Fort Myers Theatre

This week, four shows opens, two close, four continue their runs and there are two limited engagements at Southwest Florida equity and community theaters.

This week, one show opens, four close, five continue their runs and there are seven limited engagements at Southwest Florida equity and community theaters.

In mid-May, Fort Myers Theatre took a competition team to England to compete in Junior Theatre Festival Europe. In Artistic Director Michelle Kuntze’s estimation, trips to the Junior Theatre Festival Europe competition in England have huge benefits.

On Saturday, Michelle Kuntze left with a team of 20 competitors for the United Kingdom to compete in Junior Theatre Festival Europe on May 19.

This week, three shows open including Sondheim & Weidman's 'Assassin' at The Sarasota Players, three plays close and eight others continue their runs at Southwest Florida equity and community theaters. In addition, there are three limited engagements plus five staged readings at Florida Repertory Theatre that are part of the PlayLab Festival of New Works.

For five years, Michelle and Jeremy Kuntze have been building an excited pool of actors and patrons at Fort Myers Theatre on San Carlos Boulevard. Now, they’re opening a second location. The Fort Myers Dinner Theatre will produce its inaugural play in July.

“I’d like to have a chance to go to Broadway and beyond; maybe do movies and other things like that,” said JJ Freitas outside Fort Myers Theatre recently. Freitas has taken two big steps in pursuit of those lofty goals. First, he traveled with Fort Myers Theater to the Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta in January. It’s the Super Bowl of student-driven musical theater.

Watching an actor walk off stage and immediately reappear in a completely different outfit is one of the most captivating moments in theater. Quick costume changes add a layer of intrigue to any theater production. That’s especially true in a show where 35 actors change costumes dozens of times over the span of a couple of hours. That’s what happens in “The Little Mermaid,” which will be performed by Bishop Verot High School March 19-22.

This week, two shows open, nine close, 13 continue their runs and there is one limited engagement at Southwest Florida equity, community and high school theaters.

"Newsies" is onstage at Fort Myers Theatre through March 8. Based on the Newsboy Strike of 1899, the musical follows a rag-tag group of New York newsboys who stand up to Joseph Pulitzer when he raises the price they have to pay in order to hawk his "papes."