On Friday, July 29, 8 p.m. (and running through Sunday, August 7), the curtains at the University Area Community Development Center (UACDC) on N. 22nd Street in Tampa will part for the New Tampa Players (NTP)’s production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.”
Backstage, an entire family will run their lines through their heads, clear their throats and take deep breaths to calm their pre-show jitters. That family is not just the troupe of actors joined together for the show. Rather, it’s literally a biological family of five. It’s also not their first time performing together.
Husband and wife Adam Shoemaker and Amy Rothman first met at a singing group at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. Now, 20 years, two professional careers and three children later, Shoemaker and Rothman are still fulfilling their passions, which have been extended to their children.
“We have a family conference before any show we do,” Rothman said. “No one is forced into it and we’re clear that it takes up the whole summer.”
What began as a summer vacation idea has blossomed into a summer family tradition. And, the children aren’t just along for the ride, they’re all active participants. Claire is 11 years old, Gail is 8 and James is 6, and they already have a litany of shows longer than actors twice their age to their credit, adding to the vast wall of show bills in the Shoemaker home.
Claire recently graduated from Hunter’s Green Elementary and is planning to attend performing arts magnet school Orange Grove in East Tampa. She plays Chip in “Beauty and the Beast” the teacup son of Mrs. Potts, both cursed by the Enchantress and changed from their human forms into a teacup and teapot, respectively. Both Gail and James are in the ensemble and have both have choreography, lines and songs to memorize.
“A lot of people from the last show (“Mary Poppins,” which ran last August) are in this one and it’s fun to meet new people,” Gail says. “I also like how much people enjoy the shows. They say they like how they thought the show would be something more childlike and they’re surprised by how good it is.”
Sounds like lots of fun for parents who either work from home or don’t have full-time jobs. How else could they do this, right? Not so fast.
Shoemaker and Rothman are both working professionals. Rothman is a Doctor of Medical Dentistry (DMD) who was previously in private practice and now is a dentist and clinical instructor for dental assistants at Erwin Technical College on Hillsborough Ave. Shoemaker is an industrial/organizational psychology professor at Saint Leo University in Saint Leo. Yet, somehow, they find a way to pull it off.
Getting each family member involved was a key factor.
“At first they kids would just sit in the audience and wait for us, but it went to a whole new level when they started coming up on stage with us,” Rothman says.
That’s when some of the kids’ talents began to emerge.
“During ‘Mary Poppins,’ James was not even in the show but he would be backstage during rehearsals and he would learn the numbers and perform them,” Rothman says. “I never even knew it until another cast member videotaped it and showed me.”
Gail, who was seven during the run of “Mary Poppins,” was there to remind Rothman of some of the dance moves.
“The kids are better than the adults sometimes about memorizing numbers,” Shoemaker says. “I don’t know if it’s because their brains are still growing, but it’s cool to be able to see them doing these dancing scenes.”
Claire was bitten by the performing bug even earlier, and already has several credits to her name, including her first role as an orphan in NTP’s production of “Annie” in 2011.
“A lot of people and families say they would love to do something like this but they think it’s hard to get into,” Shoemaker says. “It’s community theatre, it’s laid back. The Tampa Bay area has dozens of community theatre (troupes) where average Joes can get involved.”
The Players currently operate out of the gymnasium in the University Community Development Center in the USF area between Bearss and Fletcher Aves. The facility is nothing to scoff at. The gym can be divided, making for a cozier auditorium and there’s also a catwalk filled with lights, a public address system, ample wings offstage and a scene shop that opens onto a loading dock.
A small army of volunteers make it go, and they produce three musicals a year. As hospitable as the UACDC is, the players long for a performance space actually in New Tampa. The Shoemakers live in Hunter’s Green, and plans for a theatre and cultural center across Bruce B. Downs Blvd. from the main entrance to their community are an exciting prospect for the family and for NTP.
“This community center has been great to us but it’s sometimes hard to get stage space,” Shoemaker said. “We want a space in New Tampa like the Carrollwood Cultural Center. We only run three shows per year here, but the Carrollwood Cultural Center is never dark.”
The development, tentatively called The Village at Hunter’s Lake, is a 17.6 acre parcel of land that’s sale has already been approved by the Hillsborough County Commission. However, because the property lies within Tampa city limits, there are zoning ordinances that have yet to be worked out.
New Tampa-area performers are excited about the 20,000-sq.-ft. cultural center and 300-seat auditorium, but for now, they are content with doing their best at the UACDC where many of the players also volunteer for charity work.
From their first production together (in the musical “1776”) as college sweethearts, to participating in Purim plays at their temple (Congregation Beth Am in Carrollwood), to standing onstage July 29 — Shoemaker as the Beast and Rothman as Madame de le Grande Bouche (the opera star turned wardrobe) — the acting bug has taken them on a fulfilling journey. It hardly gets any better, though, when the couple can look across the stage and see their own children in costume and makeup, taming the butterflies in their own stomachs.
They will be able to look at each other and say, “It’s going to be a great summer.”
Performances of the “Beauty & The Beast” will be held Fri., Jul. 29 & Aug. 5, 8 p.m.; Sat, Jul. 30 & Aug. 6, 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.; & Sun., July 31 & Aug. 7, 2 p.m.; at 14013 N. 22nd St. For tickets & info, visit NewTampaPlayers.org.
Greg Lenners, the general manager at the Shops at Wiregrass mall, says pulling out of the Wesley Chapel Rotary Club’s fifth annual Freedom Fest was one of the toughest decisions he’s had to make. But, because of safety concerns – namely young kids darting across S.R. 56 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. at 10 p.m. as cars whizzed by – he says it was the most prudent choice.
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