REAL Exclusive Magazine

Urbanite Theatre

Intimate, Compelling Performances

By Brandy Coffey Ruiz del Vizo

Urbanite Theatre, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is Sarasota’s newest addition to the area’s cultural scene bringing compelling, intimate live theater experiences to downtown. The theater is committed to fresh works, burgeoning playwrights and actor-driven productions that will provide the region with exciting, contemporary play going opportunities. Urbanite Theatre is a lively new addition to a thriving Sarasota social scene.

Co-Founders, Brendan Ragan and Summer Wallace credit their experience at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory and Asolo Rep, where they met, for grooming their artistry. “Brendan and I each have over a decade of experience as professional actors,” says Summer, “but our time at Asolo Rep was invaluable. Our work in the small classrooms was thrilling and life-changing, and performing with the Rep Company introduced us to the vibrant arts community in Sarasota. We want to marry that exciting, small-scale work with the incredible patrons in the region.”

The newly completed black-box theater seats between 50-70 patrons, depending on the performance. Audiences are assured of being in close proximity to the performers at any seat in the theatre as the entire interior measures just 39 feet by 24 feet.

“The intimacy of the space offers a different type of experience,” offers Brendan. “This isn’t a theater where you can disconnect and disappear into the darkness, 100 feet from the performance. At Urbanite, you’ll share the same room as the performers, you’ll breathe the same air. You’ll experience the stories we tell, not just watch them.”

Urbanite Theatre strives to bring undiscovered pieces by great writers to the stage and to work and collaborate with emerging talents in all fields. Their youth and adult education programs further the duos devotion to cultivating an artistic community of curiosity, honesty and passion.

To say that Brendan and Summer are excited about the initial series of plays would be an understatement. The two reviewed over 200 scripts, almost entirely new works. The three playwrights they chose are young, brilliant, and in their opinion, on the verge of stardom.

In a testament to each of the play’s complexity and nuance, it would be difficult to broadly categorize any of them. CHICKEN SHOP is a serious and affecting script, sprinkled with the painful, awkward humor from family dysfunction. REBORNING is equal parts charming and suspenseful, with a devastating look at what it means to be motherless and childless. ISAAC’S EYE is a fantastical, clever, and madly funny retelling of two of history’s greatest scientists. There is no doubt audiences at Urbanite this summer will leave feeling challenged, delighted, intrigued, disturbed and affected.

The cultural community in Sarasota boasts a litany of big city arts organizations and institutions, but the two believe downtown Sarasota is missing one crucial ingredient: intimate, small-scale theaters producing cutting-edge work.

“Theatre isn’t just for the elite. We are bringing affordable productions that challenge our community at large, while remaining accessible to inexperienced theatergoers. Urbanite Theatre won’t just produce compelling live theater, we are creating an exciting destination on the Sarasota social scene,” Summer closes with.

2015 Inaugural Season

CHICKEN SHOP, by Anna Jordan
April 10 to May 3
“A heart-wrenching piece of theatre.”
– Broadway Baby

REBORNING, by Zayd Dohrn
June 12 to July 5
“A superb comedy-drama. Builds to a shattering denouement – a real heart-stopper that leaves us emotionally wrecked in its aftermath.”
– LA Times

ISAAC’S EYE, by Lucas Hnath
August 14 to September 6
“Mr. Hnath wins a whole mess of points for originality. ISAAC’S EYE is an odd little jeu d’esprit, a quirky sendup of fusty historical dramas. Philosophically potent.” – New York Times

Urbanite Theatre
(941) 321.1397
urbanitetheatre@gmail.com
1487 Second Street
Sarasota, FL 34236
www.UrbaniteTheatre.com

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