Playing It
Forward
Since
1987
By Marlowe Fairbanks
The Tampa Bay area’s Straz Center for
the Performing Arts celebrated its
30th anniversary as well as the 25th
year of service for the organization’s
president and CEO Judy Lisi in 2017.
The Straz story is a triumphant tale for
the Tampa Bay area. Built at a time when
Tampa lagged behind other cities as its
cigar boom was ending, the performing
arts center represented a hope in the future
of what Tampa could be if citizens invested
in culture as both an economic draw and a
commitment to city improvement. Not much
besides the Henry B. Plant Museum (1974)
and the Tampa Art Museum (1979) existed in
downtown Tampa in 1987, when the doors
opened on what was originally named the
Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.
Soon, tractor trailers hauling top-ofthe
line Broadway shows rolled into town
bringing Les Miserables and Hello, Dolly!
The catalog of performers over the next
thirty years has included such an eclectic
mix of legends as B.B. King, Gregory Hines,
David Bowie, Eartha Kitt, Dolly Parton, Bob
Dylan, Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin,
Joan Rivers, Alison Krauss, Henry Rollins,
Blondie, Bernie Mac, Mariah Carey, Kathleen
Battle and so many more.
s
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 | TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 53
ROB HARRIS