Tampa Bay Arts Passport

17/07/2025

🎭 Why do writers love comedy?
We asked the nine playwrights behind Lab Theater Project’s LAB Laughs: A Festival of Firsts to share what draws them to writing funny—and sometimes painfully honest—new plays.

From sexy seniors to emotional hostage takers, fantasy raves to explosive museum tours, this year’s lineup is full of surprises. Best of all? Every play is brand-new, written just for this festival.

Read our full story: https://www.tbartspassport.com/a-festival-of-firsts-lab-theater-projects-comedy-showcase-highlights-new-work-familiar-challenges/

🗓️ Now through August 3
📍 LAB Theater Project, Ybor City
🎟️ Tickets at labtheaterproject.org

Big love to the featured playwrights:
John J. Kelly, Romney Humphrey, Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend, Rich Rubin, Robert & Lynn Dixon, Robert Kehew, Debra A. Cole, Maury Zeff, and Raven Petretti-Stamper!

With nine brand-new comedies, Ybor’s LAB Theater Project doubles down on its mission to champion new work. But as the company celebrates 10 years, its latest festival also highlights Tampa’s ongoing diversity gap in theater. by Avery Anderson Every play needs a first audience. In Ybor City, LAB

16/07/2025

Some stories get erased. This exhibit brings them back.

Spanish immigrants helped build Tampa’s Ybor City—working in the cigar factories, forming mutual aid societies, and shaping the culture we know today. But their contributions have often been left out of the narrative.

📸 Invisible Immigrants: Spaniards in the United States (1868–1945) pulls those stories into the spotlight—just in time.

Through July 28 at the Tampa Bay History Center. Included with museum admission.

📰 Read the full piece → https://www.tbartspassport.com/clocks-ticking-tampa-exhibit-spotlights-invisible-immigrants-and-feels-uncomfortably-timely/

by Avery Anderson Tampa’s history has never been simple. But some stories are easier to forget than others. Invisible Immigrants: Spaniards in the United States (1868-1945)—now in its final month at the Tampa Bay History Center—pulls back the curtain on a long-overlooked chapter of American im...

16/07/2025

Come join the party!

Experience the arts like never before.

15/07/2025

✨MAMMA MIA MOOD BOARD✨
Sequins. Sunsets. Friendship ballads.
We’re channeling all the chaotic glam energy to get ready for our launch party:
🎤 Mamma Mia! Karaoke Night 🎤
📅 Friday, July 25
📍 The Studio@620, St. Pete
🕖 7:00 PM

Expect a room full of glitter, a sign-up list, lyrics on the screen, and zero judgment. Just pure, sparkly joy.
Come dressed like your inner Donna (or your wildest dancing queen dream), and get ready to sing your heart out—or dance in the aisles.

💌 Arts Passport Members get in FREE — check your newsletter for your code.
🎟️ All others: https://www.tbartspassport.com/mamma-mia-karaoke-night/

PRESENTING SPONSOR

SUPPORTING SPONSOR
Jenna Jane Voiceover
C-Sweets

14/07/2025

THE WITCH IS BACK, TELLING HER STORY: Abigail Williams — the teenage antagonist immortalized in "The Crucible" and blamed for the Salem witch trials — is tired of being the villain.

In "Witch Hunt, or A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World," currently playing at Powerstories Theatre, she’s ready to set the record straight.

“It asks that question—what happens if Abigail Williams gets the chance to tell her story?” said Clareann Despain, the play’s director and Powerstories’ artistic director. “It’s deeply witty, but it’s also about very serious things—power, patriarchy, and who controls the narrative.”

by Avery Anderson Abigail Williams is tired of being the villain. Yes, that Abigail Williams—the teenage antagonist immortalized in The Crucible and blamed for the Salem witch trials. But in Witch Hunt, or A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World, opening this weekend at Powerstories Thea...

13/07/2025

Our first-ever Arts Passport Book Club? A total vibe.
We cracked open The Singularity Is Nearer, questioned reality, then time-traveled into The House of Future Memory at freeFall Theatre Company. Brains = expanded. Feelings = felt. Community = built.

✨ And we’re just getting started.

