- October 19, 2022
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About 30 members of the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance stepped into the summer heat Aug. 18 and under a small tent as Alyssa Goudy spouted out “Let me Entertain You,” from the musical “Gypsy,” near the future site of The Players Centre for Performing Arts, in Waterside at Lakewood Ranch.
There, the Players’ Managing Director/CEO Michelle Bianchi and Artistic Director Jeffrey Kin shared plans for the Players’ future theater in Waterside Place at Lakewood Ranch, and their plans for integrating the theater into the Lakewood Ranch community before its performance hall is constructed, likely in three to five years. To start, it intends to produce an outdoor show, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” in October and possibly a Huckleberry Finn-type show in the park at Waterside Place, which may be open for public events as early as January.
The Players’ inside scoop was just one of many heard by participants of the Alliance’s Economic Road Show event. Participants spent the day on a charter bus driving by and stopping to tour a variety of Lakewood Ranch developments, businesses and locations, including Gatewood Corporate Center, All Star Laundry and others. Each step of the way, area professionals climbed aboard to share their unique perspective on the inner workings of Lakewood Ranch, from an overview of the under-development Collaborative Opportunities for Research and Exploration biotech park to a drive down the new extension of Lorraine Road, south to Fruitville Road, which does not open to the public until Sept. 6.