Photographed by Matthew Tippins | Creative Direction by Christopher Michaels
On October 1, Island City Stage, Wilton Manors’ preeminent professional theater company, will begin its fifteenth season. For anyone familiar with the precarious world of theater arts, this is no small feat. It takes just the right mix of discipline, creativity, marketing and talent to last longer than one or two seasons. From all appearances, Island City Stage seems to have concocted the perfect recipe. For the past fifteen years, the stellar South Florida theater company has brought a superior level of talented artists, staff and board members to their organization. Most of the performers appearing in Island City Stage productions have credits that include Broadway, Off-Broadway, National Tour, Regional Theater, Film and Television not to mention performing arts degrees from prestigious universities.
Looking ahead at the upcoming shows in Season 15, Island City Stage has crafted another crowd-pleasing line-up. There’s comedy, the hysterical and clever mystery Who Killed Joan Crawford written and directed by Island City Stage’s Associate Artistic Director Michael Leeds, and Drew Droege’s equally sidesplitting Messy White Gays. For musical theater lovers there’s Grey Gardens, a Broadway hit from 2007 about that notorious and wacky East Hampton mother and daughter team, “Big” and “Little” Edie Beale. And in keeping with Island City Stage’s commitment to feature new works from up and coming playwrights, there is Paper Cut by Andrew Rosendorf, a riveting drama about a young gay soldier returning from Afghanistan as an amputee and reuniting with his estranged gay twin. The play deals not only with the physical carnage of war but the emotional scars of a damaged family. The season will end with a rarely seen classic from the 1960s, The Lion in Winter written by renown screenwriter and playwright James Goldman (Follies, Oliver Twist, Nicholas and Alexandra). The 1968 film won Katherine Hepburn her third Academy Award for her portrayal of Eleanor of Aquitaine. She later won one more time for On Golden Pond. The Lion in Winter also starred Peter O’Toole as a merciless Henry II and a youthful Anthony Hopkins as Richard the Lionheart. It’s clear that Season 15 has it all.
Island City Stage – How it all began…
Back in 2012, Wilton Manors had not yet established a vibrant arts scene. There were bars, clubs and a handful of popular restaurants. Each year, however, the LGBTQ community kept growing, bringing with it a need for more diversity and entertainment options. From Miami to West Palm Beach, there wasn’t a successful South Florida theater company that specifically served the needs of an LGBTQ community. You could say Island City Stage came along at the right place at the right time. The company’s very first production in 2012, The Twentieth Century Way, was a two-hander based on a true story about an out-of-work pair of actors who hired themselves out as “vice specialists” to the Long Beach Police Department in 1914 to entrap social deviants in men’s public restrooms. It was presented not at the current home of Island City Stage on Dixie Highway, but a few miles away at Empire Stage. Leading South Florida theater critic Christine Dolan came to see it, loved it, and the rest is history. In fact, the show was such a big hit that Island City Stage revived it in their new home ten years later in 2022.
Founder and Artistic Director Andy Rogow, in retelling the history of Island City Stage, said that right from the beginning, “I made a conscious decision that I wanted to be a different kind of gay theater. I wanted to do a broad range of topics; how gay people function in broader society. I wasn’t specifically interested in gratuitous sex and drag. There were other venues fulfilling that need. I wanted Island City Stage to be different.” Trained as a musical theater performer, Andy never had any intentions to start a theater company, however, looking back, it was to the community’s benefit that he did. “Obviously, it became very rewarding.”
Every year, Andy, with input from Michael Leeds and feedback from the Board of Directors, builds a season that is all about balance. “It’s always about balance; I don’t want the season to be all drama or all comedy. There’s also the balance of classical works to new, adding in a musical, and making sure we don’t cover the same themes over and over. Plus, consideration is given to cast size, as our space does have its limitations.” Asked how he decides on the shows to present, Andy states, “I read it. If I get to the end of it, it’s a good play. If it doesn’t hit me right away, then I put it aside. I read a lot of stuff I don’t finish.” Since the pandemic, premiering new plays has also become more of a focus for Andy and the Island City Stage team.
