{"id":22363,"date":"2025-10-27T15:45:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T15:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/22363\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T15:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T15:45:09","slug":"tampa-bay-theaters-join-forces-for-cadillac-crew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/22363\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay theaters join forces for ‘Cadillac Crew’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ProfessionalErica Sutherlin, Executive Director of Studio@620 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Credit: Joey Clay \/ Studio@620<\/a><\/p>\n

In Pittsburgh, three of the city\u2019s largest theaters are staring down spreadsheets that look like horror scripts. The Pittsburgh CLO, Public Theater, and City Theatre have admitted they\u2019re on \u201cthe brink of financial failure,\u201d and consultants are already floating the once-taboo word: merger.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in New York, Off-Broadway and regional companies are testing the opposite of turf wars: Long Wharf Theatre, the Sol Project, Latinx Playwright Circle, and WP Theatre are all co-producing a single show. That\u2019s four artistic directors, four boards, four sets of donors\u2014all in one kitchen trying to cook one meal. A few years ago, that would\u2019ve sounded like chaos. Now it looks like strategy.<\/p>\n

Across the country, regional theaters are in the same boat\u2014and sometimes the boat is on fire. Ticket sales are unpredictable, philanthropy is shrinking, and costs keep climbing. The old model of \u201cevery theater for itself\u201d is cracking.<\/p>\n

Which makes what\u2019s happening in St. Petersburg this November more than just a local story.<\/p>\n

Collaboration by choice, not crisis<\/p>\n

Powerstories Theatre and The Studio@620 are teaming up on\u00a0\u201cCadillac Crew,\u201d Tori Sampson\u2019s play about the women whose work powered the Civil Rights Movement but rarely made it into the history books. The production runs Nov. 6\u201316 at The Studio@620.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis play asks us to reckon with a question that is still urgent today: whose voices do we amplify, and whose labor do we overlook?\u201d said Erica Sutherlin, The Studio\u2019s artistic executive director and the show\u2019s director.<\/p>\n

On its face, it\u2019s a co-production. Zoom out, and it\u2019s a case study in how Tampa Bay theaters might adapt to the same pressures squeezing companies nationwide.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the two organizations even began sharing staff, with Director of Production John Milsap splitting his time between them. It\u2019s not a last-ditch move\u2014it\u2019s a deliberate one. While Pittsburgh considers consolidation to avoid collapse, Tampa Bay theaters are experimenting with collaboration to grow.<\/p>\n

The power of partnership<\/p>\n

For Powerstories,\u00a0\u201cCadillac Crew\u201d\u00a0closes a milestone 25th anniversary season. For The Studio@620, it opens one.<\/p>\n

\u201cClosing our 25th season with\u00a0\u2018Cadillac Crew\u2019\u00a0is both intentional and deeply meaningful,\u201d said Fran Powers, Powerstories founder. \u201cThis play embodies everything Powerstories stands for\u2014amplifying women\u2019s voices that history tried to silence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clareann Despain, Powerstories\u2019 artistic director, cut even closer to the bone: \u201c\u2018Cadillac Crew\u2019\u00a0\u00a0is more than history on stage. It\u2019s a mirror. It shows us how progress is often built on women\u2019s invisible labor\u2014and it challenges us to ask how much of that truth still holds today.\u201d<\/p>\n

You could say the same about the partnership itself. For decades, theaters have fought for attention, funding, and audiences like rival sports teams in the same division. Increasingly, the winning move is to pass the ball.<\/p>\n

More than a play<\/p>\n

The show is the centerpiece of a month-long civic conversation. Leading into the run: a\u00a0\u201cHidden Figures\u201d\u00a0film screening, a community panel on women\u2019s roles in the Civil Rights Movement led by journalist and playwright Jake-Ann Jones, and an exhibition called\u00a0\u201cThe Unseen Thread: Women Art as Movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a reminder that theater is rarely just about what happens on stage. When institutions collaborate, they can create ecosystems of events that stretch across disciplines and audiences\u2014something no single company could pull off alone.<\/p>\n

Why it matters now<\/p>\n

The national story is one of contraction. The local story could be one of reinvention.<\/p>\n

Partnerships like this don\u2019t erase the hard math\u2014tickets still need to sell, donors still need to give\u2014but they do something else: they flip the narrative from scarcity to solidarity.<\/p>\n

Or, as\u00a0\u201cCadillac Crew\u201d\u00a0itself suggests, they reveal the hidden labor holding everything up.<\/p>\n

If you go<\/p>\n

Tickets for \u201cCadillac Crew\u201d\u00a0by Tori Sampson, happening at Studio@620 in St. Petersburg Nov. 6-16 are still available and start at $25.<\/a><\/p>\n

This post<\/a> first appeared at TB Arts Passport, which is part of the Tampa Bay Journalism Project (TBJP), a nascent Creative Loafing Tampa Bay effort supported by grants and a coalition of donors who make specific contributions via the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation<\/a>. If you are a non-paywalled Bay area publication interested in TBJP, please email rroa@ctampa.com<\/a>. Support TB Arts Passport by subscribing to its free newsletter or becoming a paying Arts Passport Member<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n

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This article appears in Oct. 23 \u2013 29, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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