Venice Theatre's Fall Season Runs on Its Smaller Stages While the Jervey Gets Ready for February

Rebuilding the hurricane-damaged Jervey Theatre "influenced every decision" about which shows Venice Theatre would stage in 2026-27. That's how Interim Artistic Director Murray Chase put it in a May interview with WUSF. If you hold a ticket this fall at 140 Tampa Ave. W., you can see that decision in the calendar. Every production on the calendar between now and early February plays one of the theatre's two smaller rooms. The 432-seat mainstage is aiming for test nights in late January and a first full production in February.

Freaky Friday opens Friday, Oct. 30. The rest of the season works around a building that isn't open yet.

The opening date moved twice before it settled on February

Hurricane Ian hit the theatre on September 28, 2022. Its high winds and rain brought down the Jervey's back wall and its 30-year-old fly tower, according to Our Town Sarasota. The rebuild has taken longer than planned, and Chase told WUSF the target had already moved more than once:

1. The first hope was to finish in time for AACT WorldFest in June 2026, the international community theater festival Venice Theatre has hosted since 2010.
2. After that, the goal was November, in time for the theatre's original musical version of "A Christmas Carol."
3. The current target is Feb. 19, 2027, the opening night of "Kinky Boots."

The theatre's donation page still gives February 2027 as the reopening plan. It says the building is "more than 80% funded and built" and that the final phase, "filling the theatre," is underway. A WWSB report from May said all construction should be finished by spring 2027. So the opening night falls a little before the last construction work is done.

Chase was candid about what happens if the date slips again:

"People have been waiting for 'Kinky Boots' for a long time, so we'd probably wait to produce it until we're ready."

Chase told WUSF the theatre would likely change titles if the opening moves again.

Why "Kinky Boots" gets the first night

"Kinky Boots" was in rehearsal when Ian tore through the building. More than four years later, the show that was cut off by the storm is the one picked to reopen the room. That choice also explains the contingency plan. The theatre would rather move a different title into the opening slot than open "Kinky Boots" in a building that isn't ready.

Chase has deep ties to the project. He joined Venice Theatre in 1995 and spent years as artistic director, executive director or both. He was named interim artistic director in 2025 after leading the Jervey renovation.

This fall belongs to the Raymond Center and the Pinkerton

Two rooms have kept the theatre running. The Pinkerton Theatre, an intimate black box, came through the storm mostly undamaged. The Raymond Center is a former law office and one-time Venice Public Library that was supposed to become the theatre's education building. After Ian it was quickly turned into a temporary stage. The theatre's donation page calls the Raymond Center its temporary "main" stage while the Jervey is under construction.

Here's the published schedule from now through the holidays, by room:

Pinkerton Theatre

• "Lizzie," a rock musical about Lizzie Borden, through Nov. 1
• "August: Osage County," Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning family drama, Nov. 19 to Dec. 13

Raymond Center

• "Freaky Friday," the body-swap musical with a score by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Oct. 30 to Nov. 22
• "A Christmas Carol," the theatre's original musical adaptation, Dec. 9 to 22

Seating space is the practical limit. When the theatre planned this June's WorldFest, Chase told WUSF it would sell fewer tickets "because of more limited seating in its two operating venues." That same constraint applies to every show this fall, including "A Christmas Carol," the holiday tradition the theatre once hoped to bring back to the Jervey.

January is the test run, and Jervey tickets wait on a seating chart

The plan for the start of 2027 has several steps. Chase told WUSF that staff expect to get into the building in January and expect a temporary certificate of occupancy that month. That would let the theatre "open in the last week of January with a series of one-nighters and concerts, to sort of kick the tires and make sure things are working."

Meanwhile the smaller rooms stay busy. "Catfish Moon" runs Jan. 15 to Feb. 7 at the Raymond Center. "Blood of the Lamb," a regional premiere by Bradenton-raised playwright Arlene Hutton, runs Jan. 22 to Feb. 7 in the Pinkerton. Both close 12 days before "Kinky Boots" opens.

From February on, the season spreads across three stages:

You can't buy tickets for the Jervey shows yet. The theatre's 2026-27 season page says "Kinky Boots," The Silver Foxes, "Come From Away," Pinky's Players and the concerts "will go on sale as soon as the new Jervey Theatre seating chart is available." Raymond 4 and Golden subscriptions are no longer on sale. That leaves single tickets, released once the chart exists, as the way into the reopened room.

What's different inside the rebuilt Jervey

The seat count stays the same. WWSB reported that all 432 seats will return and nearly everything else will be new, including safer staircases, a stage lift and a new orchestra room. The theatre says it has settled on dark blue fabric for its new "patron-tested" chairs and has ordered all 432 of them.

From Tampa Avenue, the biggest change is the fly loft. According to WWSB's May report, the new tower rises 75 feet and has a scalloped, wave-like shape that was computer-modeled to disperse wind. The same report described the ghost light that stood on the Jervey stage when Ian hit. It's the single bare bulb theatres keep on an empty stage, and it now sits in the lobby and stays lit.

Executive Director Kristofer Geddie told Our Town Sarasota that the building has been "retrofitted or in some kind of renovation" since 1973. "This is the first time we have a space being designed and built to do its particular job," he said. The orchestra room will carry the names of William and Sara Gill. In January they announced a $1 million matching challenge that ran through May 2026.

The price is fixed, but the amount still needed isn't

The theatre calls $25 million the final price. That figure includes $5.9 million already spent on repairs. It also covers rebuilding and fitting out the Jervey, adding the temporary stage at the Raymond Center, a contingency fund and insurance deductibles for future claims. As of January, Our Town Sarasota reported the campaign still needed about $5 million. The theatre's current page says the project is more than 80% funded and built.

Camille Cline, the theatre's director of advancement, explained to WUSF why that number keeps moving. "I'm going to say we need $5 million until we only need $100,000," she said, because the cost of what goes into the building keeps changing until every delivery is paid for. The theatre took out a loan from Seacoast Bank so construction wouldn't have to stop while it waits for government grants to be reimbursed.

Local government has contributed as well. The City of Venice made a $125,000 matching grant toward the Jervey restoration. On May 5, the Sarasota County Commission voted unanimously to award the theatre $2 million in federal post-Ian funds. That money will turn the Raymond Center into the Raymond Center for Education, which was the plan for that building before the hurricane. Once the Jervey is open, the room hosting "Freaky Friday" and "A Christmas Carol" this fall can go back to its original purpose.

If you'd like to talk about downtown Venice, from show nights on Tampa Avenue to anything else, Jill Baldwin is happy to help. I follow this season closely and can share what I'm hearing around town about the Jervey as January gets closer. Let's Connect.