5 minute read
EDWARDS
our nation’s leading performing arts organizations was just as interesting and rewarding.”
In his early years as Asolo Rep’s producing artistic director, Edwards still thought like a director. He focused on the plays he’d be directing, not the big picture.
“My idea of creating a season was picking shows that I wanted to direct,” he said in an interview with The Observer. “I directed three plays in my first two seasons. I don’t know how I did it, but it’s what I really wanted to do.”
How did he plan to transform Asolo Rep?
“That question came up repeatedly,” Edwards recalls. “The people surrounding me kept asking me that — board members, theater supporters, actors. What did the Asolo lack?
How would you change the company? I made changes, yes. But I didn’t originally have them in mind.”
Edwards’ focus gradually expanded. Jill Santoriello’s “A Tale of Two Cities” accelerated his big-picture thinking. Santoriello’s musical theater adaptation of Dickens’ classic was Broadway-bound. In fall 2007, it was still in the “tryout” phase — theater lingo for a test drive in offBroadway venues before its official launch. The Asolo Rep production would be one of its tryouts.
While the kinks were being worked out on the musical in Sarasota, it became apparent that Asolo Rep’s theater was unequipped to seamlessly produce a play designed for the Great White Way. Edwards directed the ambitious production and struggled to meet its demanding standards. That experience revealed exactly what Asolo Rep lacked.
“Asolo’s performance space at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts wasn’t up to Broadway standards,” he says. “Our existing sound system was woefully inadequate, as was most of our aging technology. To stage this musical properly, all the equipment had to be enhanced, rented or bought.”
That’s just what Edwards did. The price tag was steep, but the results were worth it. To properly stage “A
Tale of Two Cities,” he upgraded the theater company’s facilities. Those improvements didn’t vanish when the musical left town. Asolo Rep could now stage more ambitious musicals.
That possibility raised a tantalizing question ... What else was possible?
“The musical (‘A Tale of Two Cities’) became a portal to change,” Edwards says. “Over time, it led to upgrades of every aspect of the institution and its infrastructure.”
As Edwards describes it, a positive feedback loop was established. Broadway-quality, commercially successful productions would expand Asolo Rep’s audience. The resulting income would be used to improve production capabilities. The company could then stage even more ambitious plays, and further expand its audience. And so on.
Now Edwards had a vision. He still had the mind of a director. But he began to act like an artistic director. That meant thinking like a producer and becoming the public face of the company. Incubating nationally significant plays and musicals would be the result.
Edwards’ focus shifted to community engagement, production quality and fundraising. He cultivated relationships with area philanthropists. Thanks to their support, Edwards began to make his vision a reality.
Simply put, he identified what Asolo Rep lacked. And got to work filling the gaps.
SPACE, THE FINAL FRONTIER
Asolo Rep’s physical plant was a big missing puzzle piece. Several pieces, actually. The backstage infrastructure at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts was not up to par. After “A Tale of Two Cities,” Edwards continued to upgrade lighting, audio, visual projection and other technological capabilities — and bring them to the cutting edge.
The company also lacked a dedicated rehearsal space and rented its cramped, off-campus scene shop. In 2012, Edwards filled this gap with the Robert and Beverly Koski Production Center on Tallevast Road.
That facility now comprises rehearsal studios, along with scene and costume shops to design and store sets, props and costumes. (It’s still a work in progress.) The company also bought 10 condominiums in Serenata for visiting actors to live in. During the height of the pandemic, Edwards made sure that Asolo Rep’s show went on with an exterior Terrace Stage. Its 2020-21 outdoor season included a condensed version of Lerner and Loewe’s musical “Camelot” and a rolling world premiere of a new play, “The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer,” celebrating the civil rights activist’s legacy.
DAYS OF THE NEW
While Asolo Rep remains a safe place for Shakespeare, Edwards also made it a launching pad for Broadway musicals like “Bonnie and Clyde.” (Some were flops; a few were hits. That’s show biz.) The company established its Ground Floor program in 2020 to nurture work by new playwriting talent, with a special focus on the voices of marginalized identities, communities and origins.
FINANCIAL STABILITY
Under Edwards’ leadership, Asolo Rep paid down debt on its existing facilities. He cultivated relationships with area donors, such as the Koskis and the late Warren and Margot Coville. Edwards didn’t depend solely on philanthropy but based his operating budget on a diverse revenue stream. In 2019, his “Staging Our Future” initiative set a target of $21 million for the company’s endowment. Asolo Rep has now raised 85% of that goal.
As Edwards sees it, marketing, fundraising and philanthropy were vital to achieving his artistic vision for Asolo Rep. It might be commercialism — but it’s how he made his vision real.
“Our healthy financial status is a means to an end,” he says. “It wouldn’t mean anything if we weren’t staging passionately exciting plays and musicals by the best talent working today.”
In Edwards’ view, it’s all about the art. In the beginning, that revolved around his artistry as a director. He’s proud of his work on plays like “Equus” and “A Tale of Two Cities.” But Edwards is equally proud of empowering directors like the late Frank Galati, Peter Amster and Josh
Rhodes in productions like “Ragtime,” “The Three Musketeers” and “The Sound of Music” on the Asolo Rep stage.
The directors Edwards has worked with are just as proud to have taken cues from him. “It’s been like having a tennis pro teach you how to play tennis,” Amster says. “He’s challenged me; he’s inspired me; he’s supported me creatively in the process of directing. We have very different styles, but he can pinpoint exactly why something’s not working and how to fix it. What more could a director ask for?”
On June 30, Edwards will cross the finish line of his long-distance run at Asolo Rep. “I never expected to be here this long,” he says. “I signed a three-year contract and stayed for 18.”
Peter Rothstein’s run as Asolo Rep’s new artistic director begins the moment Edwards leaves the theater company. Edwards’ advice to his successor? “Stick to your vision, but enjoy the conversation with the community.”
EMMA JOLLY CONTRIBUTOR
Igo back and forth between what love language defines what I need, or rather what I want.
Millennials are always craving reassurance, so words of affirmation seem like a good fit. But no, thanks.
Over the last year, my husband instituted day-date Saturdays where we put our phones away, listen to music all the way up with the windows all the way down and try tacos all over town.
Then it hit me: My husband found a love language that speaks to my soul more than any other — tacos.
Here is my love letter to the places “shelling” out the best tacos in town.
CASA MASA
2773 Bee Ridge Road., Sarasota; 941-922-TACO, CasaMasa-srq.com
Let’s Taco ‘Bout It: Inspired by his travels to Mexico, owner Rob Disilvio flies in authentic Oaxacan cheese, makes blue corn tortillas from scratch daily and fires up flavors that floor my foodie heart, stomach and soul. The use of blue corn in tacos, chips and pizzas (yes, pizzas) elevates each bite. “The essence of a sandwich is the bread; the essence of a taco is the shell,” says Disilvio, who has been in business six years. I would go to Casa Masa for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could. Open daily from 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Top Taco: Pork Al Pastor ($4). This is by far the best in town! Sweet pineapple paired with verticalcooked shards of pork that perpetuate my passion for pastor tacos.
Spec-Taco-ular Second Place:
