Asolo Repertory Theatre: A Complete Guide to Sarasota's Historic Stage

Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, is a world-class regional theatre destination rooted in a remarkable transatlantic legacy. Operating out of the FSU Center for the Performing Arts as well as the nearby Ringling Estate, Asolo Rep produces a vibrant mix of grand musicals, classical masterworks, provocative modern dramas, and conservatory stagings. Known historically as Florida's first State Theatre and a founding member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), Asolo Rep combines an acclaimed professional acting company with the elite FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training across three distinctive venues: the Harold E. and Esther M. Mertz Theatre, the Jane B. Cook Theatre, and the 1798 Historic Asolo Theater.

What is the history of Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota?

The story of Asolo Repertory Theatre is one of the most unusual and romantic origin tales in American theatre history. The company takes its name from Asolo, Italy, a scenic hill town in the northern Italian countryside. In 1798, an ornate jewel-box theatre was constructed inside a Renaissance-era palace in Asolo. It stood and operated there until 1931, when it was carefully dismantled to make room for a modern cinema. The theatre's decorative panels, hand-carved proscenium, painted historic features, and gilded stage boxes were placed into storage, where they remained hidden away until 1949.

That year, Everett "Chick" Austin, the visionary first director of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, discovered the dismantled 18th-century interior and acquired it for the museum. By 1952, the antique playhouse was reassembled and constituted as an art gallery on the Ringling Estate, making its debut as a live performance venue that same year and creating a central gathering place for the performing arts on Florida's Gulf Coast.

Live theatre quickly took permanent root inside this historic Italian space. In 1959, an inspiring staging of Clifford Odets' The Country Girl brought together key theatre artists including Richard G. Fallon, Howard J. Millman, Isa Thomas, and Eberle Thomas, alongside Florida State University (FSU) faculty members Arthur Dorlag and Charles I. Reimer. The momentum from that project led FSU faculty to establish a dedicated summer acting company in 1960 known as the Asolo Theatre Festival. The festival immediately caught attention for its company of strong performers, historical authenticity, and the marriage of classic scripts with an authentic period setting.

By 1962, the festival had broadened its repertory across dramatic history, mounting William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew alongside Edmond Rostand's late 19th-century classic Cyrano de Bergerac. General Director Richard G. Fallon aimed to shape the organization into a premier professional repertory institution. The effort earned national acclaim; in 1964, The Saturday Review theatre critic Henry Hewes famously observed: "There are two theaters in North America worth the price of admission simply to enter and be seated… the Stratford, Ontario Festival Theatre and the Asolo."

Milestones followed in rapid succession:

• 1965: The Florida state legislature officially designated the Asolo Theatre as the first State Theatre of Florida, accompanied by federal funding to launch an ambitious touring troupe.
• 1966: The company transitioned into a full year-round producing operation, joined the prestigious League of Resident Theatres (LORT) as a founding member, and became known as the Asolo Theatre Company. The annual schedule expanded to at least eight main productions inside the Historic Asolo Theatre alongside touring runs. Fallon named veteran actor-directors Robert Strane and Eberle Thomas as Co-Artistic Directors.
• 1968: FSU began placing student actors into internships with the professional company. Howard J. Millman was named the theatre's first Managing Director, a position he held through 1980 before returning decades later as Producing Artistic Director in 1995.
• 1970: The company inaugurated a dedicated youth touring wing that brought live theatrical productions to hundreds of thousands of students throughout Florida and across the Eastern United States through the 1990s.
• 1973: Florida State University relocated its MFA in Acting program to Sarasota, giving birth to the acclaimed FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training.
• 1975: The company created Asolo Stage Two in downtown Sarasota to mount full seasons of alternative programming, with Linda DiGabriele stepping in as Tour Director following her work stage managing Stage Two.
• 1976–1977: Asolo Rep gained national broadcast attention when PBS's Theatre in America selected the company as one of only eight regional troupes in the country to be featured, broadcasting its production of Sidney Kingsley's The Patriots in 1976. The company returned to PBS screens in 1977 with S.N. Behrman's End of Summer, starring Helen Hayes.
• 1981–1983: Artistic Director Robert Strane concluded 21 years of artistic leadership with the 1981 season, paving the way for John Ulmer to assume artistic leadership in 1983.
• 1989: Having outgrown the capacity of the original 18th-century jewel-box stage, the company moved into the newly built FSU Center for the Performing Arts in December 1989, expanding its production scale across modern performance spaces while continuing its deep community roots.

What performance spaces and stages make up Asolo Rep?

Today, Asolo Repertory Theatre’s productions take place across three distinct auditoriums located in northern Sarasota:

Harold E. and Esther M. Mertz Theatre The Mertz Theatre serves as Asolo Rep's primary performance home and mainstage. Seating 535 patrons, this elegant facility combines a multi-tier horseshoe layout with cutting-edge theatrical technology. It hosts the professional acting company's large-scale repertory productions, featuring complex scenery, expansive musical ensembles, and classic works.

Jane B. Cook Theatre Located within the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, the modern 161-seat Jane B. Cook Theatre is an intimate venue tailored for close audience engagement. The space creates an immediate, personal dynamic between actors and viewers. The Cook Theatre serves as the primary stage for the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training while also hosting smaller, focused Asolo Rep productions.

Historic Asolo Theater Located nearby on the grounds of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art estate, the Historic Asolo Theater (often affectionately called "The HAT") seats 287 patrons. This jewel-box opera house preserves the 1798 Italian woodwork, ornate tiers of boxes, and gilded decorative panels imported from Italy. Fully restored and fitted with modern performance technology, it is utilized by Asolo Rep’s professional company for select shows as well as serving as the home for The Ringling's global performance series.

