Category: News

New Tampa Players Co-Founder Announces New Show & Master Theatre Class

Danny Zolli will give an Acting Master Class on Saturday, March 11, for the first 40 area performers to sign up.

There may be little news to report right now about the oft-delayed New Tampa Cultural Center, but one of the main beneficiaries of the proposed center is keeping busy.

Doug Wall, who founded the non-profit New Tampa Players (NTP) community theatre troupe that will one day call the cultural center home, has a number of projects scheduled that will keep the budding thespian communities in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel busy.

First, Wall is bringing in renowned Broadway star Danny Zolli to give an Acting Master Class as a fund raiser for NTP, at the troupe’s current home at the University Area Cultural Development Center (UACDC) on N. 22nd St., just south of Bearss Ave.

“We want to reach out to all of the thespians all over the Tampa Bay area,’’ Wall said.

Scheduled for Saturday, March 11, 2 p.m.-5 p.m., the class will allow area performers to learn from Zolli, who has been heralded for his enormous vocal range and is best known for his record-breaking number of productions as Jesus, Judas and Annas in more than 25 productions of the Broadway hit “Jesus Christ Superstar” throughout the world.

The cost for the class is $100, and the class will be limited to the first 40 that sign up.

“With a master class, you want to keep it small,’’ Wall says. “If you’re working on something, you can audition that piece so he can critique it and work with you on it. There will be pulled readings and improv, a lot of the things that go on in New York and Los Angeles that he’s bringing here.”

Except for the price – Wall says a similar class held in those cities would cost at least $350. “This is a great opportunity for people,’’ he says.

Zolli’s appearance at the UACDC coincides with the NTP’s own production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” which kicks off the troupe’s 2017 season and will be performed on Fri., Mar. 31, Sat., Apr. 1, Fri.-Sat., April 7-8, 8 p.m., and at 2 p.m. on Sat.-Sun, April 1-2, and Sat.-Sun., April 8-9.

Zolli will actually give two Master Classes, but Wall has reserved one for the NTP’s current “Jesus Christ Superstar” cast of 25 performers.

“As soon as we chose ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ as a show we wanted to produce, I reached out to Danny and said, ‘I would really like to do something special and (have our group) work with you in a workshop environment to understand the show like you do,’’ Wall says. “It means everything to our group and our production to work with Danny.”

Zolli starred as Jesus in the 30th anniversary concert of “Jesus Christ Superstar”, and, in the 25th anniversary North American Resurrection Tour of the show, he won critical acclaim for his portrayal of the high priest Annas.

ROCKTOPIA, TOO!

Wall is just as excited these days about a new venture of which he is the associate producer – “Rocktopia,” which might be best described as putting an opera, a Broadway play, a light show and a classic rock concert into a blender, with a dash of Mozart, Queen, Tchaikovsky and Pink Floyd.

Wall says it’s a brand new concept he has been working on with Rob Evan, a member of the multi-platinum selling rock band Trans-Siberian Orchestra and the developer of “Rocktopia.”

“You have a symphony orchestra, a rock band, rock singers, a gospel choir, a light show and a video show,’’ Wall said. “It’s a great concept.”

Wall says the “Rocktopia” group performed its first concert in June at the Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest for PBS-TV, featuring six vocalists, five rock musicians, the Hungarian Opera Choir and the 65-piece Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert aired in Cleveland during a telethon and helped raise more than $35,000; you can catch the concert on PBS on Thursday, March 8.

The first “Rocktopia” tour kicks off Tuesday, March 28, in Portland, ME, with concerts planned in 23 cities over 28 days.

“Rocktopia” is scheduled to appear at the STRAZ Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Tampa on Saturday, April 22.

“This is eight years in the making,’’ Wall says. “We’re hoping to take the same path Trans-Siberian Orchestra took – they partnered with PBS, started in performing arts centers and graduated to stadium concerts.”

Two other projects Wall is hoping to bring back to the area are his “Broadway Comes To Tampa” (BCTT) dinner gala, and a two-week Broadway camp that he previously held at Hunter’s Green Country Club 2004-09.

That camp was called the “NTP Broadway Summer Camp,” but Wall says it will have a different name when it returns in 2018. Instead of a day camp, like it was before, the new camp will be a two-week overnight camp that Wall says he is hoping to hold at Saddlebrook Resort & Spa in Wesley Chapel.

The camp will be open to actors from all over the southeast, and Wall hopes to provide scholarships to this unique program and to colleges with money raised by the BCTT, which was a fund raiser for the Masque Theatre in Temple Terrace in 2000-01 and for NTP from 2002-15.

“We’re still working out all the details,’’ Wall says about BCTT and the summer camp. “But we really want to bring them back.”

For more information about the upcoming performances by the NTP, visit New TampaPlayers.org or call 644-8285. For more info about “Rocktopia,” check out Rocktopia.com.

