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Founded in 2008 and resident in our current home since 2011, freeFall Theatre has rapidly been recognized for artistic and organizational excellence. In naming our very first production the “most memorable play of the decade,” a regional newspaper theatre critic said, “freeFall Theatre announced its arrival with a pageant so stunning, it marked an epoch in Bay area theatre history.” Since then, we have continuously exceeded those high expectations, winning more awards than all other area theatres combined. Operating under a contract with Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers, we are proud to have employed hundreds of theatre artists. Acclaimed by critics, audiences and our professional peers, we are a driving force in Tampa Bay’s thriving arts community.

Musicals done in the past: Assassins, Into the Woods, Fiddler on the Roof, Spring Awakening, Mame, The Wild Party, Cabaret, The Light in the Piazza, Grey Gardens, Bright Lights Big City, The Burnt Part Boys, The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, & Jon and Jen

Plays in the past: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Red Velvet, Marie Antoinette, Peter Pan, Peter and the Starcatcher, Bernarda Alba, Our Town, Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, & Romeo and Juliet

World Premieres: The Buffalo Kings by Natalie Symons, White Fang by Jethro Compton, The Importance of Being Earnest with Zombies adapted by Eric Davis, The Tempest: Esta Isla es Mia adapted by Eric Davis.

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- Eric Davis
Artistic director
Started freeFall Theatre in 2008
http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/stage/eric-davis-is-freefall-theatres-dynamic-force-but-dont-call-him-a-genius/2291839
"Essentially, the Artistic Director is the Chief Creative Officer of a not-for-profit professional theatre."

- Cheryl Forchilli
Executive Director
A lot of articles call her the President
She has been there since 2010

- Susan Haldeman
Company Manager
https://www.susanhaldemanactress.com/
"I am the Operations and Company Manager at freeFall Theatre.  I do many things here.  Some highlights include: all contracting of actors, designers and artists, handle all payroll matters, handle workers comp issues, Actors' Equity Association liaison, negotiate all AEA issues as well as actor and company contracts, help with casting, communicate and handle all issues with cast and designers, handle all AEA paperwork on a weekly basis, secure all housing and travel for artists, gather all information for playbills, send in weekly box office receipts to rights companies, negotiate show rights at the beginning of the season, arrange all auditions, keep headshot and resume files situated... Basically most of the administrative and HR work at freeFall is handled by me in one way or another."

- Matthew Mcgee
Community Outreach/Marketing
http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/stage/matthew-mcgee-transforms-into-his-dream-part-for-freefalls-mame/2236552
I'm responsible for communications and audience engagement at one of Florida's fastest-growing theatre companies. Only 7 years old, freeFall Theatre has consistently raised the bar for theatre throughout the Tampa Bay area. My position includes everything from donor relations, public relations, social media platforms, group sales, event rentals, volunteer coordination, media engagement, video content, business partnerships, educational programming and outreach events.

-Margaret Murray
Development Director

freeFall's first Development Director

Joined this past year
Her affiliation with freefall began in 2006, when she re-launched her award-winning film series, Movies that Move, on the green at freefall. In 2014, under her leadership, TIGLFF began screening films at freefall, a partnership that continues to this day.

- Nick Mathis
Technical Director
Joined this past year

- Michael Raabe
Resident Music Director
https://www.michaelraabe.com/

- Timothy Saunders
Patron Services Manager/Resident Daramaturg

- Sarah Smiley
Production Stage Manager
Assassins

- Allison Davis
Operations Support

- Matt Davis
Master Carpenter

- Vanessa Jiminez
Box Office

- Trenton Szabo
Technical Assistant

- Kacy Vance
Box Office

"During daytime shifts when a show was not running, I mostly worked through ticket orders over the phone and email requests for tickets. I also assisted patrons by answering questions about freeFall and its upcoming productions. Since the box office phone line is the main line of the theatre, I also acted as a receptionist, connecting people to the staff members they were trying to reach and taking messages. During the run of shows, I also worked before and during the performances, printing will call tickets, taking care of last minute rush orders, and communicating with house management and stage management on when to start the show." - Cameron Kubly (used to work in the box office)

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"freeFall's mission statement is: "The mission of freeFall Theatre is to pursue art’s greater purposes and the transformative power of theatre – as a builder of community, a source of upliftment, and a builder of cultural legacy.

