{"id":119001,"date":"2026-01-15T09:47:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T09:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/119001\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T09:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T09:47:07","slug":"weekend-spotlight-new-plays-buffetts-boys-and-sellouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/119001\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend spotlight: New plays, Buffett\u2019s boys and sellouts"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the curtain goes up on three new plays \u2013 one in St. Petersburg, two in Tampa \u2013 one of the most unusual theatrical productions of recent times is entering its second and final weekend.<\/p>\n

There are just 43 seats at the Off-Central, on 1st Avenue S. in St. Pete, and so there\u2019s no \u201cnosebleed\u201d section for Rajiv Joseph\u2019s Gruesome Playground Injuries.<\/p>\n

The blood stays on the stage.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about two lifetime friends (played by Sarah Beth Saho and Troy Padraic Brooks) who discovered, as children, a kind of visceral bond: They\u2019re both fascinated by injury and pain, both the physical and emotional kind.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot more to it than that, of course, but this production (directed by Anthony Gervais) is strangely intriguing, due in large part to the chemistry between the two actors.<\/p>\n

Gruesome Playground Injuries has four performances remaining, tonight through Sunday. Find showtimes and tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Robert Logan Mays, left, and Luis Rivera appear in Stageworks Theatre\u2019s \u201cTouching the Void.\u201d Photo provided.<\/p>\n

Opening Friday (with a preview tonight) is Touching the Void at Stageworks Theatre, Tampa. It\u2019s the high altitude true story of mountain climbers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, and their near-fatal 1985 Andes expedition.\u00a0Find showtimes and tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s January, a.k.a. Shakespeare month for Tampa\u2019s Jobsite Theater. The Straz Center\u2019s resident theater company opens The Comedy of Errors Friday (with a preview tonight); it\u2019s a wildly colorful adaptation (by director David M. Jenkins) packed with pratfalls and comedic choreography, and buzzing with frenetic energy. Find showtimes and tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Wednesday Catalyst story<\/a> introduced Story Keepers, a new St. Pete theater company, and the one-woman show The Pink Unicorn. The play, with Samantha Marti Parisi as a conservative Christian mom (in small-town Texas, no less) dealing with her daughter\u2019s coming out, is being performed inside private homes this week and next. Find tickets and showtimes at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The boys from Buffett-land
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Mac McAnally was Jimmy Buffett\u2019s onstage right-hand man for nearly 30 years. Publicity photo.<\/p>\n

Mac McAnally, the singer\/songwriter who served as Jimmy Buffett\u2019s onstage right hand man for almost 30 years, is back in town tonight for another Coral Reefer Band show. Along with McAnally, others from Mr. B\u2019s semi-legendary backing group are Robert Greenidge (steel drums), Doyle Grisham (pedal steel) and keyboardist Mick Utley, son of the CR Band\u2019s longtime music director Michael Utley. Songwriters Will Kimbrough and Scotty Emerick are also part of the unit.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a 2025 Catalyst interview with McAnally<\/a>, and you can find tickets for tonight\u2019s show at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Sold out<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s Surreal Films Night at the Dali Museum is sold out.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s freeFall Theatre cabaret from Raleigh Mosely II and Jazzmin Carson is sold out.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s all-jazz John Lamb Birthday Concert at the Side Door Cabaret is sold out. Lamb, 92, guests on Friday\u2019s Arts Alive! podcast, along with vocalist (and even organizer) Bryan J. Hughes.<\/p>\n

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Great guitars<\/p>\n

Friday in the big room at the Palladium Theater: It\u2019s an intimate guitar concert, \u201cby candlelight,\u201d from world music artists Benise and Pavlo. Benise talks about the show in this Catalyst interview<\/a>, which includes the link for tickets.<\/p>\n

Friday at the Capitol Theatre: Acclaimed Canadian jazz and flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook. Tickets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jazz guitarist Al Di Meola (with his acoustic trio) returns to the Capitol Theatre Sunday. Tickets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\nWhere\u2019s the orchestra?<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s big concert from The Florida Orchestra, The Billy Joel Songbook, is presented Friday at Ferguson Hall (inside Tampa\u2019s Straz Center) and Saturday at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Pete. A couple of rock instruments will join the orchestra, as you might expect, and the spotlit singer and piano man (the erstwhile Mr. Joel) is Tony DeSare. All tickets are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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More concerts
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Tig Notaro is at the Tampa Theatre Friday. Photo: Funny Or Die.<\/p>\n

Blue Man Group has five shows in Morsani Hall (Straz Center) Friday through Sunday. Tickets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Standup comic Tig Notaro is onstage Friday at the Tampa Theatre. Ticket link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Standup comic Kevin James (late of TV\u2019s King of Queens) returns for his annual bay area concert, Friday at the Capitol Theatre. Ticket link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also back at the Cap (Saturday): Folk music icon Judy Collins. Tickets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jazz vibraphone legend Chuck Redd, who recently made headlines by canceling a scheduled date at New York\u2019s Kennedy Center for the Arts, plays the New Tampa Performing Arts Center Saturday, with La Lucha. Find tickets (and info) at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Saturday at the Tampa Theatre: Bored Teachers \u201cIs It Friday Yet?!\u201d Comedy Tour. Tickets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sunday brings Americana artist Gregory Alan Isakov to the Mahaffey Theater. Tickets are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Assuming he shows up, British singer Morrissey will be at the Mahaffey Theater Tuesday (Jan. 20). This is a makeup date, as he postponed the last one (in May) with two days\u2019 notice. The ex-Smiths frontman is notorious for such things. Here\u2019s the ticket link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Your Weekend Spotlight<\/a>\u00a0appears every Thursday in the\u00a0Catalyst\u2019s CREATE section.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Please add us to your mailing list \u2013 send all press releases and event info to\u00a0bill@stpetecatalyst.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can also submit your events to the\u00a0Catalyst\u00a0calendar, by clicking\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the curtain goes up on three new plays \u2013 one in St. Petersburg, two in Tampa \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-119001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}