Staged Reading: Yellowman - MON. 2/2!

We hope you can make an effort to make it out Monday night to the next Job-side Project in our Staged Reading Series being put together by Lori Shannon. This night's work is directed by Ensemble member Karla Hartley and features the talents of the amazing Fanni Green. Don't miss it!

Yellowman
by Dael Orlandersmith
Directed by Karla Hartley
Featuring Fanni Green
Mon., Feb. 2 at 7pm
$5 at the door, free to Jobsite season ticket holders

Yellowman, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, opened at the Manhattan Theater Club in October 2001. It is a two-actor piece in which each actor plays multiple roles. Orlandersmith examines intraracial racism and its effect on friends and eventual lovers Alma and Eugene, chronicling their relationship from childhood to adulthood in spare, uncommonly beautiful language with a South Carolinian/Gullah inflection. Their families and "friends," fueled by alcohol and incomprehensible rage, bend this relationship to the breaking point.

"A landmark in theater history.... Enthralling.... Mind-altering." ?The New York Times

"One of the most gripping, instructive, transforming hours in contemporary theater." The Times (Trenton, NJ) -- Review

Can you help us out by spreading the word? We'd appreciate it! Let's get these guys some love - it's the only reason they're doing it - that and have to have this great piece spoken out loud.

Picasso smashes records!

Our run of Picasso at the Lapin Agile has just become the highest-grossing single run of a play that we've ever produced on our own! It's currently sitting in the #4 spot for best-attended play that we've produced on our own. Amazingly if the show manages to sell another 42 tickets in the next 4 days, it will claim #1 in both categories (attendance and gross).

To dissect a tiny bit further:
What do we mean by "single run"? We're not combining the totals of show that we may have produced more than once,brought back for a weekend here or there or toured to other places over the years like The History of the Devil, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) or A Girl's Guide to Chaos.
Why do we say "that we've produced on our own"? In 2000, Jobsite co-produced Dracula with TBPAC. That production ran for 6 weeks and was doing up to 7 shows a week. Our normal schedule is 3 weeks (4-5 if we hold over) and 4-5 shows a week. Dracula also had a RIDICULOUS marketing budget and campaign, including a billboard on 275. We made good money, but we also spent a ton on advertising.
How can a show have made more money than other shows but have less attendance? That's a bit more complicated - but consider discounting (like student rush), group sales, subscriber load in etc. A higher gross with less tickets sold just means more less people are paying full price opposed to more people paying a reduced rate.

There are still 4 CHANCES LEFT to catch it, and maybe even cement this record for a bit. Wed. - Sat. nights this week at 8pm! I hope you can make it!

Coming to Picasso Fri.? Plan to arrive a bit early.

If you plan on coming to see Picasso at the Lapin Agile on Friday - we advise you try to arrive at least 30 minutes before curtain. The Poe Garage, St. Pete Times lot and all of the river meters are reserved by the NFL for an event in the building on that night.

To the best of our knowledge the Howard Johnson lot will be open, but if everyone coming is vying for one of those spaces it may fill quickly.

There are also meters/street parking on Zack, Cass and Tampa Streets as well as Florida Avenue in well-lit, close quarters to TBPAC.parkin

1/31 10pm show of Picasso CANCELLED

We're pulling the plug on the 10pm performance of Picasso on Sat., Jan. 31. The show will still run Wed., Jan. 28 - Sat., Jan. 31 as scheduled.

Picasso has already firmly wedged itself into the upper echelon of Jobsite successes in terms of attendance and box office grosses, and has the potential to close as the #1 highest grossing play Jobsite has produced on our own.

There's plenty of room to grow, so we're excited to see how this one finishes! 10 out of 12 previous performances have completely sold out in advance of the day of show!

Today's 4p show is sold out, 5 more remain

Today's 4pm performance is now SOLD OUT and we only have 5 more remaining on the run of Steve Martin's hilarious, thoughtful Picasso at the Lapin Agile.

