new engagement, and the curious guild members were able to inquire about the upcoming production and each theater artist’s rich experience onstage.

Changing lives through theater is the guild’s foremost goal. The group’s major educational initiative is “Put a Kid in a Seat.” The guild raises funds through various raffles and fundraisers to purchase tickets for area students to see productions. Busloads of area children are brought to the Asolo, with guild members chaperoning them while at the theater. The guild hopes to plant the contagious seed of theater into young students’ fertile minds.

“Our mission really is to bring young people to the theater for their first live production,” says Jan Zipper, director of the guild’s Play Readers ensemble. “It’s fantastic to see their faces after they leave their first show.”

Guild members see themselves in these children; many can still pinpoint the exact moment they fell in love with the theater.

“I remember going to my first play in Baltimore when I was a kid,” says Anderson. “I was so transported and I’ve never forgotten that moment.”

As the Play Readers ensemble continues performing its radio play production of “Miracle on 34th Street,” the guild members’ collective love of theater is palpable. The performance is a celebration of the members’ shared love of the stage and of Asolo Rep, which has served as the organization’s sole home and purpose.
Patrons not only attend productions but rally every possible resource to be a part of and contribute to the artistic process.

“Sarasota prides itself on its arts,” says Anderson, “and I’m constantly trying to find the next potential theater-lover to replace me as an audience member and as an ambassador.”