By John Hayden

A child actress willing to kill for a role. An autistic gay man looking for love. A progressive community that may not be as progressive as they want to believe. These are just some of the intriguing stories being told in the new season at Island City Stage (ICS).

The ICS team has been working all summer and has five amazing shows lined up, which will bow over the next year. While that may seem like plenty of time to pace themselves, much of the work has already been completed.

“It’s been very busy,” Artistic Director Andy Rogow told OutClique. “We have to cast all five shows pretty much all at once and we have a lot of roles to cast. We spent about three months doing casting calls and call backs.”

And once the actors get on stage, they need something to wear. Their former fabric supplier left South Florida and since quality costumes for the stage aren’t found rummaging through the racks at a mall, they need to go elsewhere.

“We have two shows that are big costume shows,” Artistic Director Martin Childers said. “Our costume designer went to New York to go fabric shopping.”

Community Is A Class Act

Island City Stage has long been a fixture on Dixie Hwy. and has paved the way for the area to become the arts and entertainment corridor it is today. With The Foundry Theater next door, Empire Stage down the street and lots of arts galleries, the area is a cultural epicenter for small-to-midrange theater.

From Rogow’s perspective, the community benefits from all the venues. 

“My favorite thing is that it’s so active and keeps growing. We now have all these art galleries that have opened,” said Rogow.  “I love that Dixie Hwy. is becoming this arts corridor. And people are patronizing all these organizations.”

But quality art is expensive and government grants across the country, and especially in Florida, have been drying up. While Childers continues to apply, he is very appreciative of local donors and organizations. 

“A lot of our grant funders are still supporters and we’re grateful. When you come to individuals in our community they are supportive. We couldn’t do it without them,” said Childers.

He knows how special this area is and knows what can happen without the love and support of a community. His previous theater company in eastern Kentucky closed due to lack of funding. While that makes him incredibly sad, he’s also incredibly grateful to be here.

“For me it was a great move. I’m happy to be here and be in the community,” he said.

Childers said the ICS community is tightly knit.

 “People tell me they feel like family here. They are supporting. That’s the kind of community we want to build. We want to do excellent theater but we also want to have people that become our friends because they support what we do. There is so much happening. We have great neighbors and businesses that help any way they can. We are fortunate to be here,” he said.

“You realize WM is a really unique area, and what we have here is not easily found elsewhere,” Rogow added.

Sneak Peek

With casting completed and costuming underway, Rogow is giving OutClique readers an inside look at the upcoming season.