St. Pete’s ever-innovative dance company projectALCHEMY has partnered with photographer and filmmaker Joey Clay for an immersive program called ABOVE/below. Taking place Friday and Saturday at the Murray Theatre, Ruth Eckerd Hall’s black box space, the collaboration features dancers embodying and bringing to life seven Clay photographs.
In a prepared statement, projectALCHEMY founder Alexander Jones says ABOVE/below “explores the embodiment of tarot and the practice of shadow work. The work follows dancers as seekers confronting and integrating the shadow self in pursuit of becoming more whole.”
During the dance, he adds, “audiences may sit on the floor, take a chair, or stand, creating an intimate environment where movement, light, and shadow converge.”
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at this link.
A new dance performan by projectALCHEMY is at the Murray Theatre, Ruth Eckerd Hall’s black box space, Friday and Saturday. Photo by Joey Clay.
On theater stages
Although Friday’s opening night is sold out, there’s a preview performance tonight of American Stage’s production of the musical Into the Woods tonight (7:30 p.m.) in Demens Landing Park, on the St. Petersburg bayfront. Wednesday’s scheduled first preview was canceled due to inclement weather.
The Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical will be performed in the park through April 26; click on this link for showtimes (there are, understandably, no matinees) and tickets.
The national tour of Hell’s Kitchen, the rags-to-riches song-and-dance musical based on songs by Alicia Keys, is onstage at the Straz Center’s Morsani Hall, with various day-and-night showtimes between tonight and Sunday, April 4. Find everything you need to know at this link.
Two-time Tony Award winner (as Best Actor in a Musical) Norbert Leo Butz brings his intimate cabaret show to Largo’s Central Park Performing Arts Center Saturday. The Catalyst spoke with the Wicked, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Catch Me If You Can and Big Fish star this week; read that interview here.
Friday through Sunday at Stageworks Theatre: A staged reading of The Minutes, a dark comedy by Tracy Letts, from the Impromptu Players. It’s a benefit for Stageworks, and you can locate showtimes and tickets at this link.
Jobsite Theater’s production of The Shark is Broken continues to take a bite out of the company’s all-time sales records. Ian Shaw’s comedy about the backstage goings-on a at Jaws continues through April 5. Find tickets here.
Festivals
Saturday and Sunday brings the Mainsail Art Festival to St. Petersburg’s Vinoy Park, ranked one of the Top 14 Fine Art & Design Shows in the country by Sunshine Artist Magazine (this will be the 51st annual).
Along with show-and-sale from 250+ Juried fine artists and craftspeople, expect live music, a kids’ art area, a food court and more.
Hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, and admission is free. Find more info at this link.
It’s the first weekend for the massive Sugar Sand Festival 2026 at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach (it features professional sand sculpting, live music and all sorts of stuff to get you to the beach, and it’ll be there through April 12). Get all the details in this recent Catalyst story; you can also find out there about this weekend’s Ukulele Days in Dunedin).
Concert calendar
Americana singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale is at Skipper’s Smokehouse tonight. Tickets.
Jazz and boogie-woogie pianist Michael Kaeshammer and his band perform tonight in the Palladium Theatre Side Door Cabaret. Tickets.
Tonight at the Seminole Hard Rock Event Center: Mike Love and his Beach Boys. Tickets.
Friday at the Palladium Side Door: Blues guitarist Albert Castiglia and band. Tickets.
Dancing With the Stars Live takes over Ruth Eckerd Hall Friday and Saturday. Tickets are at this link.
Comedian Katt Williams will be onstage Friday at Benchmark International Arena. Tickets.
The Alan Parsons Live Project is onstage at the BayCare Sound amphitheater Sunday, with the “Florida Rock Symphony.” Showtime is 8 p.m., and tickets are here. This is the makeup date for the postponed Dec. 11 show.
Sunday (3 p.m.) at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center: Arenas, Lasky, and Nash Project: The Bacharach Book. Find tickets here. Pianist Simon Lasky is our guest on Friday’s Arts Alive! podcast.
Sunday (7 p.m.) at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center: Celebrating World Piano Day with classical pianists E‑Na Song, Janna Pena and Chen Liang. Tickets.
Where’s the orchestra?
The Florida Orchestra goes big with this weekend’s program, conducted by Michael Francis: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, with Ode to Joy featuring The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, along with Adagio from Mahler’s unfinished Symphony No. 10, and Maestro Francis’ always-popular “mystery piece.”
Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday at Straz Center/Ferguson Hall, and Saturday (8 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.) at the Mahaffey Theater. Details and tickets are at this link.
Your Weekend Spotlight appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section.
Please add us to your mailing list – send all press releases and event info to bill@stpetecatalyst.com.
You can also submit your events to the Catalyst calendar, by clicking here.
.