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| Aubrey Hampton and Susan Hussey are the Co-Founders and Producers of the Gorilla Theatre. Both are accomplished playwrights, former circus performers and Hoosiers. |
A season at the Gorilla consists of six main stage plays plus workshops, staged readings, jazz and cabaret. The Gorilla's continuing dedication to the development of new works is evident in its Gorilla Reading series (notable productions include Scott Hudson's Sweet Storm and Richard DiPietra's I Am A Cuban Sandwich) and its Young Dramatists' Project, which just completed its 12th year. Recent unforgettable Gorilla Theatre productions include The Woman in Black, Shipwrecked: An Entertainment, Jane Eyre, Elizabeth and Edward, The Lark, Christmas Trio, and many more.
For the past eighteen years, the Gorilla Theatre has been tucked away at 4419 N. Hubert Avenue, in a converted warehouse space in the industrial Drew Park section of Tampa — just one block away from Aubrey Hampton's "other" business (Aubrey was the genius behind the Aubrey Organics cosmetics company). The Gorilla's humble setting belies the comfortable, welcoming and polished interior. Audiences gather in the friendly lobby before entering the theatre, an intimate space where the seats are comfortable, the company congenial, and the standard of plays exceptionally high.
For 20 years, the Gorilla Theatre was tucked away in a converted warehouse space in the industrial Drew Park section of Tampa — just one block away from Aubrey Hampton's "other" business (Aubrey was the genius behind the Aubrey Organics cosmetics company). The Gorilla's humble setting disguised a comfortable, welcoming and polished interior. Audiences loved the intimate theater space where the standard of plays was exceptionally high.
Since leaving Drew Park, Gorilla has produced two shows in different spaces, an itinerant band finding new places to call home.
THE PEOPLE OF THE GORILLA THEATRE
GORILLA THEATRE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT: Sandra Lynne Locher
SECRETARY: Clare Ward-Jenkins
TREASURER (Pro Tem.): Ami Sallee
DIRECTORS: Bridget Bean (Ex Officio), Nancy Cole, James B. Rayfield, Francine Wolf.
BRIDGET BEAN
Managing Director of the Gorilla Theatre since 2005Member of Gorilla Theatre Artistic Committee since June 2011
Member of Gorilla Theatre Business and Fundraising Committee since June 2011
Originally from Yorkshire, England, Bridget has lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1995. She has been the Managing Director of the Gorilla Theatre since 2005, in which role she represents the theatre to patrons, artists, the press and the wider community.
Bridget has overall responsibility for producing a season of six main stage plays, a reading series, the Young Dramatists' Project, workshops and the Gorilla in the Dark after-hours program. Responsibilities also include play selection, managing a $250,000 budget, contract negotiations with individuals and companies, code compliance, as well as marketing, public relations and now fundraising.
In recent years, Bay Area audiences have enjoyed Bridget's performances in Shirley Valentine (for which she was awarded a Best of the Bay Award), The Lysistrata Project, Measure For Measure, Talking Heads, Underneath the Lintel, Macbeth (as Banquo), and The Vagina Monologues, among many others. Directing credits include Aubrey Hampton's Christmas Gremlins II; Susan Hussey's Christmas Trio; and Donald Margulies' Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (for which she was awarded a Jeff Norton Award).
NANCY COLE
Artistic Associate of the Gorilla Theatre since 2006Member of Gorilla Theatre Artistic Committee since June 2011
Professor Emerita, USF School of Theatre and Dance (Chair of the Department of Theatre for ten years)
Director at the Gorilla Theatre since 2000
Directing credits at the Gorilla Theatre:
- Man of Destiny by George Bernard Shaw, part of Shaw Double-Header, September, 2000
- Side Man by Warren Leight, May, 2002
- Newspaper Nuclear by Adam Ryan, Young Dramatists Project, 2004
- Christmas Gremlins, an original play by Aubrey Hampton, November-December 2004
- Copenhagen by Michael Frayn, February-March 2005
- Talking Heads by Alan Bennett, October-November 2005, 4 monologues
- Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell, June 2006 & April 2010
- The Long Christmas Dinner by Thornton Wilder, part of "A Gorilla Christmas", December 2006
- Orson's Shadow by Austin Pendleton, March 2007
- Jane Eyre, the version by Shared Experience from the Charlotte Bronte novel, 2007
- Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare, 2008
- Elizabeth & Edward by Aubrey Hampton, 2009 original, world premiere 2009
- The Lark by Jean Anouilh, version by Lillian Hellman 2010
- The Lion in Winter by William Goldman 2111
JAMES B. RAYFIELD
Artistic Director of the Young Dramatists' Project since 2008Director of Gorilla Reading Series since 2006
Member of Gorilla Theatre Artistic Committee since June 2011
Member of Gorilla Theatre Business & Fundraising Committee since June 2011
B.A. Florida State University, 1960 in English Literature
M.F.A. University of Texas at Austin, 1969, Theatre Production
Mr. Rayfield taught in the Hillsborough County School System for 36 years. Taught at Chamberlain, Brandon, and for the last ten years of his teaching career taught at Blake High School for the Arts as Acting Teacher and Director of productions.
