FST Presents Olivia Award-Winning Comedy

January 5, 2022 – Sarasota

Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is proud to produce the Tony and Olivier Award-winning comedy, The Play That Goes Wrong, by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer. Called “The funniest play Broadway has ever seen” by the Huffington Post, this fast-paced comedy follows the opening night of an amateur theatre troupe’s production of a 1920s whodunit, “The Murder at Haversham Manor.” As the performance gets underway, every conceivable thing that can go wrong does go wrong. Cues are forgotten. The fireplace mantel falls, and doors get stuck. The leading lady is knocked unconscious. Words are horribly mispronounced. Still, despite all this mayhem, the accident-prone thespians stay committed to making it to their final curtain call, much to audiences’ delight. The Play That Goes Wrong begins playing January 19 in FST’s Gompertz Theatre.

“In this day and age, great new comedies come along rarely,” said Bruce Jordan,the show’s director, who was also at the helm of FST’s productions of Shear Madness and Spamalot. “The Play That Goes Wrong is exactly that—a great new comedy. We have a marvelous cast of strong stage comedians, and it will be great fun for us to explore the show together.”

The Play That Goes Wrong started out as a one-act play performed for a meager audience of four in a small performance venue, but, over the past decade, the play has grown to become an international phenomenon. The comedy has been performed for over two million people across six continents. Since 2014, The Play That Goes Wrong has launched four UK tours, played for eight years in the West End, and become the second longest-running production in the history of Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre. At the same time, the comedy won multiple awards around the world, including the WhatsOnStage and Olivier Award for Best New Comedy as well as a Tony and Drama Desk Award for Best Scenic Design of a Play.

“I think this play is so popular across languages and cultures because we all can relate to things that don’t go the way they are supposed to,” said John Long, who plays Robert, an amateur actor who fancies himself to be the next Sir Ian McKellen, in FST’s production of The Play That Goes Wrong. “Whether it’s a presentation for our jobs, a realtor showing a new house to a prospective buyer, or the door won’t open…that’s life.  It’s usually mortifying when it happens to you, but when it happens to someone else, it’s funny. This play is full of people and objects that don’t cooperate, and that’s funny to us, because, although we may not admit it, we have all been there.”

FST’s production also features Jordan Ahnquist as Max, Freddie Lee Bennett as Trevor, Emily Berman as Annie, Gil Brady as Chris, Scott Cote as Dennis, Timothy C. Goodwin as Jonathan, and Kate Middleton as Sandra.

The full creative team for The Play That Goes Wrong includes April Andrew Carswell (Costume Design), Moriah and Isabel Curley-Clay (Set Design), Devorah Kengmana (Lighting Design), and Thom Korp (Sound Design).

FST’s production of The Play That Goes Wrong is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. The production is also supported by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Revenues and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. Thank you to our media sponsor, Sarasota Magazine.

The health and safety of FST’s patrons, staff, volunteers, and artists continue to be of the greatest importance to FST. Therefore, FST will be following all CDC guidelines. The most up-to-date list of measures the theatre is taking can be found at FloridaStudioTheatre.org.