The Players Theatre Launches The Stage at Payne Park
The auditorium at Payne Park will be transformed into The Stage at Payne Park at an estimated cost of $8 million.
Image: Courtesy Photo
The Players, Sarasota’s longtime community theater, has formed The Stage at Payne Park LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary nonprofit organization. The new organization intends to remodel the existing Payne Park auditorium for its new home, at an expected cost of $8 million. The Players will offer a dollar-for-dollar match of all community donations up to $4 million, reducing its future capital campaign fundraising amount to $4 million.
The City of Sarasota has approved the terms for The Stage through The Players lease agreement for the future home of the arts organization.
From left: Players board member Brian McCarthy, Players CEO William Skaggs; Players board chair Bill Porter, Players facilities committee co-chair Bill Rusling and Players artistic director Steven Butler.
Image: Courtesy Photo
Players board member Brian McCarthy, who's also CEO of The Pickleball Club LLC, is the chief executive officer of The Stage. Board member David Sanders, a financial advisor, is its chief financial officer. Steven Butler, artistic director for The Players, is chair of the community consortium committee, and Nancy Jenkins is the project manager for new construction. Bill Porter, chair of The Players Board of Trustees and William Skaggs, The Players CEO, will act as advisory board members.
The organization is currently finalizing the selection of an architect, engineer, general contractor and business development leader.
“We’ve assembled a great group to advise on design, acoustics, programming, sound and lighting to make sure we develop a facility appropriate for our performing arts community,” says McCarthy. “We envision The Stage at Payne Park being a performing arts incubator and a place to host performances by The Players and other performing arts organizations wishing to share the venue and services to increase operating efficiencies and lower their overhead costs.”
Some of the first goals for The Stage are to gather a consortium of performing arts organizations and hold focus groups for feedback on design and requirements for their unique needs. “We want The Stage to be configured to accommodate as many of our Sarasota performing arts organizations as possible,” McCarthy says.
The Stage will kick off its capital campaign next month. The project is expected to be complete for the 2025-2026 season in September 2025.
The Stage at Payne Park will be located at 2100 Laurel St., Sarasota. For more information, click here.
