Florida State University Center for the Performing Arts - Mertz Theatre

 
Theatre
5555 North Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, FL 34243

Box Office Phone:
(800) 361-8388
Box Office Hours:
Mon: 10am-4pm; Tue-Sat: 10am-7pm; Sun: 10am-1pm
Event
Deathtrap
Open: Mar-30 2011
Close: May-14 2011

A devilishly clever, suspense-filled thrill ride from a masterful mystery writer at the top of his deadly game.

Sidney Bruhl was once a celebrated playwright famous for his intricate thrillers. Now slightly past his prime, he enlists an ambitious younger writer, Clifford, to help him pen his deadliest tale yet. But as Clifford secretly begins writing his own version of Sidney’s life story, and the quirky psychic next door begins to have real premonitions of murder, events quickly spiral...
 
Event
Las Meninas
Open: Mar-16 2011
Close: May-15 2011

Scandal, seduction, intrigue. An illicit love affair in the royal house of France. A fiercly imaginative look at a rare and beautiful story.

A story of an unlikely friendship, and an even unlikelier romance, unfolds in the royal court of 17th century France. Queen Marie-Therese longs for the love and attention of her husband, King Louis XIV, but when she receives a mysterious gift – an African man named Nabo – her entire world changes. From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and internationally...
 
Event
The Best of Broadway
Open: Feb-14 2011
Close: Feb-14 2011

Real life sweethearts and superb Broadway Les Misérables duo Barbra Russell and Ron Sharpe perform the best of Broadway’s music. From Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy to hits from West Side Story, Carousel, Les Misérables, Phantom and A Tale of Two Cities; plus, modern shows like The Spelling Bee and Avenue Q. Post-show reception can also be purchased.
 
Event
Boeing Boeing
Open: Jan-19 2011
Close: Apr-23 2011

What seems to be the ultimate fantasy bachelor life, with intricately scheduled gorgeous flight attendants, turns out ?to be a dizzingly hilarious over-the-top ride for one man, who finds out that one woman is all he can handle.

A high style, knee-slapping romp through the age of glamorous, jet-setting air travel. The debonair Bernard, an architect living in Paris, is juggling relationships with three vivacious flight attendants – each of whom believes she is his only girl. All goes...
 
Event
Twelve Angry Men
Open: Jan-12 2011
Close: Mar-26 2011

Twelve strangers united only by their civic duty struggle to make the right decision in this contemporary classic. The jury’s electric debate over a young man’s fate will keep you riveted ‘til the final curtain.

A gripping contemporary classic about a young man on trial for allegedly murdering his father, but one lone juror among the twelve is not convinced the boy is guilty. As he examines all the possibilities of what might have happened the night of the murder, his open-minded...
 
Event
La Bête
Open: Jan-05 2011
Close: Feb-20 2011

A great classical actor fights to protect tradition from the new, the outrageous, the vulgar, the truly popular. A riotously hilarious and theatrically brilliant struggle that may have no winners. This sharply funny comedy follows a 17th century acting troupe whose financier/patron forces them to add an actor to their ensemble – the street-performer Valere. Trouble soon follows when the troupe’s cultured leader hates the new actor. But Valere soon charms the troupe, and the audience, with his...
 
Event
Bonnie & Clyde
Open: Nov-12 2010
Close: Dec-19 2010

West Dallas, Texas. 1930. Clyde Barrow was a brazen 22-year-old who wanted a better life than his hard-working parents, barely able to survive the Depression. 19-year-old Bonnie Parker was a pretty, straight-A student with a flair for poetry, dreams of Broadway and desperate to escape her small town life. Together, it was love at first sight and one wild ride that took them from poverty to infamy on a two-year crime spree that tantalized the dark side of America’s imagination.

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Event
Loan Sharking
Open: Oct-14 2010
Close: Oct-17 2010

Street cool meets high-art as choreographer Victor Quijada transforms hyperkinetic hip-hop into a blisteringly vibrant, richly textured choreography.

Presented by Rubberbandance Group
 
Event
Opening Night
Open: Oct-14 2010
Close: Oct-17 2010

Les SlovaksLes Slovaks: Five Slovak dancers residing in Brussels create an exuberant and contagious union of folk-inspired music and imaginative, modern dance movement.
 
Event
Solos with Mikhail Baryshnikov & David Neumann
Open: Oct-13 2010
Close: Oct-15 2010

A fusion of grace and prankish humor, this program features the following four solos:

David Neumann: World Premiere RIAF Commission, Tough the Tough (redux), text by Will Eno: danced by David Neumann

Benjamin Millepied: Years Later (music by Philip Glass): danced by Mikhail Baryshnikov

David Neumann: Dose (music by Tom Waits): danced by David Neumann

Alexei Ratmansky: Valse-fantasie (music by Mikhail Glinka): danced by Mikhail Baryshnikov
 
Event
The Life of Galileo
Open: Dec-11 2009
Close: Feb-17 2010

A thrilling dramatic masterpiece! Filled with a complex blend of drama and biting humor, The Life of Galileo investigates the very nature of knowledge itself. Don't miss the unforgettable work about the conflict between reason and faith in this, the "International Year of Astronomy."

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