Manatee Players: A Class Act of Continuity and Growth

By Sylvia Whitman | Photo by Nancy Guth

The actors in the Bradenton Junior Women’s Club who staged Hansel & Gretel in 1947 could hardly have imagined that their nascent community theater group, the Manatee Players, would grow into a production powerhouse more than 300 volunteers strong.

Much has changed over seven decades. In addition to its legion of unpaid actors and backstage crew, the organization now employs nine full-time and six part-time staffers and contracts with about 70 professionals a year to oversee directing, lighting, scenery, and more. Manatee Players runs two summer camps for kids, as well as workshops and classes for theaterphiles who range in age from 6 to 98, says producing artistic director Rick Kirby. The most visible manifestation of success, the Manatee Performing Arts Center, welcomed its first audience in 2013 and encompasses Stone Hall (the main stage theater), Bradenton Kiwanis Theater, Rae’s Cabaret in the lobby, and the Kiwanis Ballroom. The facility is available not just for top-billed shows but for wedding receptions, conferences, and school recitals.

“I’ve seen us come a really long way from a group with a lot of great ideas that we couldn’t follow through,” says Kirby, who joined the organizations at the beginning of the millennium. “Now we’re sitting in a $20 million house. It’s a measure of how our community pitched in and made it happen.”

“The expanded scope, staff, and space—that’s change. Continuity lies in the sense of community,” says CEO Janene Amick. “It’s still a core of who we are.”

As the region changes, Amick says, the organization must be willing to hear and seek out what people want to see at their embedded performing arts center. Social media polls, paper surveys, donor interviews, talks with parents whose kids attend camp—these all contribute to the vision. “We also look at other successes in our community and mirror some of those programs,” says Amick. “Now we’re incorporating more tribute concerts and more opportunities for live music.”

Musicals are “what our patrons really love,” says Kirby, who determines the theatrical program. The Broadway Series plays in Stone Hall. West Side Story plays it cool in August, for instance, and It’s A Wonderful Life heartwarms in December. Damn Yankees opens in February 2020, only with a twist; Kirby has arranged with the licensing agencies to make the Pittsburgh Pirates, who spring-train in Bradenton, the featured team. For the Studio Series in the smaller Bradenton Kiwanis Theater, Kirby picks works with high emotion and social impact (Tuesdays with Morrie, for instance, in October) and  scripts with a challenge that excites actors (Doubt, A Parable, March 2020).

Taking a front- or back-stage role in a Manatee Players show is a “labor of love,” Amick says. High school students planning to major in theater in college gain experience for a resume. Older adults find an artistic outlet. “For some folks, it’s a way to give back to the community,” Amick says. “Some may not have financial means to help the organization, so this is their way of making that donation. And people will support a neighbor by buying a ticket to see them perform.”

Kirby marvels at the actors who audition. Last November’s ecstatically reviewed Cabaret drew its stars from Tampa (the emcee) and Orlando (Cliff). “I feel incredibly lucky that these talented people find us,” he says.

From listening to their constituencies, Amick and Kirby have identified education as Manatee Players’ next growth area. “We want to provide more formal opportunities for training in technical and performing arts,” says Amick. Students of various ages want to learn specific skills, like voice or costume design. Manatee Players might offer a lighting course or teach carpentry in the context of set building. For university students, the organization plans to expand its internships, especially popular since the organization can offer housing on campus, “a big perk,” says Kirby. Several former interns have graduated to staff.

So thoroughly has the community embraced the Manatee Performing Arts Center as its own for outside events that Kirby is strategizing with the Manatee Players board for a dedicated practice space for rehearsals, children’s activities, and mentoring.

“We love the fact that we’re providing entertainment year-round,” adds Amick. “Hard workers who live here—they need that outlet. There’s something happening almost every weekend: dance recital, live concert, guest speaker.” She and Kirby would like classes to run on 12-month calendar as well. “We want to make sure there’s always something for someone,” Amick says.

Manatee Players 2019-2020 Season

BROADWAY SERIES

West Side Story

August 8 – 25, 2019

Buddy — The Buddy Holly Story

October 24 to November 10, 2019

It’s A Wonderful Life — A Musical

December 5 – 22, 2019

Roald Dahl’s Matilda, The Musical

January 16 to February 2, 2020

Damn Yankees

February 20 to March 8, 2020

You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown

April 2 – 19, 2020

Titanic

May 7 – 24, 2020

STUDIO SERIES

Grey Gardens, a musical

September 5 – 22, 2019

Tuesdays With Morrie

October 10 – 27, 2019

Every Christmas Story Ever Told

(and Then Some!)

December 5 – 22, 2019

Goat Song Revel

February 6 – 23, 2020

Doubt, A Parable

March 19 to April 5, 2020

Dancing Lessons

April 30 to May 17, 2020