Theatre Beat — The Players’ First Year At NTPAC & Congrats, Kyle & Co.! 

The New Tampa Players received $10,000 from Social Venture Partners of Tampa Bay at the “Fast Pitch” competition for NTP’s Ampersand programming for special needs adults. (Photos provided by the New Tampa Players)

Since the New Tampa Performing Arts Center opened a year ago, the New Tampa Players (NTP) theatre troupe has been on the move. 

If you saw all the New Tampa Players’ shows so far this year, you’ve visited an enchanted castle in France, the hallways of Rydell High, the walls of Duloc, and cities across the USA on tour with the Dreams. (Did you spot all those shows? That was “Beauty and the Beast,” “Grease,” “Shrek,” and “Dreamgirls” — what an amazing year!) 

But wait, there’s still more: 

City of Tampa Awards NTP $75K For Penguin Project & Ampersand Theatre Programs 

Last month, the Tampa City Council approved a grant for $75,000 to enrich NTP’s Penguin Project and Ampersand Theatre programs. 

Penguin Project is a national theatre program for children and young adults with special needs. NTP started its chapter in 2018, making it the first such program in Florida. Each year, the Players produce a Penguin Project musical with 40-45 artists with special needs. 

In 2023, NTP spun off Ampersand Theatre, a new theatre troupe concept for adults with disabilities. The program began with a summer intensive serving 25 artists, and it continues this month with a special Penguin Project/Ampersand Theatre collaboration on “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Rehearsals have been in progress for months, and the performances will be held the weekend of April 19-21. All of the artists and mentors (almost 100 performers altogether!) invite you to join them for a night of joy. 

Tickets for “Joseph” are available at NewTampaPlayers.org. 

NTP Wins 2nd Place at Social Venture Partners Of Tampa Bay “Fast Pitch” Competition 

The Ampersand artists won 2nd place in the 2024 Social Ventures Partners of Tampa Bay “Fast Pitch” Competition and will receive $10,000 for NTP’s Ampersand programming. The troupe competed against six other nonprofits in the Tampa Bay area, including WellFed Community, EmpowHERment, Girls Rock, the Florida Dream Center, NAMI Pinellas and Water Smart Tots Foundation. 

The Fast Pitch Competition program provides funding and strategic consulting to innovative nonprofits addressing critical issues in the Tampa Bay region. 

Auditions For “Singin’ In The Rain” 

NTP is hosting auditions for our summer musical: “Singin’ in the Rain.” The performances this summer will be at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center as usual, but if you come out for the auditions on April 27, April 29, April 30, and May 1, make sure you head for NTP’s blackbox theater and rehearsal space at University Mall —Uptown Stage. All New Tampa Players performers are local community members. 

Visit NewTampaPlayers.org or see the ad below for more information! 

Recapping Kyle Fisher’s “Ember” 

Fraud investigator by day and actor by night, New Tampa resident Kyle Fisher (who played Kenickie in NTP’s “Grease” and Lord Farquaad in NTP’s “Shrek: The Musical”) set out to answer the question “What is the cost of a wish?” His journey finding the answer to that question made its world premiere at Uptown Stage last month in “Ember: A New Musical.” 

The embers of Ember (no, I could not resist that pun!) began many years ago. Fisher can’t name a specific date he started working on the show apart from his habit of writing down any inspiration or line of music or dialog that comes to him. The first song to form was “Wish,” with the tagline “What do you wish for?” This song became the foundation for the rest of the musical, as it came together over nights of pizza and workshopping with choreographer Makayla Raines and actor Dylan Fidler, both of whom also have performed in multiple NTP shows. 

Ember is a spellbinding musical that explores the boundaries between dreams and damnation. In a world where the mundane meets the magical, farm boy ‘Guy’ yearns for adventure. When the enigmatic demon ‘Sequins’ offers to fulfill his deepest desires in exchange for his soul, Guy plunges headfirst into a Faustian bargain. The tale is a captivating journey of redemption and unexpected alliances. Can a demon, driven by ambition, rediscover forgotten compassion and love? Will Guy, armed with newfound powers and a heart full of hope, conquer the challenges laid before him? In “Ember,” the stakes are high, the magic is potent, and the battle for the soul takes center stage. 

