(Sarasota, Fla) – Asolo Repertory Theatre has received an $85,000 Strategic Partnership Grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. This grant comes from the Allen Wirtz Nobbe and Jo Bowen Nobbe Fund, the Two-Generation Approach Fund, and the Zella I. and Junius F. Allen Fund. Funds will be designated towards Asolo Rep’s Access to the Arts programming, the 2025-26 mainstage season, and the Creative’s Take Luncheon.
Asolo Rep’s Access to the Arts program includes student matinees, touring productions of classic literature including Alice in Wonderland and the works of William Shakespeare, Talkbacks, and more. This essential programming is designed to instill a love of the arts in young audiences.
“Through our ongoing partnership, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County helps us bring theatre beyond our walls and open our doors to students and families alike,” said Ross Egan, Asolo Rep Managing Director. “Their support ensures that the transformative power of live performance is accessible to all.”
Supported by funding from the Community Foundation, Asolo Repertory Theatre’s 2025–2026 season delivers an exciting mix of musicals, mysteries, comedies, and new works. The season opens with the hit musical Come From Away, followed by a diverse mix of plays: Primary Trust, Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d, and the sharp comedy The Unfriend.
Later, audiences will experience a fresh take on Fiddler on the Roof, the soulful story of Marie and Rosetta, and Lauren Gunderson’s witty new play Lady Disdain.
This dynamic season also includes the re-mounting of All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914. It promises powerful storytelling, unforgettable music, and theatre that moves and inspires.
The grant will also fund special events that connect audiences to the artistry behind the season. The Creative’s Take Luncheon offers patrons an intimate dining experience with directors of upcoming productions, while the Annual Gala, Aquarius, raises vital funds for the season and Asolo Rep’s acclaimed Education and Engagement programs.
ABOUT ASOLO REP
Asolo Rep is a major force in Sarasota’s arts scene. Asolo Rep is annually the creative home of more than 100 artists, technical craftsmen, and administrative staff. Its talented and accomplished resident acting company is complemented by top-flight, award-winning directors, designers, and guest artists who come to Sarasota from around the country and around the world. Under the dynamic leadership of Producing Artistic Director Peter Rothstein and Managing Director Ross Egan, over 100,000 patrons are drawn each year to the theatre’s rotating repertory season. In its role as the largest professional not-for-profit theatre in the U.S. south of Atlanta, Asolo Rep serves as a springboard for successful productions to travel to Broadway and other regional theatres throughout the country.
Whether staging a new work or re-envisioning a classic, Asolo Rep creates theatre that consistently surprises, entertains, challenges and inspires its audiences by inviting them to take part in shared acts of imagination. With its ambitious theatrical offerings and ground-breaking education, outreach and audience development programming, Asolo Rep is more vibrant and its work more relevant than ever before. A theatre district in and of itself, Asolo Rep exists to present a diverse mix of theatrical work of the highest artistic standards and enthusiastically engage its audiences, continually ensuring its legacy for future generations. Visit asolorep.org to learn more.
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SARASOTA COUNTY
The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is a public charity founded in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council as a resource for caring individuals and the causes they support, enabling them to make a charitable impact on the community. With assets of $544 million in more than 1,590 charitable funds, the Community Foundation awarded grants and scholarships totaling $56 million dollars last year in the areas of education, the arts, health and human services, civic engagement, animal welfare and the environment. Since its founding, the Community Foundation has been able to grant more than $500 million to area nonprofit organizations in our community thanks to the generosity of charitable individuals, families, and businesses. For more information, visit www.CFSarasota.org or call (941) 955-3000.