We will present a varied range of classical and new works that are bold, daring, and diverse. Our work will strive to be accessible, and we will present it in ways that invite, entertain, and challenge our audience. We are committed to improving the lives of the citizens of Tampa Bay through our efforts to provide broad access to theatre that represents a high level of artistic achievement, and through educational programs that increase the community’s understanding and enjoyment of live theatre."

I think we fully live up to this.  All of the theatre's in the area are alike in that they are trying to do the best work for the people who believe in and support them.  freeFall is younger than many of the companies in our area, but in the time we have been present, we have built up an incredible following.  Everyone at freeFall wears many hats, and we are all doing it for the art's sake.  All of us (like most people who do theatre in the area) work very hard because we believe in the vision and our theatre's mission. We really try to promote lesser known works and new works as well as doing well-known pieces in new and exciting ways.  We also try to do World Premieres when something really works with what freeFall does.  Our Artistic Director, Eric Davis, is quite a visionary.  I think his vision, as a director and artistic director, is the heart of freeFall Theatre's success.  Eric has always tried to push the envelope artistically, and, because of these risks, we've become a popular theatre in the area." - Susan Haldeman

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"Our 2017/2018 Season of plays and musicals is driven by a love of familiar stories, with an eye fervently trained on the horizon. These are plays rooted in the past, from perennial classics to rediscovered gems to playful send-ups. This season we present a widely varied assortment of plays, curated to shed an enlightening, entertaining, and sometimes brutally honest light on what it means to be alive in 2017 by revisiting stories from our past."

https://youtu.be/c7DVoK44kMY?t=155

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White Fang
Sept 30 - Oct 22, 2017
A world-premiere production transferring to London in winter 2017.
1898. Northwestern Canada. Deep in the forests of the Yukon Territory. After the massacre of her tribe, a young girl is rescued from the snow by an old huntsman from a nearby settlement who offers shelter and the strength to survive. Torn from centuries of tradition, facing a new and violent land, she struggles to find her path in the world. An outsider to all, she discovers hope in the friendship of an abandoned wolf, White Fang. With this newfound alliance, the two unite with the land, learning the ways of her ancestors. Lethal with blade and bow, there are few who can match her skill in the wild. But when the time comes, and she faces the greatest challenge of all, will these skills be enough to make a difference?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KFTL7r8bIM

The Little Prince
Nov 25 - Dec 24, 2017
The intoxicating classic in a vibrant new production.
An aviator crashes his plane in the Sahara Desert. There he meets a little prince who has left his home on Asteroid B-612 and its only other inhabitant, his beloved rose. Along the way he discovers a parade of extraordinary individuals from a king to a businessman to a fox. Each peels back another layer of what it means to be alive, ultimately revealing the importance of personal connection and sacrifice in a world that seeks to diminish that which connects us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfjnMxLKcgY

The Glass Menagerie
Jan 27 - Feb 18, 2018
The seminal masterpiece by one of America's greatest playwrights, Tennessee Williams.
Amanda Wingfield dwells in memories of her idealized youth when she entertained gentleman callers who, according to her, rivaled over her hand in marriage. With a smothering love for her children, she has driven Tom into a fantasy world of his own where he escapes into movies and solitude, wandering the midnight streets of St. Louis. His physically and emotionally fragile sister, Laura, escapes into her collection of small glass animals. This pressure cooker is released when Tom invites an acquaintance over for dinner. Amanda immediately maneuvers, seeing him as a possible husband for Laura. Will salvation for all three come from this fateful dinner  with Laura's very own gentleman caller? Or will the delicate world they've built around each other come toppling down?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMUH1mfGS7A

Daddy Long Legs
Mar 17 - Apr 8, 2018
The charming novl that became a classic film in a new musical adaptation.
Jerusha Abbott is the "Oldest Orphan in the John Grier Home" until a mysterious benefactor decides to send her to college to be educated as a writer. Required to write him a letter once a month, she is never to know the benefactor's identity - so she invents one for him: Daddy Long Legs. Although she knows that he will never respond to her letters, she grows more and more fond of this elusive and kindly "old" gentleman. But another relationship soon begins too develop in Jerusha's life. Jervis Pendleton is the well-to-do, "youngish" uncle of one of Jerusha's roommates, who introduces her to a world of literature, travel, and adventure. Through her correspondence with Daddy Long Legs and her growing intimacy with Jervis, Jerusha's letters chronicle her emergence as a delightfully independent "New American Woman." Yet, there is one startling fact that Jerusha has yet to uncover - a fact that will change her life forever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_fdTCG5f0o