Through the workshopping and production process, Fisher’s characters grow and evolve. The character that underwent the most transformation was Sammy, played by Ashleigh Dudek. 

“Between the first draft of the script and first performance of the show,” Fisher said, “Sammy gained a solo, a new feature, and a huge amount of screentime, and I’m so glad the character ended up where it did. Ashleigh is a super talented actor and vocalist and it would’ve been devastating to me to have her in any less.” 

What is next for Kyle Fisher and the cast of “Ember?” They are on all on a much-deserved, much-needed break. 

Fisher explained, “When I finally get back into it, the first thing (to work on) are edits. Although the show got a lot of praise, I think I can deliver an even better experience, and I’ve got a small army of people who are willing to help. From there, I think there are still one or two songs that deserve a spot in the show cooking up in my head, but we’ll see how it all shakes out with cutting the show down. I’d hate to spring a new song onto the cast before any potential cast album.” 

For behind the scenes footage and the latest news on “Ember” and Kyle, follow them on social media: Tiktok.com/discover/ember-musical, Facebook.com/people/Ember-A-New-Musical/61551728386782/ or Instagram.com/embermusical/ 

K-Bar Ranch Residents Get Updates From Viera At Latest Town Hall Meeting 

District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera (far right in photo above) says that, as the only still-growing community in New Tampa, he would prefer to hold his Town Hall meetings in K-Bar Ranch at least twice a year. But, even though his last Town Hall in K-Bar was a year and a week before, Viera did return again to the Amenity Center in K-Bar on Mar. 20 to provide updates to the residents of the community. 

And, while about 50 K-Bar residents showed up at the meeting to voice their concerns and, in some cases, complaints about speeding, traffic and other issues in their community, Viera not only took the time to address those and other concerns — plus some of his own — he also brought director Marilyn Heldt and manager Miray Holmes from the city’s new Customer Experience Department to show the residents the best (and fastest) way to get their concerns to the right people. 

One thing Viera brought up during his opening remarks was about his idea to place a “mobile” emergency vehicle in K-Bar. 

“Among the major issues that I see out here are public safety and especially, fire safety,” Viera said. “There’s not a lot of calls in K-Bar — only maybe 100-150 a year, thank God, but when there are calls, we want to make sure that we can get to them on time. The challenge isn’t the number of calls out here, it’s the time it takes for us to get here. So, one of the things I’ve been trying to get out here is some sort of a dedicated ‘modular’ station actually in K-Bar Ranch, but Tampa Fire Rescue (TFR) chief Barbara Tripp is not on board with that right now.” 

He added, “But, one thing that is going to happen is that there will be a dedicated rescue vehicle for K-Bar Ranch at Station No. 22 on Cross Creek Blvd. near Morris Bridge Rd., so that’s going to help. The challenge with it is that this dedicated unit will still have to go all the way to Kinnan- Mansfield to get into K-Bar Ranch and that is going to take time. And, one call that takes 12 minutes and someone loses their life or suffers a catastrophic injury is too many.” 

He also noted that the other thing he’s working on with not only the city, but also Hillsborough County and TFR, is a possible cut-through on Morris Bridge Rd. that would take that fire truck or EMS vehicle from Station No. 22 up Morris Bridge and into K-Bar on K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. 

“That would first have to be approved as a re-zoning by Tampa City Council, which could take anywhere from a year to a year-and-a-half,” he said.”As a long-time private sector guy before being elected to City Council, that’s one of the things that’s hard to deal with — how long things take when the government gets involved. It’s just something you have to deal with, though.” 

He also provided an update on the long-planned K-Bar Ranch park. “It’s one of the things we did get into the proposed (fiscal year 2024) budget,” Viera said. “We’ve already gotten the New Tampa Rec Center expanded and added the All-Abilities autism park (both in Tampa Palms), so the third thing I want to get working on is the K-Bar Ranch park. It’s something that’s in the CIT (Community Investment Tax), which means it’s in the plans for the budget, which at least gets the ball rolling.” 

