- September 5, 2026
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When a visitor arrives at Manatee Performing Arts Center, Manatee Players Producing Artistic Director Rick Kerby gives a quick tour before suggesting a move to his office for a “view of the bridge.” Given the theater’s location, the out-of-towner naturally assumes it’s a bridge over the Manatee River leading to Palmetto. But it's something else altogether.
Kerby’s talking about a bridge that connects MPAC to Sara’s Studios, a new $12.6 million rehearsal and education complex under construction next door. Some might see it as a bridge to the future, since Sara’s Studios will be the new home of The Pops Orchestra of Sarasota and Bradenton and will provide rehearsal space for other arts groups.
Next door to Kerby’s office sits another one occupied by MPAC CEO Janene Amick. She’s been busy finalizing details of an exploratory partnership with Point Park University, an arts college based in Pittsburgh, that was announced Aug. 12.
Any agreement would have to be approved by educational authorities in both Pennsylvania and Florida, but it appears that a Bradenton campus of Point Park’s respected Conservatory of Performing Arts is in the offing.
The partnership would strengthen the ties between Pittsburgh and Bradenton, where the Pittsburgh Pirates have held spring training since 1969.
The 31,000-square-foot Sara’s Studios, named for one-half of donors Sara and Steve Bayard, is being built by Bradenton’s NDC Construction. They know their way around the neighborhood. Just down the street, they built the $15.5 million Herrig Center for the Arts, which officially opened in April.
Formerly known as ArtCenter Manatee, the Herrig Center is part of Bradenton’s ever-expanding arts district, which also includes the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature.
The noise of construction and news of a possible Point Park campus are just part of the hubbub at MPAC in the late afternoon of Aug. 13. Down in the lobby, tickets are being sold and the snack bar is dispensing refreshments ahead of that evening’s performance of “Fame: The Musical,” a youth-driven production set in New York City’s High School for the Performing Arts.
But all of these developments, whether it be a new building or a thriving community theater, didn’t happen overnight. They are the result of many years of hard work on the part of Amick and Perry, who some have dubbed the “dynamic duo,” not to mention generous donors and dedicated volunteers.
Theater mavens may know that the Manatee Players is based in a $20 million complex that opened in 2013. It houses two theaters — the 350-seat Stone Theatre and the black-box Kiwanis Theatre, which seats 100 depending on the configuration. Black-box theaters aren’t necessarily black; the term is used to describe theaters with flexible seating arrangements.
The Stone Theatre was named for donor Cora May Stone, who remembered the organization that does business as the Florida Cultural Group in her will.
Stone’s $2 million bequest to build a theater for the Manatee Players came with strings attached. Construction on the new building had to begin within a year or the money would be given to animal welfare organizations in the area. “We used to say, ‘We needed to get going or the money is going to the dogs,’” quipped Kerby.
Like their neighbor, Herrig Center Executive Director Carla Nierman, both Kerby and Amick have racked up long tenures. Kerby joined Manatee Players in 2003 after a two-decade career in Broadway touring productions and the USO in New York City. He came to Florida on vacation to escape the gloom that descended on the city in the wake of 9/11 and decided to stay when he was offered a job by Manatee Players.
Amick joined Florida Cultural Group two years later. A mother of two, Amick has served as president of the Bradenton Kiwanis Club and has been honored on more than one occasion for her leadership in Bradenton’s business and cultural community.
Although job-hopping in the executive suite has become more common in recent years, the longevity of the Bradenton arts leaders is a plus when it comes to lining up financing for major construction projects and getting them built. New arts and education centers, whether they’re for visual or performing arts, have long lead times.
Given the accomplishments at MPAC, Kerby is surprisingly low-key. His “aw-shucks” demeanor is the real thing. He hails from a farm in rural Kentucky and got his first break on Broadway as a member of the cast of “Oklahoma” in a touring production.
He followed that role up with a part in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” another big success on the road. “You could say I made a career of being a musical cowboy,” he jokes. He’s also won notices for playing bad guys, like the hoodlum Riff in “West Side Story.”
In any event, it’s becoming clear that one-liners just roll off Kerby’s tongue. Humor is definitely in his wheelhouse.
Back in high school, Kerby had his eye on Eastern Kentucky University. By the end of his junior year, he knew he could qualify for a scholarship. But in order to be placed in the musical theater track, he would have to perform a dance audition. He played the trumpet and could sing, but “my only knowledge of dancing was clog dancing,” he says.
Sitting at his desk overlooking the new bridge to Sara’s Studios, Kerby credits his success to a woman named Earla True Robbins. She was the only dance teacher in Kerby’s hometown of Irvine, Kentucky. “She taught in her parents’ basement and if I raised my hands, they would touch the ceiling,” he says.
Robbins took dance lessons for a year on the sly and paid for them with money he earned by playing “Taps” on his trumpet at funerals and other events.
The big surprise to Kerby and his teacher was that he was a natural dancer. “I was flexible and coordinated. It probably helped that I had taken a lot of karate,” Kerby says.
As Sarasota theatergoers know, it’s not unusual for local actors to perform at all three community theaters in the region — The Sarasota Players, Venice Theatre and Manatee Players.
In Manatee Players’ “Fame,” Zion Thompson played one of the lead characters. Patrons of Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe may remember Thompson as Cory, the stymied son of a frustrated garbage truck driver in WBTT's 2025 production of August Wilson’s “Fences.”
Theater kids have plenty of options to explore their talents in Sarasota and Manatee counties, for sure. But the large stage at MPAC is well-suited for musicals with large casts that gave Kerby his start. However, he doesn’t direct everything at the community theater. Cynthia Ashford directed and choreographed of “Fame: The Musical,” which ran Aug. 6-16.
Another area where Manatee Players excels is in lighting, video and special effects. It has the benefit of owning a relatively new theater with advanced sound and lighting equipment. The troupe doesn’t rely on volunteers to operate those bells and whistles, however. “We hire the same contractors who work at the Van Wezel and other stages,” Kerby says.
With a history of big, ambitious musicals under his belt, both as a Broadway performer and as a director/choreographer at Manatee Players, we couldn’t resist asking Kerby which one is his favorite. He paused before answering, “That’s a hard one. But if I had to choose, it would be ‘Miss Saigon.’”
That was the musical that Manatee Players opened with when it moved to its new home in MPAC back in 2013. Did Kerby’s rendition include the “helicopter” landing on the stage? Indeed, it did.
So what do you do for an encore?
Just deliver, solid theater year in and year out, train a new generation of performers and give talented nonprofessionals the elusive “third place.” That’s the one between work and home where you can find community and friendship.
Manatee Players stages its musicals in the Stone Theatre and presents its “straight” plays in the Kiwanis Theatre. Among the blockbuster musicals on tap for the 2026-27 season are “Dear Evan Hansen” (Oct. 22-Nov. 1), “Anastasia” (Dec. 3-13) and “Guys and Dolls” (April 22-May 2).
Next up on stage in the Kiwanis Theatre is “Arsenic and Old Lace,” which runs Sept. 3-13. It’s one of five plays in the pipeline for the 2026-27 season. The murderous classic will be followed by “Carrie,” which runs Oct. 15-Nov. 1.
Theater kids don’t go trick or treating; they get their thrills and chills by performing in scary musicals. “You gotta have something for Halloween,” says Kerby. “The kids expect it.” So do the adults.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the name of NDC Construction and the title of Producing Artistic Director Rick Kerby.