The Machine Stops
May 5 - May 27, 2018
Forster's precient 1909 story that predicted our reliance on the internet.
E.M. Forster's prescient short story, penned in 1909, predicts a world with chilling similarities to our own. Set in a dystopian future where people live isolated from one another in identical rooms and only interact through The Machine, Forster's story seems to astutely predict technologies that evoke the internet, text messaging, and social media. For The Machine is an omnipotent technology that provides everything one could want, eliminating the need to ever leave one's room. Vashti is content with life as it is but her son Kuno believes there must be more to life, and ventures to the surface. What he finds there will change him forever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28HlCNrGZpU

The Musical of Musicals the Musical!
Jun 23- Jul 15, 2018
A musically musical musical inspired by the musical writers that brought us musicals.
From a humble, classic American plot come not one, not three, but five musical adaptations as though they were written by five of the most influential musical theatre writers or writing teams of all time. There is a Rodgers & Hammerstein version, set in Kansas in August, complete with a dream ballet; a Sondheim version, featuring the landlord as a tortured artistic genius who slashes the throats of his tenants in revenge for not appreciating his work; a Jerry Herman version, as a splashy star vehicle; an Andrew Lloyd Webber version, a rock musical with themes borrowed from Puccini; and a Kander & Ebb version, set in a speakeasy in Chicago. This hilarious musical pays loving tribute to the traditions of musical theatre while mercilessly lampooning them to shreds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h87ThaM0S90

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"Our shows are primarily done in our blackbox theatre space which has between 130-150 seats.  We typically change the seating arrangement each show.  All of our risers and seats can be broken down and are removable, so that is something that make our experience unique in the Tampa Bay area.  Every time you enter the theatre, it is a different experience.  Sometimes we even take the seats out and do environmental seating where the audience sits on pieces of furniture that are within the set.  So people are sitting inside the action. We also have another space that we use for rentals in the other building that is on, what we refer to as, "our campus".

This past season we were hit really hard by hurricane Irma.  The roof came off of our main performance space and it had to be completely re-done.  We were very fortunate that we had an outpouring of support from the community and that we had another performance space that we could move the show we were in rehearsals for into.  We had to push the show back by a week and open a week later than expected, but we got the other space up (which was not ready for that size show) and running.  It was a true testament to what can happen when an entire community works together to make something happen as well as to the freeFall staff that jumped right in and made the show work in a completely different space." - Susan Haldeman

freeFall received a matching donation of $100,000 by Katie Tiedemann and Ellen Cotton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQUZKgJlGPU

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"I became involved with freeFall first as an actor in 2014, so after building a connection with the staff, I expressed interest in working in the box office and they hired me straight away. I didn’t really interview formally, but building a connection with the company as an actor was an important step in getting the box office job.

During the run of the Peter plays, I was in my fall semester of Junior year at USF. I had just finished a short run of Sweet Charity and went directly from our last performance on a Sunday to my first rehearsal at freeFall on Tuesday. Being busy was actually very exhilarating. I had the best professors who supported the fact that I was doing professional work and allowed me to leave class early a few times to get to rehearsal. Luckily, freeFall had a lot of local actors with day-jobs during the Peters and rehearsed in the evenings mostly, unlike Burnt Part which took place over the summer and rehearsed mornings and afternoons. Anyway, as fate would have it, tech week was also exam week. It was stressful. I drove far too much and ate far too much fast food. But I got good marks on my exams and final showings for performance classes and opened two shows in a span of 4 weeks, so I felt pretty great. The play played through Christmas break and into the first 3 weeks of the spring semester. Luckily, our weeknight performances started at 7 and I had plenty of time to drive between class and the theatre. All in all, it was a great experience and really enriched my learning at school by showing me real world applications of what I was being taught. Get involved outside USF! It’s the best way to get a head start in an industry that can feel like you’re constantly trying to keep your head above water.

I live in New York now but would go back to do any show at freeFall in a heartbeat." - Cameron Kubly

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You are create an account on auditions.freefall.com to be put on a mailing list to be notified for any auditions coming up. You are able to audition in many ways dependent on the show. freeFall attends the UPTA and FPTA auditions. If you are not able to attend either event you can send a video submission for the role.

