The Players Centre for Performing Arts was proud to pull back the curtain this month, unveiling our 92nd season of six spectacular shows beginning in October! Our new 5,400-square-foot, 152-seat performance space dubbed “Studio 1130” in The Crossings at Siesta Key places us closer to our permanent home in Lakewood Ranch. The Players Centre’s partnership with you, the countless volunteers, actors, patrons, subscribers and donors that help shape Florida’s “Cultural Coast,” is the vital piece to ultimately creating another video of our staff bolting to our ground-breaking in 2023 at Waterside Place.
Through your generous contributions to the ongoing Center Stage Capital Campaign, we’ll raise $26.5 million to create an expansive two-stage, multi-use facility that enriches a rapidly-growing area through impactful shows, classes and more. According to a 2021 mid-year survey from RCLCO, a national real estate consulting firm, Lakewood Ranch in early July was named the best-selling community in the U.S. and saw a first-time homebuyer increase of 84% – most of which are millennials. That reaffirms our purpose to continue inspiring creativity and producing thought-provoking performances that benefit an entire burgeoning community, while also shining the spotlight on Lakewood Ranch as the largest arts organization in the area east of I-75.
The Players Centre has preserved and promoted Southwest Florida’s theatrical disciplines for nearly a century and has a unique opportunity to expand the region’s title as the “Culture Coast” to an area named the best-selling multi-generational community in the U.S. over the past three years. This region’s nonprofit arts industry, totaling more than $340 million, can expand further through the involvement of every stakeholder – business leaders to parents and children – and heavily promotes our local economy by inspiring creativity. According to a study The Players Centre conducted that evaluated attendees’ zip codes over the past five years, the move eastward will help us better reach 75.5% of our patrons located in central and east Sarasota, Whitfield and the area’s I-75 corridor.
Help The Players Centre continue its mission of fostering the arts through community theatre by donating to the Center Stage Capital Campaign. Join us in celebrating our 92nd season of engaging performances by becoming an usher or auditioning for a show. The future of The Players Centre, and a better community across the “Cultural Coast,” stars you!