How are the seating, capacity, and sightlines across the theatres?

Because each venue was created for a different era and production scale, audiences experience three noticeably different viewpoints:

• Mertz Theatre (535 Seats): Designed in a classical horseshoe tier configuration, the Mertz balances grandeur with clear sightlines. The tiered seating wraps slightly toward the stage, preserving unobstructed views across both the orchestra level and elevated sections while supporting large set pieces and full lighting grids.
• Cook Theatre (161 Seats): Built for direct focus, the Cook Theatre features raked rows with handrails that look down closely over the stage floor. With only 161 seats, no patron sits far from the performers, making every facial expression, whispered line, and subtle emotional shift distinctly legible.
• Historic Asolo Theater (287 Seats): Sitting in this room feels like stepping into 18th-century northern Italy. Patrons occupy an intimate jewel-box chamber surrounded by historic tier boxes and ornate decorative proscenium framing. Because of the vintage architectural footprint, the sightlines offer a compact, enclosed experience where audiences share a singular, historical visual field.

What shows and repertory seasons does Asolo Rep produce?

Asolo Rep builds its seasons around large-scale rotating repertory works, classic American masterworks, modern dramas, and new theatrical writing. The theatre offers full eight-production subscription packages featuring priority seating, flexible ticket exchanges, and subscriber benefits.

Main Stage Programming The Mertz Theatre hosts Asolo Rep's major mainstage titles. Recent and upcoming programming includes:

• Singin' in the Rain
• August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
• The Royal Family
• The Day the Circus Came to Town
• Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

Second Stage Programming Complementing the grand productions on the mainstage, Asolo Rep’s Second Stage programming offers intimate, agile, and concept-driven storytelling. Featured titles include:

• Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play
• Provenance
• Bootleg America: Sings 1927

Past production history across the stages also includes celebrated drama such as Goodnight, Oscar, classic Shakespearean masterworks, and historic American works.

What training and community programs are affiliated with the theatre?

Education, actor mentorship, and civic engagement have been embedded in Asolo Rep since its founding by FSU faculty in the late 1950s:

• FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training: Established in 1973 when Florida State University moved its Master of Fine Arts acting program to Sarasota, the Conservatory mentors young actors who train and perform alongside the professional company.
• Youth and Regional Touring: Beginning in 1970, Asolo Rep launched dedicated touring initiatives designed for young audiences, traveling across schools and community centers in Florida and throughout the Eastern United States for decades.
• Community Support and Involvement: The organization maintains an active network of volunteers, donors, and supporters who contribute to special events and educational initiatives. Patrons stay connected through the "Call Sheet," Asolo Rep's weekly email publication featuring artist interviews and backstage updates.
• Artist Residencies: The affiliated Historic Asolo Theater at The Ringling supports ongoing artistic growth through its Artist in Residence program, providing creative working environments for emerging and established creators to build new performance projects.

Where is Asolo Repertory Theatre located and how do you visit?

Asolo Repertory Theatre is situated in Sarasota, Florida, operating primarily out of the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, with select productions staged in the Historic Asolo Theater located on the grounds of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

• Tickets and Subscriptions: Single tickets and eight-production subscription packages are available directly through Asolo Rep's ticketing office and online portals.
• Historic Asolo Theater Box Office: Visitors attending productions at the Historic Asolo Theater enter through the Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion on the Ringling Estate. The box office is located at the rear of the Glass Pavilion and is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (reachable by phone at 941-360-7399 or by email at tickets@ringling.org).

Asolo Repertory Theatre vs. a Home Musical

Attending a performance at Asolo Repertory Theatre and hosting an intimate performance through Home Musical offer two distinct approaches to experiencing live theatre in Florida.

Asolo Rep provides the grandeur, history, and technical brilliance of an established regional repertory company. Across the 535-seat Mertz Theatre, the 161-seat Cook Theatre, and the 287-seat Historic Asolo Theater, audiences enjoy lavish scenic builds, dynamic fly systems, full lighting rigs, professional acting ensembles, and eight-show seasons running from classic Golden Age musicals to hard-hitting August Wilson dramas. However, traditional regional theatre comes with fixed performance schedules, ticket costs, travel across the Sarasota area, assigned seating, and the formal boundaries that naturally divide performers on elevated stages from hundreds of patrons sitting quietly in the dark.

Home Musical takes the opposite path by stripping away the proscenium entirely. Instead of asking audiences to travel to an institutional auditorium, Home Musical brings a one-act, roughly 60-minute, one-person musical directly into living rooms, backyards, art galleries, churches, and other non-traditional neighborhood spaces. There is no fly system, no tiered balcony, and no elaborate backstage crew; the focus belongs entirely to one performer telling a direct, compelling musical story right in front of your eyes.

For hosts, the arrangement is free to produce, and unlike traditional commercial stages where recording is strictly banned, filming and sharing moments online is warmly encouraged. The trade-off is one of scale: a private living room or courtyard cannot match the 535-seat technical majesty of the Mertz Theatre, and attendance is limited to the friends and neighbors you can gather into your space. Choosing between Asolo Rep and a Home Musical is simply a choice of setting: one delivers the majestic scope of a historic Florida institution, while the other turns your everyday home into an unforgettable, front-row musical experience.

Sources

• [Asolo Repertory Theatre](https://asolorep.org/)
• [Asolo Rep Seating Charts](https://asolorep.org/seating-maps/)
• [Asolo Repertory Theatre History](https://asolorep.org/about-us/history/)
• [Historic Asolo Theater - The Ringling Museum](https://www.ringling.org/visit/venues/historic-asolo-theater/)
• [Historic Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Florida - Facebook Post](https://www.facebook.com/groups/172233629516340/posts/30739753995670902/)