Now Playing: A TAILOR NEAR ME

December 10 2025 - February 15, 2026 at Florida Studio Theatre.

We’re in Sarasota, Florida for the opening of my play. We saw it at a final dress rehearsal on Tuesday. The lights dimmed and Jill squeezed my hand. I squeezed back. Then the stage lights came up on two truly splendid actors, David Cantor and Paul Nicholas, and my shoulders dropped. The small invited audience laughed softly as they witnessed the first spark of a relationship between these two strangers. My eyes misted over. “All is well,” I thought. “The director (Kate Alexander) is taking us on a ride. All is very well.” Then the boys got their first big laugh. “The writing’s okay, too,” I thought. “This guy understands me.”

The theater -- The Florida Studio Theater -- is a wonder. It’s a small city, a veritable hive of artistic energy. There are six performing spaces, I believe, which - at peak season - are simultaneously filled with exciting plays, readings and cabarets. There are rehearsal spaces, a scene shop where they build everything, a costume shop, an office complex. It sprawls over two city blocks and it has an impressively large, intellectually eager, and intensely loyal audience. That helps a lot.

All in all, I think I really landed in it.

https://www.floridastudiotheatre.org/events-and-tickets/2025-26-winter-mainstage-series/a-tailor-near-me

A man goes to a tailor to have his suit pants let out because he's gained some weight since he last wore them. The tailor convinces him that what he really needs is a new suit, which leads to a negotiation, which leads to the making of a bespoke suit, which leads to alterations in both of their lives.