Jobsite Theater

Jobsite Theater describes itself as the independent, not-for-profit theater company in residence at the Shimberg Playhouse inside the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, and that description has held true since the group’s founding in 1999. Five theatre artists, David M. Jenkins, Michael Caban, Alan Fessenden, John Lott, and Jason Vaughan Evans, started the company in a 54-seat space called the Silver Meteor Gallery in Ybor City before moving into what was then the Straz Center’s Off Center Theater in 2003. That space is now called the Shimberg Playhouse, and Jobsite has called it home for more than two decades while remaining organizationally separate from the larger performing arts center that hosts it.

The company models its artistic approach on ensemble-driven houses like Steppenwolf Theatre and the Berliner Ensemble, favoring socially and politically engaged scripts performed by a standing group of actors, directors, designers, and stage managers who return production after production. That continuity shows up in the current 2026-27 season lineup, which runs from Penelope: An Epic New Musical in late August through The Hobbit the following summer, with stops along the way for Misery, Much Ado About Nothing, John Proctor is the Villain, and Proof.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Jobsite runs education and outreach programs alongside its mainstage productions, including post-show talkbacks, partnerships with area schools, and an apprenticeship program that gives emerging theatre artists a foothold in professional production work. Tickets and season passes are handled through the Straz Center box office, and parking follows the same downtown garage and street options used for other Straz Center events.

For audiences who want theatre that leans experimental or dark without leaving the comfort of a professional venue, Jobsite fills a specific niche in Tampa’s performing arts landscape. It is not a large institution with its own building, but the ensemble’s track record of nearly thirty consecutive seasons inside the same downtown playhouse makes it one of the more stable independent theatre companies operating in the city today.