Next up: The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson.
Q***r. Poetic. Sexy, smart, and a little bit messy—just like your favorite friend group.

We’re teaming up with our book besties at Tombolo Books (grab your copy there!) and heading to the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida for a juicy discussion plus a private tour of their genre-blurring exhibit In the Out / Out the In.

📅 August 23 | 11 AM–1 PM
📚 Free book + free museum entry for Arts Passport members
🤝 Because a connected community is the way forward. And this is that.

Get in on it → https://www.tbartspassport.com/arts-passport-book-club/

***rLit

11/07/2025

SEASON UPDATE: Asolo Repertory Theatre has updated their season lineup to include "Come From Away".

This replaces "Movin' Out" the Billy Joel jukebox musical.

🎭 SEASON UPDATE! 🎭
Asolo Rep is making a change to its 2025-26 season lineup!

The reimagined ‘Movin’ Out’ will be moved to a future season. In its place, we’re honored to open with the Tony Award-winning musical ‘Come From Away’, running Nov 12 – Dec 28, 2025.

🛬 Set in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, ‘Come From Away’ tells the powerful true story of kindness and connection in the wake of 9/11.

“As we approach the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Sarasota’s unique role in that moment makes this story especially meaningful,” says Producing Artistic Director Peter Rothstein. “This is a musical about resilience, generosity, and humanity at its best.”

Written by Irene Sankoff & David Hein, ‘Come From Away’ is the longest-running Canadian musical in Broadway history, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

📍 Tickets on sale soon at asolorep.org

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11/07/2025

Here’s your weekly arts catch-up, because someone has to keep you cultured:

🧹 First up: Witch Hunt at Powerstories Theatre is here to reclaim Abigail Williams’ messy reputation. Y’know, the girl from The Crucible who set the whole Salem thing on fire? She’s back to spill the tea—with some laughs and a little rage, too.
Read more:
https://www.tbartspassport.com/abigail-williams-gets-the-last-word-powerstories-opens-witch-hunt-with-humor-rage-and-a-side-of-chocolate/

🇪🇸 Over at Tampa Bay History Center, Invisible Immigrants puts Spanish immigrant stories front and center—about time, honestly.
Details here:
https://www.tbartspassport.com/clocks-ticking-tampa-exhibit-spotlights-invisible-immigrants-and-feels-uncomfortably-timely/

😂 And finally, LAB Laughs 2025 is back with 9 brand-new comedies in one night. It’s chaotic, hilarious, and basically your group chat on stage. Lab Theater Project
More about it here:
https://www.tbartspassport.com/a-festival-of-firsts-lab-theater-projects-comedy-showcase-highlights-new-work-familiar-challenges/

Go see some art. You’ll be smarter and hotter for it.

09/07/2025

IT'S A COOL PLACE 🧊🤩 Looking to beat the heat and be transported into an otherworldly space? Coming to the Straz Center for the Performing Arts next month, "Beyond Van Gogh and Beyond Monet: The Immersive Experience" will take over Morsani Hall.

Here's a sneak peek at what to expect:

By Avery Anderson It’s one thing to stand in front of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. It’s another to feel it ripple beneath your feet, swirl across the walls, and pulse in time with a cinematic score. Starting August 1, visitors to the Straz Center will be able

08/07/2025

CREATING SPACE 🤗🤝 Erica Sutherlin is working hard to build something that lasts at The Studio at 620.

The Artistic Executive Director sat down with Tampa Bay Arts Passport to share what's really going on in the arts world.

In speaking so candidly about overwhelm, uncertainty, and the deep responsibility of leadership, Sutherlin offered something rare in arts administration: transparency not just about vision, but about vulnerability.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: https://www.tbartspassport.com/a-year-in-erica-sutherlins-first-12-months-at-the-studio-620

07/07/2025

PSST...HEY WRITING FRIENDS 👋✍️ Did you know there are groups of like-minded people who meet right here in the Tampa Bay area to connect, critique and support? We found 7 groups you can join right now 👇

Whether you’re polishing a novel, drafting a screenplay, or just trying to write more often, these local groups offer space, support, and accountability for writers at every stage. By Avery Anderson Writing can be a lonely pursuit—but it doesn’t have to be. Across Tampa Bay, writers are