"I went to an open call for the company’s 2013-2014 season in June of 2013 knowing that the show I was most “right” for was not until summer of 2014. I sang 16 bars of musical theatre repertoire and performed a monologue that I connected to. After performing for Eric Davis and the then-Company Manager Jim Sorensen (who now holds a similar position at American Stage, the bay area’s only other Equity theatre), I was able to chat with them about me. Eric was interested that I went to Blake High School for the Arts because he used to teach there. I realized that getting to know me as a person was just as important to them as learning about my skills as a performer. However, after that, I heard nothing for months. In November, I invited Eric to see my high school’s performance of Company, and surprisingly he came! Still nothing for months, then in April I got a call from Jim that I was cast in The Burnt Part Boys. I was later told that my performance in Company was my “callback”. The rest is history!" - Cameron Kubly

"We see several thousand actors each year to fill approximately 25-50 roles. We see actors at an annual local audition which we are required by the actors' union to hold. We also see actors at several state and national unified auditions where we get together with many other theatres to see many actors at once. We also seek and accept many submissions by video via the internet." - Eric Davis

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"We do have some programs that we have started this year.  We have freeFall Under 40, which allows people who are under the age of 40 to get a deeply discounted season ticket where they come to an assigned night during the performance and on that night we have a get-together for all of them. We also implemented some audience enrichment programs in the last couple of years.  We have talkbacks with the cast and director every Friday after the show.  We also have, typically before the show on the final 2 Sundays, our freeFall Foreward which gives people a more in depth look at the show and the writer.  This is given by our resident Patron Services Manager and Dramaturg, Timothy Saunders. Every summer we also take a group of patrons to the Oregon Shakespeare festival where we see 9-10 shows in a week." - Susan Haldeman

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"We do have an education outreach program that is run by Alison Burns where she teaches the kids at Academy Prep." - Susan Haldeman

Educational outreach is a big part of how freeFall contirbutes to the community. They strive to teach people  "understanding and enjoyment of live theatre."

"From our freeFall Foreword Series, to our “freeFall 411” programs offered prior to most performances, to talkbacks after Friday evening performances, to our educational outreach to local schools, we are pleased to make many of these events available to the public, and most of them for free."

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"We always have something in development.  Currently Eric is working on his new adaptation of The Machine Stops and figuring out how that story is going to be told as well as working on what we are going to do for our 2018/19 season." - Susan Haldeman

"Next season we will presenting a world-premiere musical that will hopefully transfer to a commercial production elsewhere. We just produced a co-production with a British company that transferred from freeFall to a theatre in London. We are about to do a new adaptation of EM Forster's The Machine Stops. These are among our recent and upcoming projects that are of particular note." - Eric Davis

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freeFall Theatre is funded by a combination of local business sponsorships, government funding, and private donations.

Sponsors:

City of St. Petersburg

Green Bench Brewing Co.

Minuteman Press

Sacino's Fine Dry Cleaning

The State of Florida division of cultural affairs

The Shubert Foundation

Donations and Membership Plans:

On the freeFall Theatre website's donation and membership page it states "Like all not-for-profit, professional theatre in the United States, ticket sales alone cannot possibly cover the cost of presenting our work or our other mission-related activities. We rely on the tax-deductible contributions of people like you."
freeFall Theatre offers different membership tiers for people who donate a monthly or annual recurring amount of money, but membership is optional if the those donating want to simply give money without receiving the member benefits. The memberships are divided into 7 different tiers based on the member's annual donation, each tier having its own incentives including all of the benefits from the lower tiers.

$100 Friend Membership:
No box office fees, member's only seating, listing in show programs, member discounts at local businesses.
$250 Bronze Membership:
10% discount on tickets, listing in souvenir yearbook, recognition on digital signage
$750 Silver Membership:
Complimentary beverages at each performance, invitation to Season Announcement Party
$1,250 Gold Membership:
Invite 4 guests to accompany you to a performance
complimentary copy of hard cover biennial
$2,500 Platinum Membership:
Invite 8 guests to accompany you to a performance, personalized private backstage tour for you and your guests
$5,000 Diamond Membership:
Invitation to exclusive dinner inspired by the coming season, hosted by Artistic Director, Eric Davis and served on the set of the season’s opening production, recognition on permanent installation on the freeFall campus (pending future construction)
$10,000 Director's Circle Membership:
host a private event at the theatre with space rental fees waived, allow us to create a benefits package customized to suit your specific interests

freeFall Theatre also offers two ticket subscription options.

The $249 Season Subscription:
Includes a single ticket to each of their performances for the season and the option to book at any point and choose any seat.

The $225 freePass 5-Ticket Flexible Subscription:
Includes 5 tickets that can be used any way you want for the season "You can book five tickets to one performance, one ticket in each of five performances; see one show five times, or five shows once"