- February 17, 2026
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Nearly a century after its founding, and following five years of a somewhat nomadic existence, The Sarasota Players has embarked on a renewed focus of its core principals.
That begins with the renovation of its new performance space in Payne Park Auditorium, which the organization has leased from the city of Sarasota. That work is expected to begin in February with completion anticipated in mid to late 2026.
Gone is the concept of adding a new performance hall structure to the existing auditorium building, which encountered too many public and logistical obstacles to make it feasible. Also gone, it seems likely, is the idea of eventually building a performance hall on city property along South Washington Boulevard adjacent to Payne Park. The Stage at Payne Park, a subsidiary of The Players Inc. formed to operate all of that, has been dissolved.
Even the organization's name was changed from The Players Centre for Performing Arts to, simply, The Sarasota Players.
Finally, in December a reconstituted board of trustees thanked former CEO William Skaggs for his five years of managing the organization and efforts to find a permanent home before parting ways. With its facility finally secured, the board said the position of CEO was no longer needed.
Sarasota Players sold its home of more than 80 years at 838 N. Tamiami Trail in 2018 with a plan to take the $9.5 million in proceeds and reinvest in a new facility at Waterside Place in Lakewood Ranch. That plan never materialized.
Since leaving downtown in 2021, it has held performances in a 140-seat former retail space in The Crossings at Siesta Key with an eye toward returning to downtown. The Players first floated the idea of taking over management and renovating Municipal Auditorium, but that responsibility was ceded to the Bay Park Conservancy.
The focused then shifted to Payne Park Auditorium with even grander plans to connect a new 17,300-square-foot structure two-story structure — effectively tripling the size — and make the facility the epicenter of the vast array of local performing arts groups in need of space.
Meeting with considerable neighborhood resistance and technical obstacles related to the site, in October 2024 The Players ultimately settled for leasing and renovating the auditorium as is with an eye toward the possibility of developing the Washington Boulevard site at a later date.
Since then, considerable organizational changes have occurred.
“The scope of this project has ebbed and flowed significantly. I think the reality of our leadership team now is we need to really be responsible and responsive to our mission as a community theater,” board Chair Katie Weiss said. “It’s not as an enterprise arts organization, and in my mind that's when you build a complex with multiple theater spaces and big event halls. That’s a different intent. Our mission is very simple, and as a community theater we really just need a space that supports the programming that we're developing.”
To achieve that space, Sarasota Players has contracted Sarasota Architect C. Alan Anderson, whose work includes collaborations with Florida Studio Theatre and West Coast Black Theatre Troupe. Other than minor exterior enhancements, the focus of the renovation is the interior, where Weiss said a flexible theater space designed to seat approximately 200 will be built within the building.
“It’s essentially a little jewel box within the greater space,” Weiss said.
Interior walls will be added to create a more intimate environment serving the dual purpose of providing backstage, storage and dressing rooms where that space does not currently exist.
Seating configurations will be flexible to allow for performances with audiences front-facing, on three sides or in the round.
“The way the building was built it was intended to host sock hops and yoga class,” Weiss said. “The configuration doesn't support what we need for a performance venue, so we are essentially building a theater within the exterior walls.”
Among the goals of the previous iteration was for the former The Stage at Payne Park to administer the facility for the benefit of multiple local arts organizations that have no permanent performance space of their own. Weiss said that prospect remains open, albeit in a less formal structure. Payne Park Auditorium will be first and foremost for Sarasota Players, but available to others as well.
In February, Sarasota Players revealed a $2.5 million renovation project for the auditorium. A schematic by Fleischman Garcia Maslowski Architecture appears not too unlike the box-within-a-building concept currently planned with functional space tucked behind newly added walls.
Weiss said there is currently no firm cost to report for plans being drafted by Anderson.
“This is such a pivotal pursuit for The Players,” she said. “I feel like we've been nomadic since the previous building was sold. I'm so proud of what our artistic community has been able to produce in the little mall space that we've had, so we're really excited about moving into this new space, being able to make it our own and then also offer it to support other community endeavors, especially within the arts.”