New Tampa Mosque Fire Was Arson, Mayor Says

A fire set at the Daarus Salaam Mosque on Morris Bridge Rd., just north of Cross Creek Blvd., did not cause any major damage or injure anyone, but it was definitely arson, Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn said at a new conference Friday morning.

Standing behind police tape and in front of the mosque, which is owned by the Islamic Society of Tampa, Buckhorn was flanked by a number of members of the local Muslim community and said such acts will not be tolerated.

“There are tens of thousands of Tampanians who are not Muslim, but today we stand with our Muslim community and say not on my watch, not in my city,” Buckhorn said. “We will not tolerate this.”

The fire was set at the men’s entrance on the north side of the mosque around 2 a.m., and sprinklers went off and doused many of the flames and limited the fire damage to the entrance. There is significant water damage to the mosque, however.

“The community, because of current events, has fears that this could be a hate-related incident,” said Thania Diaz-Clevenger, civil rights director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Mazen Bondogji, a board member at the Islamic Society of New Tampa, said that the front gate, which is locked every night at 8:30 p.m., was locked when firefighters arrived a little after 2 a.m.

Friday prayer services (which are equivalent to, for example, Sunday services for Catholics) were cancelled as mosque members were redirected to other mosques. Bondogji said as many as 400-500 worshippers show up on Fridays.

Police found three holes in the building’s bullet-proof glass, but determined that they were not caused by firearms.

Diaz-Clevenger said that there are security cameras in the mosque and that they have been turned over to investigators. She did not say if anything was on the video, or if they had survived the sprinklers.

What did survive the incident: the spirit of Mosque goers, according to Bondogji.

“Who ever did this maybe intended to discourage us to not be a part of this community,” he said. “But this makes us stronger, because of the huge amount of support and solidarity we have received. We are part of this community, and that’s how we shall stay.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the state fire marshall’s arson tip line at 877-662-7766. Callers may remain anonymous.

Lake Forest Could Have Company With New Development

Planners will be seeking permission on Monday, March 20, to rezone nearly 70 acres of land north and east of Lake Forest (see map below) for future development, according to county records.

Engineer Tim Powell of TSP Companies, Inc., on behalf of the land owner Giunta Group Ltd., has applied to rezone 69 acres of developable upland areas at the northeast corner of 42nd street and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.

The meeting is scheduled to be held at 6 p.m. at the Hillsborough County Center at 601 E. Kennedy Blvd. in downtown Tampa.

The total acreage of the Giunta property is 641.95 acres, most of it protected wetlands.

Powell is seeking a change to planned development (PD) zoning for three island-like areas abutting Lake Forest in order to build a mixed-use (multi-family residential and commercial and office, or non-residential) development on the site.

The development, called The Reserve at Grand Cypress, would consist of 26,000-sq.ft. of commercial space, 149,000-sq.ft. of office space and 812 multi-family units.

Requests for rezoning hearings were originally scheduled for Dec. 19, Jan. 19 and Feb. 20, but were postponed each time as the site plan has undergone numerous revisions.

Powell wrote in his letter to Lake Forest property owners on Nov. 14 of last year that the property, “has undergone extensive preliminary environmental, civil and transportation engineering and planning for the past two years in anticipation of submitting the Planned Development (PD) site plan specific zoning.”

Lake Forest residents — primarily the 100 or so whose current homes are right on the boundary of the proposed Reserve at Grand Cypress — are expected to present their concerns at the rezoning meeting.

Those concerns, to name a few, are likely to include the impact of building such a large development on the local environment and wildlife, how construction will affect the way the water currently drains from the wetlands, the noise and the proximity of the new apartments to the existing homes, and a potential issue with school rezonings.

Most of the area is already zoned for Chiles Elementary in Tampa Palms, although that school is close to capacity.

Another concern is traffic. However, by the time any construction begins — Powell says it would be “multiple” years before ground is even broken on the project — Segment A of the BBD widening project, which currently is under construction, should be completed.

Some Lake Forest residents met with Powell on Feb. 2, where he presented the proposed plans.

Those residents responded with some of their desires, while hoping to schedule another meeting with Powell.

Lake Forest new development

Connected City Gets Approval

The Connected City is officially coming to Wesley Chapel.

“I think we realize we actually made history today,’’ said District 2 commissioner and Pasco Board of County Commissioner (BCC) chairman Mike Moore.

After months of delays and negotiations, Metro Development Group finally put forth a polished plan that the BCC could not only live with, but gush over.

The commissioners approved the massive project at its Feb. 7 meeting in New Port Richey by a unanimous 5-0 vote.

Both sides were pleased to see the plan to build the nation’s first gigabit community constructed from the ground up move forward. It was viewed by the commissioners as a seminal moment for Pasco County.

“I think it’s going to turn out to be one of the greatest things we’ve done here in Pasco County,’’ said District 1 commissioner Ron Oakley, who was elected in November.

“I’m very jealous this is in your district,’’ District 3 commissioner Kathryn Starkey told Oakley.

