Players Circle Theatre at the Shell Factory in North Fort Myers closes its 2022-2023 season on May 7th with The Foreigner. But after Danny Sinoff’s cabaret performance on the 8th, the company will begin packing up.
In July, they’ll move to the space currently occupied by New Phoenix Theatre on McGregor Boulevard. Players Circle co-founder and Producing Artistic Director Robert Cacioppo is excited to move operations to the heart of the McGregor Corridor.
“It is such a prime location — being across from The Landings, a mile from Gulf Harbour,” notes Cacioppo. “I feel like I’m coming back, we are coming back to the ‘hood.”
Acknowledging that many Players Circle patrons like to combine a night at the theater with dinner before and drinks after, Cacioppo waxes eloquently about the amenities audiences will find surrounding the New Phoenix location.
“That space is surrounded by incredible restaurants, not just The Melting Pot, but Cibo and CRaVE, Azure and Caffé Toscano. There are so many fabulous restaurants in that area, so I think people can really look forward to a really great experience.”
But the chief advantage of Players Circle’s new location comes down to density.
“At least four times more people live within a five mile perimeter around the New Phoenix location versus where we are, and that will be a huge difference,” Cacioppo amplifies. “I think people who live in The Landings and Gulf Harbour, they’re going to be delighted to drive a mile or walk across the street to go to the theater.”
While Cacioppo and company enjoyed their time at Shell Factory, the new theater will enable Players Circle to make significant upgrades in noise control, restroom facilities and parking. But as far as the shows are concerned, the biggest difference will come from the increase in ceiling height.
“I love the theater that we built at the Shell Factory. It was this intimate space, and I feel extremely proud of all the shows that we produced there. I think we consistently produced really fine work. But there were limits …. The ceiling itself was less than ten feet tall, which makes it really a nightmare for lighting designers to light a show properly and use the hundred thousand dollars worth of lighting instruments we have to their best capacity.”
The new location’s 20-foot ceiling height will also accommodate larger, more opulent sets.
“The biggest difference you’ll see in the future is that we will be able to do plays and maybe have a second story because we can build a set that has a second story. There will be things scenically that I will be able to do because the sets at the Shell Factory were right up against the wall where here, we could have quite a bit of distance and have a sky, have a moon, and so the height and back stage area will make a difference in the choosing of the play.”
Cacioppo wants to replicate the intimacy Players Circle achieved in its Shell Factory Black Box Theatre. To do that, he’s planning to lower the stage to ground level and install risers so that every seat provides a clear and unobstructed view of the stage. But in addition to taller sets, the new stage’s width and depth will also accommodate larger casts – such as for its 2023-2024 season ending rock musical, Godspell.
But don’t expect a radical departure from the type of productions Players Circle proudly brings to the stage each season.
“You may not like everything that we do. I mean, there are people that really thrive on thought-provoking plays, and half of our plays will be that way. And then there are people who when I go to the theater I want to forget about my problems. I want to laugh. And there’s a great pleasure to make people laugh. And hopefully most of our audience like both. They’re like me. They like Chinese food and they like sushi. They like Mexican food and they like Italian. And so most of our audiences like it all and appreciate it all.”
And beginning with Breaking Legs on October 17th, audiences will be able to appreciate and enjoy Players Circle’s companionable mix of thought-provoking and light-hearted shows in the heart of the McGregor Corridor.
FAST FACTS:
- “This is a dream come true,” says Cacioppo in the press release announcing Players Circle’s relocation to the New Phoenix space. “The Shell Factory has been a wonderful landing spot for us these past 4 years, but theater is a business and this new location is impossible to beat …. To be in a location that 92,000 cars pass daily, well, that is a game changer for Players Circle.”
- Players Circle’s 2023-24 tentatively includes the hilarious Mafioso comedy Breaking Legs (October 17-November 11), HO! HO! HO! The Christmas Show holiday revue (November 28-December 17), the romantic comedy Butterflies Are Free (January 2-28), the Pulitzer and Tony-winning best play Proof (February 6-March 3), the international hit Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks (March 12-April 17) and Godspell (April 16-May 12).
- Along with three shows planned for the summer of 2024, Players Circle expects to log more than 200 performance days during its inaugural season at its new McGregor Boulevard location.
- Carrie Lund Cacioppo and Robert Cacioppo have been leaders in the Southwest Florida Theater movement for close to 40 years.
- They founded the first professional theater in this area on Sanibel in a little one room schoolhouse called the Pirate Playhouse in 1984. In 1991, Carrie and Robert inaugurated the New Pirate Playhouse, built for them at 2200 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel where a year later the first Actors Equity Theater in the area commenced.
- In 1998, Lund and Cacioppo founded, named and created Florida Repertory Theatre in the floundering Arcade Theater, bringing great success to that organization and helping in the revitalization of downtown Fort Myers.
- During their 20 year tenure at the REP, Lund and Cacioppo garnered many “Best Arts Organization Awards” and 9 rave reviews from The Wall Street Journal, being called “One of America's Top Regional Theaters!” By the time they parted ways with Florida Rep, the theater had become the largest not-for-profit arts organization in the history of Lee County.
- In fall of 2019, Carrie and Robert founded Players Circle Theater and started performing at the Shell Factory. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Ian made Players Circle’s road a rocky one over the past four years, but with the help of grants and patron generosity, Players Circle persisted.
To read more stories about the arts in Southwest Florida visit Tom Hall's website: SWFL Art in the News.
Spotlight on the Arts for WGCU is funded in part by Naomi Bloom, Jay & Toshiko Tompkins, and Julie & Phil Wade.