The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
| Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center | |
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| Address | 1010 North W.C. MacInnes Place Tampa, Florida United States |
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| Coordinates | 27°57′05″N 82°27′50″W / 27.9515°N 82.4639°WCoordinates: 27°57′05″N 82°27′50″W / 27.9515°N 82.4639°W |
| Type | Performing arts center |
| Capacity | Carol Morsani Hall: 2,610 Ferguson Hall: 1,042 Jaeb Theater: 268 Shimberg Playhouse: 130 TECO Theater: as needed |
| Opened | July 1987 |
| Website | |
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The David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa, Florida in July 1987 and has welcomed more than 10 million guests. The venue was renamed in November 2009 to recognize the generous donation, the largest individual philanthropic gift ever made to a cultural institution in the Tampa Bay area, of financier David A. Straz, Jr.
The Straz Center is located downtown on a 9-acre (36,000 m2) site along the east bank of the Hillsborough River. As the second largest performing arts complex in the Southeastern United States (behind the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts), the 335,000-square-foot (31,100 m2) venue provides an environment for a variety of events. It has a leading Broadway series and produces grand opera, as well as presenting a variety of concerts, performances and events. 680,000 patrons attended 4,148 events during the 2007-2008 season.
In 2009, the Straz Center officially began a new program entitled the "Broadway Genesis Project," which intends to present the world premieres of musicals and plays which hopefully will move to Broadway. The first show staged as part of this series is Frank Wildhorn's newest musical, Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure, which opened officially on December 5, following previews beginning November 24.
The performing arts complex consists of five distinct theaters, a rehearsal hall, retail shops, on-site restaurants and banquet facilities.
The five individual theaters are Carol Morsani Hall (2,600+ seats), Ferguson Hall (1,042 seats), the Jaeb Theater (292 seats), the TECO Energy Foundation Theater (250 seats and the Shimberg Playhouse (130 seats).
With the Patel Conservatory, the Straz Center has added 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2) for its extensive education programs. The Conservatory features 20 studios, including two dance studios with sprung floors, a sound/lighting laboratory, technical theater workshop, rehearsal hall, costume shop, isolation/sound booth, state-of-the-art black box theater and media arts/TV studio. During 2007/2008 the Conservatory served nearly 60,000 students with 2,948 classes, workshops and performances.
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