Viera also said, “K-Bar Ranch is kind of the center of development in zip code 33647. The good news is that there isn’t much more new development coming to New Tampa. The bad news is…we’re full.” 

Improving Customer Experience 

Before turning the meeting over to questions from the residents, Viera introduced Holmes (left in photo below) and Heldt (right) to provide the residents with an update on the new Customer Experience department, what it does and how it can help the residents get their concerns in front of the right people in city government, and follow the progress of those concerns as they go through the governmental process. 

Heldt, who said she had been working for the city for about seven years in the technology department before being named the director of Customer Experience “about a year ago,” said, “I’m more of the interpreter between the technology team and our other departments. That is my background, but improving customer experience is my passion.” 

She also explained that when the city came up with this initiative, one of the big parts was strengthening resident services. 

“To improve the customer experience, the first thing we needed to do was to replace the software, which was 20+ years old,” Heldt said. “It didn’t even have a mobile component…it was awful.” 

Heldt also said that although her department and the software being used are still new, “We started out trying to think of what the citizens of Tampa wanted and how we can provide that for them. We want to be the city with the best possible customer experience. Some retail companies are good at customer experience, but government…not so much.” 

She added that her department is coming out with a “robust training program this fall for all of our employees. Next, we want to figure out where the ‘pain points’ are for citizens — what’s taking too long. So, when you put in a service request to have someone come out to fix a pothole, we’ll offer an initial survey to ask you how your experience was putting in the request. Then, when the request closes out, we’ll survey you again to see how the process was for you getting that issue resolved.” 

Heldt also noted that in order for her department to get the data they need to see how the city is responding to its customers, “Citizens have to use the system. Then, when we have enough data, we can start making those improvements.” 

Holmes then handed out cards with a QR code so those in attendance at the meeting could access the new system to get registered and see how it works. Holmes said that the new system went live in November, “and since that time, we have had more than 12,000 new ‘Tampa Connect’ system requests, of which almost 1,000 are from 33647, where the number one request for service had to do with water. That makes sense, because when you move into your home, you have to connect to our water.” 

Holmes then asked if any of the residents in attendance had used the new Tampa Connect system and one resident named Nick (in yellow in photo below) said he called to complain multiple times about speeding on Bassett Creek Dr. near Pride Elementary, but had not yet received a response. “The principal of Pride also called about it, but it doesn’t seem like anything has been done.” 

To that, Holmes responded that her department can talk to the city’s mobility department to ask them why there hadn’t been a response. “But someone should have gotten back to you.” 

Holmes also said that, for example, when you have a pothole on your street, “take a picture of it and upload it to the Tampa Connect system. The system will locate it and then ask you a few questions and once you upload your contact information, someone will respond about that pothole. Once you’ve uploaded your information, you’re given a case number and then, you’re able to track that request through until it is resolved.” 

Other Issues 

Viera then noted that although he’s OK with sending taxpayer dollars to help people in need, he was the only “No” vote when City Council voted to give $25 million in taxpayer funds to the Straz Center for the Performing Arts and $10 million to the Tampa Museum of Art, “not because I don’t value the arts but because our roads are falling apart and that money would be better spent improving our neighborhoods.” 

Nick, who said his father was a Tampa Police (TPD) Officer for more than 20 years, also asked about why the 911 call system still doesn’t automatically connect to someone who can dispatch help, apparently because of all the new homes in both New Tampa and Wesley Chapel and the cross-jurisdictions of Tampa, Hillsborough and Pasco. He also noted that although Meadow Pointe residents successfully fought connecting Kinnan St. to Mansfield Blvd., now that Meadow Pointe Blvd. is connecting to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy., “We have a lot of people coming from Pasco and there’s a lot more speeding on our roads.” 

Viera said he is trying to arrange a meeting with Dist. 2 Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman to discuss those jurisdictional line issues, not only in K-Bar but also along County Line Rd. 

One resident who didn’t give their name also complained that although Tampa Police officers are out with their radar guns during the day to give K-Bar residents speeding tickets, “they’re not out here at night when there are people drag racing on our streets.” 

