Community Spotlight: Asolo Repertory Theatre Guild to Stage Local Events

SARASOTA – The Asolo Repertory Theatre Guild events bring unmistakable delight to performers and onlookers alike. We take live theater off the professional stage and wrap it around the community, to spread the gifts of joy and depths of experience it delivers.

Small troupes of Guild members take plays out to community organizations, libraries, condo associations, and road scholars, accepting in return donations of $100 or more for the Access to the Arts program. Plays on-site run thirty to sixty minutes. Casts have six or fewer of both genders. Our love of the dramatic and comedic arts leads us to stage these entertaining readings for various groups. 

Most of our presenters are former professional, semi-professional, and community theater actors. Some are just “hams,” who have mainly retired from their day jobs and like the chance to emote before strangers. We’ve been making civic organizations glad they booked us for forty years. We never fail to put on a terrific show. Three shows have been and are still playing in the field this year.

“Radio Memories” - In the simpler days of the 1930s and 40s, radio provided a time of family togetherness. Including sound effects, this presentation revisits those golden years of radio entertainment.

“Fractured Fairy Tales” - This show portrays six Grimm Brothers situations with new narratives. Many of your favorites like Chicken Little and Little Red Riding Hood turn out differently from the way you remember them.

“Mini-Play Magic” - Five playlets unfold, mostly sketching twosomes in intriguing circumstances. 

Play readers at the Cook

Every second Wednesday, we gather in the main Asolo lobby at 9:30 AM for socializing and coffee. The camaraderie among all these theatrical types recalls belonging to a temporary family of exceptionally lively relations. A play selection committee has carefully reviewed several possible scripts. We look for strong characters, witty dialogue, and casts over six with numerous male and female roles. At 10:00 AM in the Cook Theater, Guild members in attendance either raise their hands to volunteer to spot read their highlighted parts or just sit in their seats and let the other players divert them. With no rehearsal, our performers deliver very effective renderings.

“RADIO MEMORIES”: Asolo Rep Guild Play Readers. 2 p.m. April 9.

Gulf Gate Library Sarasota. 504-4729; asolorep.org/guild.

“ENCHANTED APRIL”: Asolo Rep Guild Play Readers. 10 a.m. April 14. 

Directed by Kathryn Chesley. Cook Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre 5555 N. Tamiami Trail. 504-4729; asolorep.org/guild.

“POTPOURRI”: Asolo Rep Guild Play Readers. 10 a.m. May 12.

Member variety show. Cook Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre 5555 N. Tamiami Trail. 504-4729; asolorep.org/guild.