{"id":201619,"date":"2026-03-22T18:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T18:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/201619\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T18:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T18:50:11","slug":"tampa-bay-performing-arts-academy-expands-student-programs-with-new-125-seat-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/201619\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy expands student programs with new 125-seat theater"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New New theater for Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy<\/a> <\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy has moved into a new, larger facility with a 125-seat theater, classrooms and updated technology to expand its student programs. FOX 13’s Danielle Zulkosky reports.<\/p>\n

PALM HARBOR Fla. – It has been nearly 20 years since Tampa <\/a>Bay Performing Arts Academy\u00a0opened its doors for the first time.<\/p>\n

Now, that group has outgrown its original home.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the team moved into their new, larger space. The theater seats 125, where the previous theater only sat 85. It also has a new classroom, two bathrooms, updated facilities and technology to support their theater shows.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Courtesy: Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy <\/p>\n

READ: Kids receive crash course in performing arts at New Tampa Performing Arts Center Spring Break Camp<\/a><\/p>\n

Lisa Cane, the president and founder of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy, said this move has been a long time coming.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“It’s taken us two and [a] half years to get to where we were today, and to open this place, to\u00a0expand our outreach throughout the community and throughout the county to more and more kids,” Lisa said.<\/p>\n

Casey Cane is the chief operating officer of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy.<\/p>\n

“It’s just really exciting to see all the kids and all their faces light up coming through the front door,” Casey said. “It’s really neat.”<\/p>\n

One major goal for these educators is to get more kids into theater, dance and singing lessons.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Kimberly Snyder is the director of musical theater at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy. She teaches the youngest students.<\/p>\n

“A lot of the children here have continued to come back year after year after year, and just getting that experience of acting, singing and dancing, it’s just it’s just a really incredible opportunity for them,” Snyder said.<\/p>\n

Big picture view:<\/p>\n

It is about more than just putting on a show for these educators.<\/p>\n

“They’re learning life skills as well,” Snyder said. “They learn confidence first and foremost.”<\/p>\n

“So often we will have a student walk in, they maybe won’t even look you in the eye, they might be too shy to speak to you out loud, and before you know it, they’re standing on the stage in front of their peers expressing themselves, expressing who they are,” Lisa said.<\/p>\n

READ: Man shot, killed near I-4 and Plant City: HCSO<\/a><\/p>\n

“We’ve had kids come in here so shy,” Snyder said. “And we’re thinking, \u2018Do they really want to do this? Are they going to be able to get on stage?\u2019 And then they just blossom.”<\/p>\n

For this group, having the support of families and the community means the most.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“Their support has just been so touching to know that they believe in the mission of what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Lisa said. “They believe in what we’re all about, which is giving students those opportunities, helping them to become the best version of who they are.”<\/p>\n

“It allows us to continue to be successful and do the things that we do within the community,” Casey said.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy takes kids ages 3 to 18 and uses a panel of outside judges to cast the shows to keep it fair.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

They teach acting, dance, singing and musical theater. The academy also has an encore dance team.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story was gathered from interviews with the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy.<\/p>\n

Pinellas County<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New theater for Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy has moved into a new,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,115,1157,135,137,136,628],"class_list":["post-201619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-fl","tag-news","tag-pinellas","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201619","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=201619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}