Another resident who didn’t give her name asked that when Viera meets with Comm. Weightman if they could again discuss opening Kinnan-Mansfield and the possibility of putting a roundabout at the location. “We also need a roundabout at Bassett Creek Dr. at Kinnan to slow folks down, because stop signs don’t slow folks down.” That resident thanked Viera, “You’re a good listener. Thanks to you, we have gotten stop signs, we’ve gotten lines on our roads and speed limits reduced the last two years.” 

Another idea Viera had to help cut down on speeding, thanks to a new law passed in Tallahassee, is to install speed cameras in school zones. He said, “I’m against speed cameras in general, but not in school zones, during school hours. I proposed passing that ordinance to City Council.” 

After taking questions for almost an hour, Viera said he was going to try to get set up a call with himself, five of the people at the Town Hall meeting and Vik Bhide from the city’s Mobility Dept., to discuss all of the road issues in K-Bar. He also plans to come back to K-Bar in June to meet with Tampa Palms resident and Hillsborough School Board member Jessica Vaughn to discuss the traffic situation around Pride. 

Here’s Another Chance To See Wesley Chapel Theater Group’s ‘Broadway Through The Decades’ 

“We Go Together” from “Grease. (Photos by Charmaine George)

A few short months ago, we told you about the Wesley Chapel Theater Group (WCTG)’s “Broadway Through the Decades” performance at TrebleMakers Dueling Piano Bar & Restaurant in The Grove. 

That performance attracted about 150 people and nobody who attended (including yours truly) went home disappointed. 

Well, the weekend we went to press with this issue (Mar. 9-10), WCTG was at it again with another “Broadway Through the Decades: Contemporary Era” show, with the performances this time being held at the Zephyrhills Lions Club. 

The Lions Club provided dinner on Saturday night and dessert for the Sunday matinee, so WCTG secretary Samantha Grahn, who also did the publicity for the show, said that the theater group had to provide a hard number of attendees to the Lions Club a couple of days before the two performances. 

The WCTG cast from “Broadway Through the Decades: Contemporary Era.” 

“That limited us to only about 130 people total for the two shows,” Samantha says. “But, we had a lot of wonderful singers performing and the audiences both days really seemed to enjoy the performances.” 

The “Contemporary Era” performances includes many current and recent past Broadway favorites, including the entire company singing “Be Our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast,” Danielle Warren’s “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Vette Berrian & the Company on “Day By Day” from “Godspell,” the entire company on “We Go Together” from “Grease” and favorites from “Rent,” “Pippin,” “Chicago,” “A Chorus Line,” “Sweeney Todd,” “42nd Street,” “Into the Woods,” “Les Miserables,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and many more. 

“A Little Priest” from “Sweeney Todd” performed by Krystian Kopycinski & Danielle Warren. 

“We’re now three years in with this group,” Grahn said afterwards. “And every performance we do is a fund raiser so we can afford to rent theaters for our future performances. We’re also writing some grants to try to get some more money to do more shows and we’d like to have them at the (Pasco School District’s) Instructional Performing Arts Center (IPAC) and other venues in Wesley Chapel.” She adds that the School District is looking into building a smaller “black box” theater for community performances. 

She adds that in the meantime, however, “We have a great relationship with the Zephyrhills Lions Club. They don’t charge us to rehearse there and the rent to do our shows there isn’t that expensive. We really owe them a big thank-you!” 

So, What’s Next? “Office Hours!” 

Grahn says that WCTG’s next show will be the comedy play “Office Hours,” written by Norm Foster, which also will be performed at the Zephyrhills Lions Club, this time without food service. 

There will be three performances of “Office Hours” — matinees on Saturday, April 20, and Sunday, April 21, and a Saturday (Apr. 21) evening performance. Also coming up April 4 at 7pm, the next performance of “Broadway Through the Decades” at TrebleMakers Dueling Piano Bar. 

“We also would love to have feedback from the Wesley Chapel community regarding what shows or types of shows they would want to see,” Grahn says. 