We have enjoyed an amazing run up to this point. The show has had 10 of 12 performances up to now go completely sold out, has drawn positive reviews from both patrons and the press and is poised to close in the top 5 highest-grossing and best-attended plays in Jobsite history.

All this right after the holidays, amidst NFL playoffs/the beginning of Gasparilla season and in what's agreed upon by everyone as a really crap economy.

People are coming out in force - and they are having a great time. We're getting feedback daily from happy, satisfied customers.

“Sandy and I purchased tickets for the Sunday afternoon show and we loved it. Best theater experience I've had in a couple years.” – Brendan McLaughlin

"The cast was terrific, and the whole show was a lot of fun. We feel very fortunate to have such talent – cast, as well as behind-the-scenes people – right here at home.” – Mariella Smith

“We saw the show ... and I thought it was very funny, surreal and off the wall ...” – Beth Hood

“... We thoroughly enjoyed it ... I tell the folks I work with all the time to go catch your plays ... Great job! I can't wait for the next show!” – Richard Rosengren

“... thoroughly fun and entertaining ... Keep up the good work and ignore some of the misdirected comments by critics that should be writing on the sports pages or at the very least working at the zoo cleaning out the monkey cages.” – Sam and Grace Puterman

“Just wanted to drop you a line and say how much my husband and I enjoy our season tickets.... We attended [Picasso at the Lapin Agile] and found it both thought provoking and funny.” – John and Lori Pate

“The play is inventive, amusing and passably thought-provoking ... Highlights of the Jobsite production are a large and mostly excellent cast, led by Jason Vaughan Evans and Chris Holcom as Einstein and Picasso, a wonderful set by Brian Smallheer and a lot of attractive and evocative costumes....” – St. Petersburg Times

“In the fine, entertaining production now being offered by Jobsite Theater, author Steve Martin's charming comedy is skillfully presented, and the (fanciful) meeting of Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein is rendered like a beguiling joke told over brandy by a kindly raconteur ... Jobsite Theater has been turning into the most consistent, most dependable company in the Bay area ... I can hardly wait to see what this formidable troupe will do next.” – Creative Loafing

We couldn't be more thrilled. I don't think 2009 could be starting much better for us.



This coming week is our final 5 performances which all still have great availability for tickets. Wed. - Sat. at pm and Sat. late night at 10pm.

If you are hoping to go, particularly to the Fri. or Sat. 8p show, we advise you might want to try to get your tickets early. If history holds up, those shows will be gone before curtain. If you need to pay at the door or take advantage of student/military/senior rush - Wed. or Thu. would be IDEAL opportunities.

Have you already seen the show? Could you give us a hand in helping us fill this added weekend by passing us on to your friends and networks? Word of mouth is always our best sales tool. Blog us, tweet us, talk us up in the break room, pass on an email, post a link to a show page - as simple or as complex as you want it to be.

If you're able to do anything like that and pass a note back to us with the details, we might even have a special gift for you (no, we are no above bribing you all).

As always, thanks for all you do for Jobsite. We exist because of your kindness, your support and your belief in what we do.

Best,
David M. Jenkins
Producing Artistic Director

This weekend almost gone!

As of the writing of this post, there is 1 ticket remaining for tonight's performance of Picasso at the Lapin Agile and 3 for tomorrow. If you can't make those work - we still have shows next week Wed. - Sat. at 8pm and a final performance Sat. at 10.

Hope you can join us!

Over at the CL Arts blog - Critic vs Critic

Check out this blog post by CreLo editor David Warner (and my reply, which also started out as a blog post) on conflict of interest issues dealing with CL critic Mark Leib brought up by John Fleming at the St. Pete Times.

Picasso ticket advisory!

There are less than 10 tickets to both the Sat., 1/24 8pm performance and the Sun., 1/25 4pm performance of Picasso at the Lapin Agile.

We do NOT recommend attempting to walk up to the theater for either of those shows without securing a ticket in advance. These nights are also not advisable to come down early in an effort to get rush tickets. We anticipate both shows will be sold out by tomorrow afternoon.

