THE FSU/ASOLO CONSERVATORY
FOR ACTOR TRAINING ANNOUNCES ADJUSTMENTS TO THEIR 2020-21 SEASON
SARASOTA, FL – In response to the ongoing public safety concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FSU/Asolo Conservatory announced today that it is making adjustments to its 2020-21 season. The program is switching over to a two-show season with each show containing the full ensemble of student actors. The revised season will debut with a digital production of Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, to be directed by Benny Sato Ambush. The Conservatory plans to preserve its outdoor Shakespeare in the Gardens production of Julius Caesar in the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens with social distancing in place. These changes to the season aim to keep both students and patrons safe.
“What is important to us right now is to hold on to the Conservatory season not only as an important part of Sarasota’s theatre scene, but also as a valuable training tool for our program,” said Conservatory Director Greg Leaming. Both productions of the revised 2020-21 season will contain the full ensemble of second year students. While a digital show hasn’t ever been part of the students’ experience, the outdoor Shakespeare in the Gardens experience certainly has, and that remains unchanged.
The selection of Twilight is timely and entirely intentional. The play is based on a series of interviews Anna Deavere Smith held with a diverse group of hundreds of individuals in LA at the time of the Rodney King riots. They have been molded into a complex and multi-faceted portrait of a time very much like the one we are living in today. “The uprisings beleaguering American cities and towns in 2020 are, like a broken record, repeats of decades-long recurring patterns,” says Director Benny Ambush. The range of characters will give the second-year students the chance to show off their skill while considering issues that are of enormous meaning to all of us. It will be filmed under strict precautions and released for at-home streaming to ensure the safety of our students and our audience. The show will be available December 2 through December 13, 2020. Information on streaming will be made available in the first week of November.
The Conservatory production of Julius Caesar is still scheduled to run from April 7-26, 2021 in the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.
Ticketing and subscriptions for the FSU/Asolo Conservatory are conducted through Asolo Rep Patron Services. For the convenience of patrons who have already purchased subscriptions to the 2020-21 season, the Conservatory will automatically hold the funds for the two cancelled performances “on account” so that those credits can be used for additional tickets to shows in this season or toward a subscription for the 2021-22 season. Subscribers will also have the option to donate the cost of the tickets to the theatre or receive a refund. The theatre also announced that it will continue to hold reserved subscriber seats through the 2021-22 season.
Patron Services is still working remotely so we ask for your patience when emailing with any questions. Please visit our recently updated Frequently Asked Questions page on our website to see if that answers any of your questions first!
ABOUT THE CONSERVATORY
The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training is a celebrated three-year graduate program culminating in a Master of Fine Arts degree. For more than 45 years, tens of thousands of actors from across the continent have auditioned for admission. A maximum of 12 students are admitted each year. In their second year, the students perform in the Cook Theatre, a 161-seat space designed to create an intimate experience for the audience and actors. Third-year students are seen on the Mertz Stage working with the Asolo Repertory Theatre’s professional actors in exciting and significant roles.
For more information, visit asolorep.org/Conservatory.