Michael Leeds, who directed that very first production of The Twentieth Century Way fifteen years ago, added his memories to the story. “Andy called me up back in 2012 and asked me to help him start Island City Stage. We had previously known each other and always shared similar tastes in theater. My passion is really well-made classical plays that speak to us now. In the past few years, we have expanded our mission statement. We’ve done Edward Albee, Lillian Hellman and Terrance McNally. It’s a very exciting time.”
Michael’s favorite part of starting to work on a play is the research. “I read the play, then reread it, then read again and figure out what I want to say. A lot of the recent productions I’ve directed at Island City Stage have been about family and, also, obliquely about politics, the state of the world, our society. The Lion in Winter, which I’m directing, fits this bill. It’s all about family, money and power, plus there’s the gay aspect with the character of Richard the Lionheart.”
Both Andy and Michael are passionate about bringing mind-blowing theater to Wilton Manors’ audiences. Mind-blowing theater to Andy is where every element works amazingly well, to perfection. Where every actor has been well-cast and the set they’re in functions to serve the story and the lighting creates mood. “The moments I most remember, however, are the amazing performances I’ve seen.” Andy’s all-time favorite performance was seeing a young Laurie Metcalf in Balm in Gilead at Steppenwolf in Chicago. It was before she became famous. “She had an unbelievable 15-minute monologue that blew me away. I still remember it to this day.”
When asked why theater is important, Andy took a few seconds to respond. “That’s a hard question. We, theater professionals, like to convince ourselves how important we are. I think, in the grand scheme of things, we are completely unimportant and that we have to continually appreciate and be humble that we are fortunate to get to do this and be paid to do it. Yes, we are giving the patrons a gift. But I want to make sure that we give the patrons something that they are going to be entertained by. That doesn’t mean it can’t be enlightening, but at the end of the day, they have to be entertained. We are not teachers. We share stories and hopefully patrons get something out of those stories. Theater remains because people want that live experience of storytelling.” But Andy does hold out a little hope. “Maybe at times, we can change the world.”
Are there any shows that Andy is particularly excited about? “Grey Gardens! Seven or eight years ago, I wouldn’t even have considered Grey Gardens. But we have the actors who can do it, and a great set designer. Our Wilton Manors audience loves those two characters, “Big” and “Little” Edie. We have Lindsay Cory as “Little” Edie, and Laura Turnbull as her mom. I’m also really excited about The Lion in Winter. We’ve cast terrific actors.”
Running a theater company is not all creative fun. Someone has to handle the day-to-day operations. And for that, Island City Stage is fortunate to have found Martin Childers as its Managing Director. Marty, a Kentucky native, started 2016 after answering an ad, thinking he’d never hear back. “I was unhappy working at a theater company in Kentucky and applied to Island City Stage on a whim, on a day when I was particularly unhappy with my present position. Andy called me. We spoke on the phone, and soon after had a more formal interview. Next thing I knew, I got the job. When I started at Island City Stage in 2016, I wasn’t passionate about it. It was just a job. I feel much differently now. Island City Stage is committed to excellence in what we do and that makes me enjoy working here.”
What exactly is involved with being a Managing Director of a theater company? Practically everything it seems. “I work on grants, have meetings with donors, and oversee the maintenance of the theater. When I started I did everything, I answered the phone, I ran the box office, I did the banking. It’s a little different now. We just brought on Christopher Michaels as our Marketing Director, so it’s great to have someone bringing their theater expertise to that area.”
Without a doubt, Island City Stage will be celebrating another milestone in fifteen years. With a dedicated group of individuals working in harmony, it’s impossible to think otherwise. It will be exciting to see the shows and actors appearing on the stage in the seasons ahead.
To enjoy the upcoming shows in Island City Stage’s fifteenth season, consider purchasing a Flexpass. There are two options; Flexpass 3, for $150, which lets you select three out of the five productions with the ability to exchange your seats at no-charge and a Flexpass 5 for $250 for all five shows and which also allows no-charge exchanges. Individual tickets are also available for each production. The season runs from October 1, 2026, to August 1, 2027. For additional information, visit the Island City Stage website at www.IslandCityStage.org.
