Lee Gundersheimer grabs spotlight with wide range of productions

Everyone has a favorite curmudgeon. For a lot of people, it’s Larry David of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” For others, it’s Jerry Stiller as George Costanza’s father on “Seinfeld.” If you’re old enough, it might be Mel Brooks playing the “2000 Year Old Man.”

But if you live in Sarasota, your favorite curmudgeon could be Lee Gundersheimer. Some people know Gundersheimer for his short run as artistic director of The Players. This season he’s lighting up stages at Tree Fort Productions, the Sarasota Jewish Theatre and the Sarasota Players (as the 95-year-old community theater now calls itself), to name a few.

Gundersheimer has been directing at the Manatee Players, where he called the shots on this season’s revival of Tennessee Williams “The Glass Menagerie.” He was also featured in the Hat Theatre Collective’s recent musical “The Ballad of Old Manatee” at Manatee Village Historical Park in Bradenton.

We’re not through yet. Gundersheimer served as production manager and appeared on stage in 2023 at Theatre Odyssey’s popular Ten-Minute Play Festival. If you’ve seen the man who played Mark Rothko in Tree Fort’s production of the Tony Award-winning play “Red” inside the Asolo Repertory Theatre box office, you weren’t mistaken.

 Last but not least, Gundersheimer has a “day job” — he’s a teacher.

Gundersheimer’s larger-than-life presence is even more remarkable when you consider his relatively short tenure in Sarasota. The Florida native returned to his home state in 2022 to take the artistic director job at The Players to great fanfare. 

The Observer called it a “triumphant career journey home” when Gundersheimer replaced Jeffery Kin, who left The Players after 15 years to found an arts festival, Sarasota Rising, which will debut in November.

The prodigal son was back in his native Florida. In his time away, the Miami native and Florida State University graduate had helped open two theaters in Manhattan — Avalon Rep and the Century Center for the Performing Arts. He also served as managing director of the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, Minnesota, in addition to teaching theater.

An impressive set of credentials to be sure, but Gundersheimer was fired by The Players after just eight months. “I still don’t know why,” Gundersheimer says in a recent interview. 

Oddly enough, Gundersheimer’s successor as artistic director also departed suddenly. Steven Butler resigned in March after 14 months in the position.

After getting fired by The Players, Gundersheimer didn’t waste time in finding a new job. He teaches English at Southeastern High, an accredited Miami Lakes academic institution that allows students to earn a degree online. He has since moved to Team Success: A School of Excellence, a public charter school in Bradenton County aimed at underserved minority students.

Listening to Gundersheimer recount his life story, it’s hard not to chuckle at the poor-little-rich-boy tale. He “tragically” grew up in Miami Beach, a place that he was not suited for with the exception of his love of playing tennis. “There wasn’t much culture. There was the (now defunct) Coconut Grove Playhouse. There wasn’t much else,” he says. “All I wanted to do was get to New York.”

While he was at Florida State, Gundersheimer was selected to be an apprentice at Burt Reynolds’ theater in Jupiter, Florida, along with fellow classmate Annie Morrison, who would become another mainstay of Sarasota theater.

Footnote: It would be another 40 years before Gundersheimer crossed paths with Morrison again. He ran into her when she was teaching at Katherine Michelle Tanner’s Tree Fort Productions.

While in Jupiter, Gundersheimer got his Actors Equity card and performed alongside Reynolds and Sally Field in “The Rainmaker.” Heady stuff for a Florida State student. Reynolds and Field were Hollywood stars. “My dad got to see me do that,” Gundersheimer recalls. “It was a big deal.”

Not long after, Gundersheimer says he “raced to New York.” He got a copy of Uta Hagen’s book outlining her method of acting. Then he was accepted into the legendary acting teacher’s class and studied with her for three years. 

After a successful run in New York, Gundersheimer decided to reinvent himself after his wife died. He took a job as a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota’s Duluth campus. But his academic ascent was hindered by his lack of a PhD. He pivoted to arts administration for the City of Winona, but his position was eliminated, Gundersheimer says.

After learning about the job at The Players, he decided to return to Florida. “I didn’t want to go back to New York and pay $8 for milk,” he says. Of course, inflation has come to Sarasota, too.

Despite the bump in the road at The Players, Gundersheimer has found his niche in Sarasota’s vibrant arts community. He may not have been the right fit for the artistic director job, but Gundersheimer will be on stage at The Sarasota Players in June in “The Happy Dale.” Written by Dan Landon, the comedy won the 2023 Players New Play Festival.

Reading the description of “The Happy Dale,” one can’t help but notice the parallels between the play and Gundersheimer’s life: “Due to outlandish behavior following his wife’s death, retired English teacher Ben Lieberman is remanded to Happy Dale, an assisted living facility where he plots his escape.” 

Gundersheimer’s not in assisted living yet, but he’s an English teacher who has suffered the loss of a spouse.

Outlandish behavior? He did approach two women in the parking lot of The Crossings in October and asked what they had been doing in the mall. When they told him they had seen a play about the artist Mark Rothko, he asked, “Was it any good?” 

“It was fabulous,” replied one of the women, without letting on that she recognized its star. 

“Maybe I’ll go see it,” Gundersheimer replied, as he unlocked his car.