WBTT celebrates 25 years of making joyful noise

Have you ever wished for a fairy godmother who would wave her magic wand and make your dreams come true? Many people would dismiss such an idea as a childhood fantasy, but not Nate Jacobs.

When his fledgling Westcoast Black Theatre was teetering on the edge of insolvency, he prayed for help — and he got it in the form of a hard-nosed yet gracious businesswoman named Christine Jennings.

“God sent an angel to me,” Jacobs says. Anyone who has met him knows he’s not joking.

As he prepared to mark WBTT’s 25th anniversary last month, Jacobs reflected on the success of his theater dedicated to telling African American stories and nurturing talented young people — and how close he came to failure.

Joining the conversation were Jennings, longtime WBTT member Leon Pitts and WBTT Executive Director Julie Leach.

Those attending one of WBTT’s original musicals or its productions of Broadway hits like “Fences” or “Once On This Island” in its modern Donelly Theatre, with up-to-date lighting and sound systems and 200 comfortable seats, may assume things have always been that way at 1012 N. Orange Ave.

But nothing could be further from the truth. When Jennings came on board for what she thought was a six-month gig in 2009, WBTT was hanging by a thread. The theater company Jacobs founded in 1999 didn’t have a permanent home, was $150,000 in debt and was without financial management systems.

Jennings met with Jacobs at the behest of Howard Millman, a longtime mover and shaker in Sarasota theater circles. Millman, a WBTT board member, was formerly producing artistic director of the Asolo Repertory Theatre and is the man Jacobs calls his mentor. 

At the meeting, Jennings said she would think about helping WBTT. The next day she agreed to come on board as a consultant for six months. “I left five years later as executive director,” Jennings says. 

One of the first things that Jennings did upon joining WBTT was to rent a small office downtown. The former banker also instituted business hours, informing Jacobs that he must come to the office from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. “That was a big change for me,” Jacobs says. “I was used to coming and going at all hours.”

Photo by Monica Roman Gagnier

Pitts, who first met Jacobs as a 5-year-old student when the future theater founder was an elementary school teacher, recalls how in WBTT’s early days, they used to rehearse at Jacobs’ apartment on Cocoanut Street. “We were right down the street from here,” he says.

What really gave WBTT financial stability came after first Jennings and later Leach reached out to Sarasota’s well-heeled arts patrons to help support the theater. Leach joined the WBTT board in 2010 and became executive director in 2015.

One of the most generous donors was the late Geri Aaron, who provided $1 million toward the $6 million capital campaign that WBTT launched in 2016 to upgrade the theater it was able to buy in 2013. The renovated theater opened in 2020, shortly before Covid forced it to close temporarily.

Always say thank you

One of the lessons that Jennings taught Pitts and Jacobs, they both said, was to always thank donors and patrons. “To this day, I keep thank-you notes in the glove compartment of my car so I have them handy when I need them,” Pitts says.

The tradition of expressing gratitude endures today at WBTT, where actors, musicians and others come out to the lobby to thank audience members after the show. “Nothing is more important than thanking people,” says Jennings.

While Jennings, Leach and others helped put WBTT on sound financial footing, Jacobs was able to focus on what he does best — identifying talent, and writing, directing and producing. Awards and acclaim have followed.

Photo by Janet Combs

In Sarasota, Jacobs received the Arts Leadership Award for Artistic Achievement from the Arts and Cultural Alliance in 2018 and the Perfect Pitch Award in 2021 from Key Chorale, which honored him for his collaborations with other arts groups. 

In 2015, Jacobs received the Larry Leon Hamilton Producer Award for his contributions to Black theater at the National Black Theatre Festival. WBTT performances have become a mainstay at the bi-annual festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., now known as the International Black Theatre Festival.

 This summer, the company brought the Solid Gold Edition of its “Soul Crooners” show to the festival.

Ticket sales at regional theaters across the country haven’t bounced back since Covid to pre-pandemic levels, but WBTT and other Sarasota theaters are an exception. 

Still, don’t make the mistake of putting WBTT in any category, whether it be black theaters or Sarasota cultural groups. 

“We’re one of a kind. We don’t have any peers. People call us the miracle theater,” Jacobs told the Observer after returning from Winston-Salem. 

 Like other theater companies, WBTT frequently revives previous productions, as it is currently doing with “A Motown Christmas,” which runs through Jan. 5. The holiday Hitsville tribute made its debut in 2015 and was performed again in 2017 and 2019.

Other WBTT revivals waiting in the wings for 2025 are August Wilson’s “Fences,” which first ran in 2007, and Clarke Peters’ musical, “Five Guys Named Moe,” which WBTT first staged in 2003 and revived in 2011.

WBTT audiences can’t get enough Marvin

When it comes to WBTT revivals, nothing can top “Marvin Gaye: Prince of Soul,” which the company brought back for the fourth time from April 17 through May 26. After it sold out almost immediately, WBTT extended the run to June 2.

Image courtesy of Sorcha Augustine

Each time WBTT has staged “Prince of Soul,” Sheldon Rhoden has played the charismatic activist singer who was killed by his father.

In an earlier interview, Jacobs recalled how stunned Rhoden was after making his debut as Marvin Gaye in “Prince of Soul” during the 2010-11 season. 

“Sheldon wasn’t familiar with the theater and he didn’t understand that audiences don’t always go crazy,” Jacobs recalls. 

With each run of “Marvin Gaye: Prince of Soul,” Jacobs has made the production more elaborate, expanding the libretto and increasing the amount of acting required of Rhoden, who has risen to the occasion. There have even been talks between Jacobs and Broadway producers about taking the show to New York. Stay tuned.

While Jacobs has been writing musical cabaret shows since his days as a teacher as a way to keep his students engaged, he moved outside of his comfort zone last season with “Ruby.”

The musical, about a prosperous Black woman in 1950s Florida who killed a white physician, was a fully realized production, not a revue. Jacobs credits WBTT’s evolutionary leap to his brother, Michael Jacobs, with whom he wrote the book for “Ruby” and who wrote the lyrics, and to composer Nehemiah Luckett.

Like other arts organizations in town, WBTT has been dodging hurricanes lately. The company was performing in North Carolina as Hurricane Debby approached Florida. They nearly got stranded in Atlanta, where they were changing planes.

After flights to Sarasota were repeatedly canceled, Leach decided to rent vans to drive home while Jacobs was able to fly to New York City for meetings. The storm had passed when they arrived in Sarasota. 

After Hurricane Milton closed the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall until 2025, WBTT’s 25th anniversary gala was moved to The Ora on Nov. 14.

The event raised more than $350,000 towards WBTT’s seven-year, $10 million “Solid Gold Campaign.” More than 450 guests attended the celebration, which was co-chaired by Doris Johnson and Richard Perlman, and featured performances by WBTT members, students and its house band.

The November fanfare was a far cry from the dark days of 2009, but Jennings doesn’t dwell in the past. Her parting words to an interviewer? “Don’t miss ‘Five Guys Named Moe.’”

We won’t.

Thanks for the tip.