Renovation plans for Payne Park Auditorium revealed

The Sarasota Players will invest $2.5 million to convert the city-owned building into a contemporary performance venue.


A rendering of Payne Park Auditorium by Fleischman Garcia Maslowski Architecture shows modern enhancements while maintaining the 1960s-era aesthetic.
A rendering of Payne Park Auditorium by Fleischman Garcia Maslowski Architecture shows modern enhancements while maintaining the 1960s-era aesthetic.
Courtesy image
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With plans to convert the city-owned Payne Park Auditorium into a dynamic contemporary theater space, The Sarasota Players has revealed its plans for a new 200-seat performance venue.

The 95-year-old organization, formerly branded The Players Centre for the Performing Arts, has released renderings of a renovation that maintains the structure's original 1960s aesthetic blended with modern enhancements. Designed by Fleischman Garcia Maslowski Architecture, the adaptive space will allow for a variety of productions and events.

“Our goal is to create a flexible, comfortable space that will accommodate plays, musicals, and community events,” said Sarasota Players CEO William Skaggs in a news release. “We are excited to unveil our architectural plans and renderings, which showcase a new lobby, expanded restrooms and so much more.”

On Oct. 18, 2024, the Sarasota City Commission unanimously approved a 30-year lease with The Players. The base term is a rent of $100 per year plus $1 per ticket sold for performances held by Sarasota Players and any other performing arts organizations there. It also left the door open for the organization to explore building a new facility on city-owned property on the northeast corner of South Washington Boulevard and Laurel Street, just a few hundred yards from Payne Park Auditorium.

For now, though, The Players is focusoig on Payne Park Auditorium.

"Our immediate focus is to get a new theatre up and running in Payne Park Auditorium," Skaggs told the Observer. "Conversations around ideas for the parcel on Washington are set aside while we focus and complete the renovation."

A rendering of the Payne Park auditorium floor plan by Fleischman Garcia Maslowski Architecture.
Courtesy image

Prior attempts by Sarasota Players and its facility construction and management subsidiary, The Stage at Payne Park, to build an addition to the auditorium were abandoned when it became clear the City Commission would not permit expansion in Payne Park. 

Approximately 250 spaces in close proximity to the auditorium with provide ample parking for the theater, according to the news release, which also stated The Players will also explore a valet and other services.

The announcement marks the end of an six-year search for a new home for The Players, which sold its home on U.S. 41 in 2018 for about $9.5 million, with plans to build a new facility in Waterside Village at Lakewood Ranch. While those plans fell through, it has operated since 2021 in converted retail space at The Crossings at Siesta Key shopping center. 

Construction is anticipated to begin by fall of 2025 with the goal of opening in late 2026, just in time for the start of a new theater season. With an estimated renovation cost of approximately $2.5 million, The Players is launching a fundraising campaign to secure community support for the project.

“We want to ensure a financially stable future for The Sarasota Players while creating a theater that will serve our community for generations to come,” said Skaggs in the release. “This vision will be realized and enhanced with the generosity and support of our community.”

This story was updated to remove a reference to William Skaggs as unavailable for comment.

 

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Andrew Warfield

Andrew Warfield is the Sarasota Observer city reporter. He is a four-decade veteran of print media. A Florida native, he has spent most of his career in the Carolinas as a writer and editor, nearly a decade as co-founder and editor of a community newspaper in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

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