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Weekend spotlight: Open house at The Studio@620
Eleven months after she took the reins of The Studio@620, artistic executive director Erica Sutherlin is inviting the public to an open house, to walk, talk and otherwise interact with her, and her staff. Objective: To plot out (and learn about) the future of St. Petersburg’s 20-year-old collective art, music, theater et cetera space.
Saturday’s event, 1 to 3:30 p.m., will include lots of conversations about what Sutherlin has planned for The Studio TNG (The Next Generation). With light refreshments, too.
Admission is free. The Studio@620 is at 620 1st Avenue S.
End of the season
The Florida Orchestra winds down its 2024-25 season with a pair of pops concerts this weekend. Trumpeter/vocalist Byron Stripling conducts a program of “Ragtime, Blues & All That Jazz,” with pianist Bobby Floyd. It’s at Morsani Hall inside Tampa’s Straz Center, at 8 p.m. Friday. Find tickets here.
Chelsea Gallo conducts a free Pops in the Park program at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at River Tower Park, 401 E Bird St, Tampa. It’s family-friendly stuff, with film scores, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture, patriotic music and more. Bring a blanket. Food trucks on site.
And that’s a wrap on Season 57. TFO will return in September.
On theater stages
James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Fat Ham, an eye-opening contemporary adaptation of Hamlet, opens Friday at American Stage in St. Petersburg. The Catalyst spoke with director Raymond O. Caldwell this week; find that conversation (and tickets) at this link.
It’s the final weekend for a pair of provocative plays in Tampa: Jobsite Theater’s interpretation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s The Butterfly’s Evil Spell (four shows between tonight and Sunday afternoon) and the world premiere of Craig Houk’s Cooler, at LAB Theater Project (four shows between tonight and Sunday afternoon). Showtimes and tickets for Jobsite are here; showtimes and tickets for LAB are here.
Concert calendar
Friday brings Australian comedian Jim Jeffries to the Mahaffey Theater, in St. Petersburg. Find tickets at this link.
Country music’s Sam Hunt (“Leave the Light On,” “House Party,” “Body Like a Back Road,” “Outskirts”) is onstage Friday at the Seminole Hard Rock Event Center, Tampa. Find tickets at this link.
Wednesday had Rick Springfield headlining an all ‘80s bill at Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall. Friday, in the very same auditorium, it’s the annual bay area appearance by the “Happy Together” tour delivers a bunch of ‘60s favorites. To wit: The Turtles, the Cowsills, the Vogues, Little Anthony, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap and Jay & the Americans. Yes, there are a few original members here and there. Tickets are at this link.
And let’s not forget the 1970s! Styx plays the Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre Saturday, with singer Kevin Cronin (from REO Speedwagon) and Florida native Don Felder, who was a member of the Eagles back in the hitmaking era.
If you’re counting, this will be the third bay area appearance by Styx in 11 months. Tickets for the show (the venue is at the Florida State Fairgrounds in east Tampa), can be found here.
Sunday: Umphrey’s McGee returns to Jannus Live. Tickets are at this link.
Although Pride Month events begin Sunday, the popular parade and festival is June 28. Photo: City of St. Petersburg.
Pride Month begins
St. Pete Pride ushers in Pride Month 2025 Sunday with a kickoff street party in the Grand Central District, with the 2300 and 2400 blocks of Central Avenue closed off. Find the entire month of Pride events here.
Pride President Byron Green-Calisch is our guest on Friday’s Arts Alive! podcast.
Your Weekend Spotlight appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section.
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