He served as dramaturge for Gorilla's Young Dramatists' Project from the first year (1999) and assumed position of Artistic Director in 2008. As Artistic Director he promotes the program at Thespian Festivals in the three country area, visits faculty groups and visits individual classrooms in each district. He supervises and participates in the selection of the finalist for YDP, selects directors, and oversees casting and rehearsals of the productions including the taped interviews.
He has published eight plays for the high school stage which are regularly produced across the United States. As an actor or director he has also worked with Revolve Theatre, Stage Works, Playmakers, HCC, and USF.
For Gorilla he recently directed Christmas Stopping (which he also wrote) and Sweet Storm.
AMI SALLEE CORLEY
Member of Gorilla Theatre Artistic Committee since June 2011Director at the Gorilla Theatre since 2007
Director of Teen Actors Gang @ the Gorilla (TAGG) since 2008
Ami Sallee Corley has studied acting, directing and theater management in universities and professional theater companies across the states for the past 16 years. She teaches acting to all ages, but specializes in young adults. She has worked in the education department of American Stage, Ruth Eckerd Hall, and The Patel Conservatory. Corley is a contributor to Creative Loafing's Daily Loaf blog and was voted Best of the Bay Best Actress (2001 and 2007), Best Director (2003). Corley's work as actor and director can be seen this season with All Out Repertory Company (which she cofounded in 2009), the Artist and Writers Group and the Jobsite Theater, as well as the Gorilla Theatre.
FRANCINE WOLF
Member of Gorilla Theatre Business and Fundraising Committee since July 2011Francine Wolf is originally from Brooklyn, New York, with a B.S. in Education from the State University of New York at Oswego.
Francine was a government relations' specialist for eighteen years at the lobbying office for the eight Jewish Federations in Columbus, Ohio. She coordinated the Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony and Hanukkah Programs for the Office of the Governor of Ohio for fifteen years, and worked on several Governor’s Task Forces, including ones with Senator John Glenn.
During that time, she was also acting on stage, in commercials and film, raising a son and daughter, and on the Board and Past President of Senior Repertory of Ohio Theatre Company, an internationally-acclaimed senior theatre (resigning in 2000 to move to Florida).
Some of her local theatre credits include: American Stage Theatre's Lysistrata, Gypsy Productions' Sordid Lives, and Angel Cabaret's The Odd Couple, Female Version. As the lead in the film, The Four Fur Coats, she was pleased that it was screened at the recent Gasparilla Film Festival in Tampa.
Her company, ZaZu Productions, LLC, produced the successful original play, Cellmate Confessions, at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, June 30-July 10, 2011.
Francine is a member of AFTRA, a member of Stage Setters at the Straz Center, and a Florida State Notary. She is also the Coordinator of Family Support Services at Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services.
SANDRA LYNNE LOCHER
Member of Business and Fundraising Committee since June 2011.Sound Designer at the Gorilla Theatre since 2007.
Lynne is a classically trained soprano who sings concerts and cabarets throughout the Tampa Bay area. Recent performances include:
- December Songs at the Gorilla Theatre
- Solo concert at the Springs Theater
- Love and the Moon at the Hough Theater
- 2007: Rag and Bone by Noah Haidle, Jane Eyre by Polly Teale, Christmas Gremlins II by Aubrey Hampton
- 2008: A Picasso by Jeffrey Hatcher, Bach at Leipzig by Itamar Moses, An Oak Tree by Tim Crouch, Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare,
- 2009: Elizabeth & Edward by Aubrey Hampton, Young Dramatists' Project, Christmas Trio by Susan Hussey
- 2010: The Drunken City by Adam Bock, The Lark by Jean Anouilh, Young Dramatists' Project, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment by Donald Margulies, Christmas Stopping by Jim Rayfield
- 2011: Sweet Storm, by Scott Hudson, The Lion in Winter by William Goldman
