Since its founding in December 2020 amid the COVID pandemic, the Dingbat Theatre Project has led a somewhat nomadic existence, starting with outdoor performances at the Bazaar on Apricot and Lime and building a following for its indoor shows at the Loveland Center in Venice.
After producing eight shows, the collective founded by Luke Manuel is now setting up what it hopes will be a more permanent location. It is transforming a storefront space at 7288 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota into a theater and gathering space.
“For a while, we were skating around, kind of being a subset of other organizations, partnering with other organizations to use their spaces,” Manuel said. Dingbat is now a tax-exempt non-profit organization “and we made the decision to go fully independent and we have this really cool space.”
The building has about 3,000 square feet in what was once a warehouse and storage space for an adjacent business, he said.
“We’re going to make it a 70-seat black box theater, and we will outfit the front and our lobby that will double as a cabaret space for smaller performances, intimate readings and children’s theater performances, where we can have 45 people,” Manuel said.
His intention is to make the lobby into a “lounge where it can be a community space that will have consistent free events that people can come to. We want it to be a safe space for people in the community to come to be creative and a place where people can enjoy the creativity of their peers as well.”
He expects the space to be open in time for a performance of the company’s own adaptation of the Greek myth of Heracles. Manuel and Austin Howether adapted the story and will star in “Hercules or the Laborious Labors of the Artist Formerly Known as Heracles.” It is slated to run Sept. 20-Oct. 6.
After that, Manuel said the company is planning a five-show season to run from October to June. The shows will be announced later this summer.
In the last year, it produced the hit musical “Chicago,” as well as its own version of “Peter Pan” and in the past produced small-cast versions of such shows as “The SpongeBob Musical” and “Shrek: The Musical.”
Manuel serves as producing artistic director, working with Brian F. Finnerty and Gretchen Beaumier as co-artistic directors. Over the last four years, the company has built up an ensemble of more than a dozen actors who perform frequently in its shows.
Dingbat has operated on a semi-professional model, working on a profit-sharing basis with cast members “because we can’t afford to pay them until we can get our footing and increase that.”
Manuel said he and Beaumier will be working on the company full-time. “We have a lot of people who work other full-time gigs and come in and support us,” he said.
Manuel said the organization has received some financial support from local foundations, including Gulf Coast Community Foundation, and individual donors.
For more information: dingbattheatre.org
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Dingbat Theatre planning new permanent home in Sarasota
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