For tickets to see “Office Hours” or the April 4 encore of “Broadway Through The Decades” at TrebleMakers Dueling Piano Bar and more info about the Wesley Chapel Theater Group, visit WesleyChapelTheaterGroup.org or search “WesleyChapel TheaterGroup” on Facebook.  


Cheryl Abramson performing “On My Own” from “Les Miserables. 
Jonathan Hogsett performing “If I Can’t Love Her” from “Beauty & the Beast.”

“Be Our Guest” from “Beauty & the Beast.” 

Upcoming Events: St. Paddy’s Day At O’Brien’s, Jack Wilkins At NTPAC & More!

Friday-Sunday, March 15-17 — Three-Day St. Patrick’s Day Parking Lot Celebration at O’Brien’s Irish Pub.

O’Brien’s (5429 Wesley Chapel Village Market) will again be hosting the largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the New Tampa/ Wesley Chapel area with an indoor-outdoor party every day of St. Paddy’s Day weekend.

Tonight, MoonShine Abby will be performing from 8 p.m.-midnight. According to their website, MoonShine Abby is “the best blend of mature artistry, vigorous technique, and honed skill all wrapped up into a high-energy, party-style band.”

What’s a St. Pat’s Day party without bagpipes? You can come out to here pipers on Saturday and Sunday. On Sat., 25-year- old Gemma Briggs plays the pipes from 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Gemma says she is, “passionate about providing high-quality bagpipe music, professionalism and an unforgettable touch to any occasion.”

Gemma (photo right) will be followed at 8 p.m. on Sat. night by the Ryan Marchand Band.

Ryan’s website says he uses “live-looping (to create) sonic landscapes with layered beat- box percussion, vocal harmonies, and a bevy of guitar effects to cover the frequency and timbre spectrum. He draws inspirations from studio al- bums from Pink Floyd, The Beatles and more.”

Then, the main event at O’Brien’s will be held on Sun., St. Paddy’s Day itself.

From 4 p.m.-7 p.m., “The Irishman” Capt. Kirk, will play all of your favorite Irish tunes. Inside, from 7 p.m.-midnight, DJ SAF will spin dance music inside, but outside, the City of Mt. Dora pipe band will play your St. Pat’s favorites from 7:30 p.m.-8 p.m. Then, the Daniel Sprouse Band will play your favorite rock and country hits from 8 p.m.-midnight outside.

Please note that no coupons will be accepted all weekend at O’Brien’s and there will be a $10 cover charge on Sun. only.

For more info, call (813) 973-09988 or visit ObriensWesleyChapel.com.

Holy Week Services & Events

Although all local churches will hold Easter services on Sunday, March 31, both Grace Episcopal Church in Tampa Palms and St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church on Cross Creek Blvd. have services and events throughout Holy Week, with St. Mark’s Vigil Mass for Palm Sunday (see ad below) being held on Saturday, March 23, and Palm Sunday services at both Grace (see ad below) and St. Mark being held on Sunday, March 24.

Monday, March 25, 7p.m.—Monthly meeting of the New Tampa Democratic Club.

The New Tampa Democrats are gearing up for the up- coming 2024 Presidential and local election season. For more information, see the ad below.

Wednesday, March 27, 7 p.m.-8 p.m. — Wesley Chapel Elks Lodge organizational Meeting & Membership Drive —

If you’re looking to become part of a service organization that focuses its efforts on helping children and military veterans, the Elks have nearly 1,800 chapters and about 750,000 total members across the U.S. and are hop- ing to build a new Elks Lodge in the Wesley Chapel/New Tampa area. This meeting will be held at the Lexington Oaks Community Center (26304 Lexington Oaks Blvd., Wesley Chapel) and light refreshments will be served.

For more information, call Nancy El-lardat (732) 598-7883 or email src4para-dise@yahoo.com.

Thursday, April 4, 8 p.m.— The Tampa Jazz Club’s USF New Tampa Jazz Series presents a Jack Wilkins CD Release Concert.