If you're interested in either of those shows - act fast!

There are still tickets remaining for tonight's 8pm performance as well as all performances 1/28-31 - including out final 10pm show on 1/31.

We're enjoying a great run, but it would be far greater to have you as part of it! Get down to the Shimberg Playhouse and enjoy 80 minutes or so of laughter with these wacky, witty characters from the mind of the original wild and crazy guy!

Picasso scores high marks in this week's CreLo!

Check out the whole review here!

"In the fine, entertaining production now being offered by Jobsite Theater, author Steve Martin's charming comedy is skillfully presented, and the (fanciful) meeting of Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein is rendered like a beguiling joke told over brandy by a kindly raconteur ...

There's a French proverb: "Little by little, the bird makes its nest." Well, little by little, Jobsite Theater has been turning into the most consistent, most dependable company in the Bay area. Picasso may not be a particularly important play, but the Jobsite production is a winner. I can hardly wait to see what this formidable troupe will do next." - Creative Loafing

If you were hoping to score one of those rush tickets, or simply hold off on deciding til closer to curtain when you can just walk up and buy a ticket - tonight should be a great night to come! This Saturday (1/24) is already getting close to a sell-out, so we're not recommending walk-up on that night.

Hope to see you soon!

Follow Jobsite on Twitter

If you're a fan of Twitter, follow jobsitetheater to get your 140 character hits of Jobsite.

Great minds, great art, great laughs in Picasso at the Lapin Agile

Hello everyone! I've missed you all for the last week while I was on vacation, but I'm back now and hitting the pavement hard in an effort to fill these last two weeks of Picasso at the Lapin Agile.

Oh, and thanks to Kari for covering for me while I was gone. :)

We have been so far fortunate enough to have sold out out all 8 of our previous public performances, accounting for the entirety of the first two weekends.

Now we move into week 3, which would have been our final week, and week 4 - the week we added.

We have good availability for these last two weeks. If you needed to walk up and buy a ticket (like, say, a student rush ticket), this may be your opportunity. I will keep you updated, but right now I imagine you should be ok.

The two biggest opportunities I want to pass on are the Wed., Jan. 28 8pm show and the 10pm show on Sat., Jan. 31. These are showtimes outside our regular schedule, which could be an opportunity for some whose schedules don't typically agree with ours. We will NOT have a show on Sun., Feb. 1 due to that game going on at Raymond James Stadium with the Blue Jays and Iron Forgers or whoever they are (kidding, you know I loves me some Polamalu). Instead, we decided to close with a late night show the evening before.

I'm really looking forward to checking the show out again. I haven't seen it since the night before preview, and I am hearing superb things. There's some patron feedback on the show over here (did you see it and have something to say? Sound off here!). I even got a nice email from a certain local news anchor who really loved the show, which I'll share if given the green light. Or if I can't you can just speculate on your own ... or go see it yourself and then pass on your own thoughts.

While in Ireland, it seems I was passing a theater or a monument or marker for something theatrical on every block. There's no reason we can't have that here. There's the talent, the will and the means - so get out there and support it!

An Icebox Laugh

An Icebox Laugh

In Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Albert Einstein presents a theory about the reaction (or lack thereof) that a person might have to a joke. The theory is an "icebox laugh" and in his words,

You don't laugh now, but an hour later, you're at home, standing in front of the ice box, and you laugh.

I've noticed that some of the jokes in Picasso at the Lapin Agile are "icebox laughs." The actors are perceptive to these moments and give the audience a moment or two for the joke to "land." Because Steve Martin is so clever and such a connoisseur of words, we find that some of the references, puns (achieved or otherwise), and double entendres sometimes take a second or two to process.

If you've seen the show, I'd love to know if you had an "icebox laugh." Have you referenced the show since you saw it? What is your favorite line? If we had to sum up this show with a catch phrase on a t-shirt what would it be?

Weigh in! And you can't play if you haven't seen it - we're here until Jan. 31.

