A Sarasota youth theater company is opening Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's "Into the Woods" on Thursday, Aug. 13, in a bigger home. Rise Above Performing Arts says 75% of its audience members are not relatives of cast members, and founder Jacob Ruscoe backs every $37 ticket with a money-back guarantee no one has ever redeemed.
Rise Above, the nonprofit founded by artistic director Ruscoe and co-founder Brian Chinn, moved into its larger space inside The Crossings at Siesta Key earlier this summer. The converted restaurant now seats 193, up 33 from the company's previous 160-seat location elsewhere in the same mall, and it comes with a new centerpiece: an LED screen installed above the stage that Chinn calls the largest in Sarasota outside Bayside Community Church.
That screen will serve as the backdrop for the fairy-tale-driven musical, which runs two weekends: Aug. 13–16 and Aug. 20–23. Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m.
Ruscoe, who also serves as assistant principal at Southside Elementary School, started Rise Above 11 seasons ago after student productions he helped stage at Ashton Elementary outgrew the school. "Our student productions at Ashton were so successful, but then the kids had nowhere to go as they got older," Ruscoe told the Your Observer. "We decided to form a community theater that would give them more opportunity to grow."
The company doesn't charge students to prepare for a show, though roles require an audition.
The nonprofit runs on small donations rather than large gifts. "We don't have people who give us $100,000, but we get a lot of small donations," Chinn said.
The Crossings at Siesta Key now houses three community theaters under one roof: Rise Above, the 97-year-old Sarasota Players, and Katherine Michelle Tanner's Tree Fort Productions. The neighbors share more than a hallway. Ruscoe said the Sarasota Players are borrowing Rise Above's "Hadestown" materials, and Rise Above will borrow the Players' "Sweeney Todd" chair for its own production planned for June.
Choreographer Toni Dentico, a former Miss Dance of America winner, supports Rise Above's youth productions.
Coming up:
- Aug. 13–16 and Aug. 20–23: Rise Above Performing Arts presents "Into the Woods," The Crossings at Siesta Key, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail. Tickets: $37 at riseabovearts.com.