An All-Star cast will join USF Professor of Jazz Studies (and Grammy Award nominee) Jack Wilkins (photo) on the New Tampa Performing Arts Center (8550 Hunters Village Rd.) stage, as he releases his most recent CD and will be joined by an All-Star cast, including Danny Gottlieb, Steve Allee and James Suggs. Tickets cost $25 for adults, $20 for Tampa Jazz Club members  for students and $5 for USF students.

Saturday, April 27, 6 p.m. — The Academy of Odissi Dance 25th Anniversary Gala. 
The Academy of Odissi Dance will host & perform at its 25th Anniversary Gala on Apr. 27. 

The Academy of Odissi Dance (located on Cross Creek Blvd. in New Tampa), a classical Indian dance troupe, is celebrating its 25th anniversary in the Tampa Bay area with an amazing Anniversary Gala and performance, which will be held at the Sacred Heart Knanaya Catholic Community Center (2620 Washington St., Valrico 33594). 

Gopa Rautray founded the Academy of Odissi Dance in 1999, and, with her daughter Ambika, has been working hard to propagate Indian culture through a range of dance forms. The Academy’s teams have performed on a variety of stages, locally and nationally. They perform fusion routines, blending styles such as ballet, jazz, hip-hop, folk and Indian classical dance, blending, enriching and sharing their art with a variety of audiences. 

For Gala tickets (which include dinner) & more information, call Gopa at (813) 992-5234 or Ambika at (813) 992- 5235 or see the ad below. 

Updating Three Of The Stories That Ran In Our Last Issue

Wharton High grad Gabriel Hassan lost his battle with Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome after receiving his diploma.

Because of the fact we only have an issue every four weeks in each of our markets, sometimes the stories that appear in our issues are or become “old” even before (or shortly after) that issue arrives in your mailbox.

In our Feb. 6 issue, we had two such stories that really needed to be updated in this issue and a third that was an event that took place after that issue hit mailboxes.

The most important, and saddest, of these was the fact that Gabriel Hassan who was on the cover of our last issue for receiving his diploma for graduating from Wharton High on Jan. 22, while he was still at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital — passed away less than two weeks after that event.

Gabe, who was suffering from terminal leukemia, succumbed to his cancer and was buried by his family on or the day before Valentine’s Day. We also learned that his specific form of leukemia is called Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome, or SDS.

When we posted the story that Gabe had passed, his father Mahmoud Hassan commented on our Facebook page:

“He was my beloved boy — a precious soul who loved people and life.

He loved service to others, EDM music, Roblox, Video Games, Going to the movies.

He was our proud Eagle Scout and graduated HS despite all of his challenges.

Gabriel was a sweet angel and he will be missed dearly. We are grieving for our angel in heaven. We miss him so much.”

Although I never met Gabriel or his family, we join the Hassan family in their grief. Rest in Peace.

To help those afflicted with SDS, please search“Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome Alliance” on Facebook.

Suzy Tkacik Falls Short Of Award

We also knew that our story about Pride Elementary media specialist Suzy Tkacik (photo) being a finalist

for the Hillsborough School District-wide Ida S. Baker Diversity Educator of the Year award would be old news by the time the Feb. 6 issue reached your mailbox.

Even so, we still felt it was important to highlight Ms.Tkacik in these pages, as she was the only finalist for any of the District’s “Excellence in Education” awards from a New Tampa school.

Well, at the District’s award gala on Feb. 1, this year’s Ida S. Baker award went to Dr. Ilfault Joseph, the community resource teacher at Jennings Middle School.

Congratulations again, Suzy. You’re still a winner in all of our eyes!

Wharton Tournament Nets $6,400!

The third story we needed to update was the second annual Wharton High Cornhole ithloma. Tournament, which was held on Feb. 10 and ended up raising more than $6,400 to provide teacher grants and classroom needs for the school.

Our congratulations go out to Wharton teacher Matt McKernan (left in photo, left) and his partner (and fellow former Wildcat) Tate Wheeler, who outlasted 28 other teams to take home the top prize, after finishing as the runners-up in last year’s inaugural Cornhole Tourney. The second-place finishers were Benito Middle School teacher Christopher Taylor and his uncle Shawn Quinn. Both winning teams left with prize packages worth more than $700!