The Connected City is a 7,800-acre area running north from Overpass Rd. in Wesley Chapel to S.R. 52 in San Antonio, and west from I-75 to Curley Rd.

Alternative transportation is a big component of the Connected City coming to Wesley Chapel.

It has been touted by developers and planners as a first-of-its-kind, high-tech economic engine that will promote major job creation, alternative transportation along integrated roadways and not just one, but two first-in-the-country, man-made Crystal Lagoons.

One of those lagoons recently broke ground at the Epperson Ranch development off Curley Rd. (see story, pg. 6), while the other lagoon is expected to break ground later this year at the planned Mirada development in the northwest corner of the Connected City, just south of the S.R. 52 exit off I-75.

Metro owns roughly 35 percent of the land and is already building homes in Mirada and Epperson Ranch; they plan to begin selling those homes by the end of the year.

The project is part of a 10-year pilot program created by Senate Bill 1216 in May of 2015. It allows for an expedited planning and approval process for creating city-connected corridors. For the length of the pilot program, there will be no state oversight, although there will be two-year reviews.

More than 100 Wesley Chapel residents showed up to the first public meetings at Wesley Chapel Elementary in December of 2015 regarding the Connected City, voicing concerns about the impact on the Florida aquifer, the effect on sewers and sinkholes and how construction would impact the area, which they said was already prone to flooding.

At the final public hearing and vote, only one person spoke.

The longer-than-expected 18-month process to gain approval required a number of adjustments, from scrapping plans to form a committee that would bypass county oversight to contributing $7 million to build additional roads to rigorous debate over mobility fee credits.

“We worked very closely with the county throughout the entire process — they are our public partner on the Connected City, so we were sure to be flexible during the planning process to meet their requests,’’ said Kartik Goyani, vice president of operations with Metro Development and the man credited with being the visionary behind the Connected City.

“Every hoop, question and demand illustrates the hard work that goes into a project like this,” Goyani added. “The success of the Connected City is indicative of true collaboration and dedication to a common goal.”

With 72 acres of site-ready employment centers set aside, as well as commitments from Tampa General Hospital, Florida Hospital and Saint Leo University for proposed centers, and the potential for a number of tech start-ups, the project’s promise of job creation convinced District 4 commissioner Mike Wells Jr. of the merits of the Connected City.

Wells’ father, Mike Sr., was involved decades ago in the development of Trinity on the west side of the county.

“The Board wasn’t really sold on bringing that forward,” Wells Jr. said. “But as a Board, they moved forward on it and look at what Trinity is today. (During this process) I have pondered that. I know more about connected cities than I ever wanted to know. But, at the end of the day, I feel it is right for the county. It comes down to jobs creation to me.”

Wells Jr. added that despite his support, he would hold developers accountable for those promised job creations.

Ernie Monaco, the county’s assistant planning and development administrator, has been one of the leading – and more excitable – proponents of the Connected City.

He says that as a result of the project, planners have written new development code that could be extended to areas beyond the huge development itself.

He also listed a number of things that will put Pasco on the cutting edge – things like driverless vehicles, clean energy homes, incentives for builders and employers, improvements in local schools, innovative healthcare and a business community that keeps area residents from having to move away to find good employment opportunities.

“That’s the kind of future we want,” Monaco said.

The commissioners agreed, unanimously. Despite the delays and countless meetings, the Connected City promises to be a game changer, Moore said.

“All eyes are going to be upon us now,” he said. “So get ready.”

For more information about the Connected City, visit PascoCountyFL.net/=2319.

Connected City

New Tampa Democrats Club Gets Started

Laura Blank says that she thinks this is an exciting time for Democrats, and her desire to help get them get elected has led to starting the New Tampa Democrats Club, which meets on the fourth Monday of every month at different sites until it finds a permanent home.

The club held its first meeting Jan. 9 at the Brentwood Clubhouse in New Tampa and chose its seven board of directors (Blank was chosen as the group’s president).

On Feb. 16, the club members met to finalize by-laws and learn about precinct captains at the New Tampa Regional Library.

Blank describes her group as a grassroots movement. She said that despite the recent losses by Democrats in the General Election in November — including Donald Trump’s presidential victory — she thinks the “Blue” party has been re-energized.

“A lot of us have become activists,’’ she says. “I never thought I’d become an activist at my age, but I guess that’s what I’ve become.”

Blank worked locally on both of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns. Because Clinton won all 15 precincts in New Tampa, The Hammocks resident felt that this area was fertile ground for a Democratic club.

“I realized we desperately needed a club in New Tampa, so we’ve worked really hard to get it started,’’ said Blank, who also said that between 20-30 people have attended each of the first three meetings.

The next meeting is scheduled for March 27 at the Brentwood Clubhouse at 8504 Sandpiper Ridge Rd.

For more information about the New Tampa Democrats Club, visit NewTampa Democrats.org, or email NewTampaDemocraticClub@gmail.com.

New Tampa Democrats Club