MAR 22 - APR 21, 2024

Tickets

Adult: $37
College: $22
Youth: $15

Heartwarming, homespun, and hopeful, The Spitfire Grill is a folk musical in the Rodgers and Hammerstein tradition about second chances, starting over, and mending what’s broken. We’re dishing up a blue plate special of absolution and apple pie.

Getting Here

Raymond Center

140 Tampa Ave W.
Venice, FL 34285

Directions

Located at the north end of the rear parking lot. Please follow the signs. Parking is available in front of the Raymond Center and under the bridge.

Brad Wages

Brad Wages

Director/Choreographer

An award-winning actor, director and choreographer, Brad’s work has been seen across the United States and Canada. He holds a B.F.A. from the University of Oklahoma and served as assistant director to Broadway directors Fran Soeder and Joe Layton. He has been seen in a number of national theatre tours and national commercials. He is thrilled to call Venice Theatre “home” and to have the privilege of guiding the next generation of young actors to the stage.

Michelle Kasanofsky

Michelle Kasanofsky

Music Director

Michelle Kasanofsky has been playing piano for almost 56 years and is a professional musician as well as a music educator. Michelle received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston and studied jazz piano there as well as classical at Boston University. She has a B.A. cum laude from Dowling College, a Master of Science in Music Education from C. W. Post Long Island University and an Education Leadership Specialist degree from Nova Southeastern University.

Michelle is originally from New York and spent most of her life on Long Island. While in New York she music directed many off-Broadway productions which included Always, Patsy Cline and has performed all over the world in Europe, Japan and Korea. Since moving down to Florida in 1998, Michelle has taught chorus, drama and dual enrollment music classes. In 2014, she was selected as Charlotte County’s Teacher of the Year. Since 2000 Michelle has performed and music directed at Venice Theatre. Her productions have included Hair, Mamma Mia, Cabaret, Toxic Avenger and Dreamgirls to name a few. She has also Music Directed at Sarasota Players, Manatee Players, Charlotte Players and the Dingbat Theatre Project.

Michelle has played for national touring companies at venues such as Barbara B Mann and Ruth Eckerd Hall for shows including A Chorus Line, Legally Blonde and West Side Story as well as accompanying artists such as Bernadette Peters and The Irish Tenors. In 2021 Michelle became the resident music director at Venice Theatre.

Sponsored by

Carolyn & Ed Boudreaux

Mary Rau-Foster & Dick Foster

Carole Freeland Raymond

Eric Watters