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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. |
THE NAME
In the words of Co-Founder Aubrey Hampton, "Living theatre, like the gorilla, is an endangered species."
Located in Tampa, Florida, the Gorilla Theatre was founded in 1990 by playwrights Aubrey Hampton and Susan Hussey. After a few productions at the Loft Theatre, Falk Theatre and Hillsborough Community College's Ybor City campus, they decided to open their own theatre in Drew Park, in 1993. In 1998, Gorilla Theatre expanded to a full season, featuring popular musicals and challenging plays by both founding members as well as other playwrights. Now the Gorilla is an essential part of the Tampa area arts scene, featuring a season of critically-acclaimed works you are unlikely to see anywhere else in the Tampa Bay area. It is also the premiere venue for the Tampa Bay Jazz Club's "Jazz at the Gorilla".
THE LOCATION
The Gorilla Theatre's location in Drew Park may not be glamorous but we love it. It's convenient as it is just one short block from the company Aubrey founded in 1967, Aubrey Organics. Also, Drew Park is centrally located for theatre patrons from all parts of Tampa, as well as across the bay, in Pinellas County. We have free parking, a beautiful lobby, a bar featuring select wines and beverages (for a donation) and an intimate theatre of just 47 seats. We believe the Gorilla Theatre is the best place to see the best theatre in the Tampa Bay area.
AUBREY HAMPTON — Founder/Producer
Aubrey Hampton has written and produced many plays in the Tampa Bay area and New York including Mingus Three (1988, 1996), Mixed Blood (1990, 1992), Swan Song for Melody Johnson (1993), Thick as Thieves (1995), Sweet Poet John Dies a Bank Robber (1996), Shakespeare Boiled Down (1997) and Elizabeth and Edward (2009). In 1990 he adapted for the stage George Bernard Shaw's fable The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God (a production sponsored by Saturday's Children), and in 1996, An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen. He also wrote GBS & Company, which was produced at The Gorilla Theatre in February 1999. War of the Currents, a play concerning the development of AC and DC and Nikola Tesla vs Thomas Alva Edison, was produced at the Gorilla Theatre in April 2001. Bach among the Flowers, in 2002, revealed the story of Dr. Edward Bach who formulated the Bach Flower Essencesand Elizabeth and Edward explored the life and work of Edward De Vere (believed by many to be the real author of "Shakespeare"'s plays). Hampton's intriguing book, "Wolf Trilogy," is a must read for those interested in the inter-dependence of man, animals and nature on our survival.
Aubrey is also the founder and visionary behind Aubrey Organics®, the leader in natural hair, skin and body care, with products sold in more than 4500 retailers throughout the world.
SUSAN HUSSEY (1954-2009) — Founder/Producer
Susan Hussey (1954-2009) was born in Martinsville, Indiana and led a spirited and colorful life filled with friends, literature, art, and a love of all things natural.
After high school, a series of odd jobs included a five-year stint with a small Canadian circus, working as a magician's assistant. A graduate of Indiana University, she received an MA in English Literature from the University of South Florida in 1984. While finishing school, Susan joined natural cosmetics manufacturer Aubrey Organics typing invoices, and worked her way to Vice President of Marketing and Advertising, as well as Editor-in-Chief of Organica magazine.
In 1990, Susan co-founded the Gorilla Theatre with Aubrey Organics' founder, Aubrey Hampton. Susan and Aubrey married in 1999, and in 2002 they embarked on their most important collaboration, raising their son Trevor, now seven.
A playwright, poet and actress, Susan wrote and co-produced a number of award-winning plays, including Plutography in the Slave Trade, Christmas Trio, The Toxic Wave, and The Dressing Room, which was singled out by the St. Petersburg Times as one of the best 10 shows of 1993, and was later produced off-Broadway in New York.
In 1999, Susan received the Weekly Planet's Best of the Bay award for best playwright. Her two-play collection, The Toxic Wave & The Dressing Room, was published by the University of Tampa Press in 2002.
Susan is greatly missed by the many people she touched in the Tampa area arts community and elsewhere. The Gorilla Theatre will be producing Susan's play Christmas Trio as part of its 2009-10 season in her memory.
BRIDGET BEAN — Managing Director
Bridget Bean comes from Yorkshire, England, and has lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1995. She has the best job in the world, that of Managing Director of the Gorilla Theatre, a position she has held since 2005. Bridget is also an actress and director. 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. Look for Bridget on the Gorilla stage this season in Susan Hussey's 1998 play Christmas Trio and, by popular demand, the return of Shirley Valentine.
NANCY COLE — Artistic Associate
Nancy Cole is a career-long member of that loose federation — Theatrelovers. She began as an actor-singer, that tributary led to stage direction, scholarly endeavors, dramatic writing and teaching. She is professor emerita of theatre at the University of South Florida. Her affiliation with the Gorilla Theatre began in 2000 with directing The Man of Destiny by G. B. Shaw. She went on to direct several plays including Aubrey Hampton's Christmas Gremlins. Recently she directed the outstanding Six Degrees of Separation, Jane Eyre, Orson's Shadow and in 2006 The Long Christmas Dinner which featured "that doorway". In the 2009-10 season, Nancy will be directing Jean Anouilh's The Lark and Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine.
JAMES B. RAYFIELD — Artistic Director, Young Dramatists' Project
James Rayfield has been a theatre educator for over thirty years. He received his BA in English from Florida State University and his MFA in directing from the University of Texas at Austin, and he has studied acting with Viola Spolin in Los Angeles. He has published seven plays for teens including his latest, Ten Actors In Search of a Cell Phone. His work has been produced all over the United States and off-Broadway at the Expanded Arts Theatre and the Manhattan Class Company. In 1992 he was selected as Theatre Educator of the Year by the Florida Association of Theatre Educators, in 1994 he was voted Best Local Playwright by Creative Loafing and he was selected as Florida Luminary Playwright by Stageworks.
AMI SALLEE CORLEY — Teen Actors Gang @ The Gorilla
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.
