Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe enters its sixteenth season

The five shows in the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (WBTT) 2015-2016 season promise to be as entertaining and universally popular as previous seasons that have just about sold out for each performance weeks in advance.  Here's this year's schedule:

The Color Purple

October 14 through November 21
Most people know Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize winning novel from the stunning Steven Spielberg movie starring Whoopie Goldberg as Celie, the down trodden woman who overcomes a wretched life, violence and emotional scars to discover self empowerment, joy and love. WBBT presents this uplifting, gospel, jazz and blues musical with book by Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, inspiring all of us to always fight to overcome adversity.

A Motown Christmas

December 2 through 31, World Premiere
What better way to ring in the holidays than with another rousing musical treat created and directed by WBTT founder and artistic director, Nate Jacobs? Audiences flock to the soulful, authentically Motown sounds that have defined Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe for years … unwrapping popular holiday numbers made famous by Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

January 13 through February 20
This rendition of the August Wilson play promises gripping drama combined with great music. In 1927 Chicago, blues diva Gertrude "Ma" Rainey battles prejudice against not only her race but her stature in the jazz age, as well. Tension and unforgettable tunes abound as the "Mother of the Blues" tries to record her first studio album for her white producers.

The Sam Cooke Story

March 2 through April 9, World Premiere
Nate Jacobs works his magic in another WBBT premiere, created and directed by the company's mega-talented artistic leader. Sam Cooke was a superstar performer across several genres, celebrated for songs such as You Send Me, Saturday Night and A Change is Gonna Come. Jacobs captures the sensuality, spirit and sass of one of America's most gifted singer/songwriters who died way before his time at the age of 33.

Driving Miss Daisy

April 20 through May 28
Howard Millman and Carolyn Michel, the dynamic duo couple of Sarasota's theater life, provide the director and star for this staging of the beloved Pulitzer Prize winning play written by Alfred Uhry. Anyone who enjoyed the movie starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman as the cantankerous elderly Jewish lady of the South and her long-suffering African-American chauffeur will want to see WBBT's take on a heartwarming and very funny comedy that manages to pair sentiment with a true slice of Southern manners and culture.

Theatre location:

1646 10th Way
Sarasota, FL 34236

Box Office:
1343 Main Street, Ste. 402 4
Sarasota, FL 34236
941-366-1505
Sarasota, FL 34236
Westcoastblacktheatre.org