- Kari Goetz

Picasso update and random thoughts

(Ed. note - while David's on vacation this week, this blog is brought to you by our swell Jobsite Board member and director of Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Kari Goetz.)

While David is taking a well deserved vacation, and getting lots of good first-hand research for Lieutenant of Inishmore, he said we could blog in his place.

Oh how he will regret that.

To start things off, as the director of Picasso at the Lapin Agile, things in Paris are looking tres bien! We are enjoying our second sold out weekend and I have to thank Mr. Martin for writing such an incredible script and being famous. He certainly helped us sell some tickets.

I don't want to take away from the outstanding work or our actors. Three members of our cast are enjoying their first Jobsite show. J. Duggan (who was seen in our Jobside production Short Comings), Jennifer Rae and Dominic Russo have become wonderful additions to the Jobsite family and we are lucky to have them on board. Our Jobsite veterans have stretched themselves beyond what our audiences have come to expect and nobody knew that Jason Evans could look that much like Albert Einstein. For real, its a little scary.

It's been a great process bringing all this great talent together, herding the cats, crying with laughter and creating a magic worthy of the Lapin Agile. If you haven't read the study guide - it is a great addition to your bathroom library and can be downloaded here.

Chris Holcom - who plays the passionate Pablo Picasso - has gotten teased by the cast for the Creative Loafing feature, and we love that he keeps people guessing.

The two of us also got to sit down with David Warner - CreLo editor and overall mensch for a great podcast on Arts Speak. We got to talk about 10 years of Jobsite, having our significant others in the show and a strange tangent about my love of Florida football.

If you haven't seen Picasso at the Lapin Agile - we're at the Shimberg until Jan. 31 and there are still lots of seats available for the next two weeks. If you have seen the show, remember to tell your friends to see it before its too late.

And on a final note - this morning as I was reading my St. Pete Times (yes, I still read the paper - on an old fashioned medium known as "newsprint") I had to giggle at Amy Scherzer's society report. On behalf of Jobsite, let me congratulate Stageworks on a very successful Masquerade Ball this past weekend. That's not what made me giggle - it's that she referred to Anna Brennan (Artistic Director of Stageworks) as "Mama Drama." I couldn't help but think what moniker David Jenkins might get ten years from now - "Pappa Playz" was my front runner. That way he could always jump start that hip-hop career he's always wanted.

Told you he'd regret loaning me the blog.

- Kari Goetz

Picasso at the Lapin Agile - tell us what you thought!

Once you've had the chance to see Picasso at the Lapin Agile, please tell us what you thought of the show by leaving a comment!

Picasso ticket update 1/7

**UPDATE 1/9 at 4:51pm**

There are no tickets available for Picasso at the Lapin Agile available until the 1/16 performance. All performances this weekend and the Thu., Jan. 15 show are all SOLD OUT.

We will keep this blog updated if any other shows sell out.

Hope you can make it! And, hope you get a ticket in advance - I don't even recall the last show we've done that's had this big of a run on tickets to it before we even opened.

Woo hoo! I'm liking 2009 so far!

A few seats open now for Picasso opening weekend

We were able to add in a few chairs to seat a few more patrons for opening weekend performances of Picasso at the Lapin Agile. These performances were previously sold out. We expect these tickets to go fast, so do not try to wait and buy at the door - we do not think they will still be there then. Act fast if interested!

Keep in mind there are also still plenty of open seats for the 1/7 preview. Tickets to all previews are just $10, and a $5 student/senior/military rush is available for that show as of 30 minutes to curtain with cash and a valid ID.

Picasso now sold out 1/8-11, 15

Opening weekend for Picasso at the Lapin Agile is now sold out for opening weekend - 1/8-11 - as well as for 1/15.

Tickets remain for the 1/7 preview and the remainder of the performances beginning Jan. 16. This show has been held over through Jan. 31, including a special Wed. night show on Jan. 28 and a closing late night performance at 10pm on Jan. 31.

Advance purchases for this show are highly recommended.