A TIMELINE OF ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE

Fall 2001

Fall 1998

Florida Rep is founded by Robert Cacioppo & Carrie Lund. After 10 successful seasons producing professional theatre, Cacioppo & Lund bring their troupe from Sanibel to Downtown Fort Myers. With the help of Don Paight and the Fort Myers Redevelopment Agency, the Historic Arcade Theatre becomes a hub for the arts in the struggling Downtown River District.

The inaugural season opens with Noises O by Michael Frayn.

*Fun fact: Then a traveling actor, Greg Longenhagen, was meant to star in the production, but a cartilage tear knee injury during dress rehearsal sidelined the 30-year-old actor just before opening. Longenhagen now serves as Producing Artistic Director.

Spring 2000

After a full season producing a wide variety of comedies, dramas, and musicals, Florida Rep makes a statement in the spring of 2000 with the modern American classic Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee. The play boasts a cast of over 50 professional and community actors – and remains the largest productions (in terms of people) ever to be produced on the Arcade stage.

John Martin joins the sta as Managing Director. He is tasked with charting a new nancial course for the edgling company, and begins to focus on Florida Rep’s nancial health. Now the company’s Executive Director, Martin is Florida Rep’s longest-serving sta member beginning his 21st season in 2022.

Summer 2004

The theatre pays tribute to Neil Simon with summer productions of Lost in Yonkers, Fools, and the second installment of his biographical trilogy, Biloxi Blues.

Spring 2001

Florida Rep makes a splash producing the hard-hitting Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Wit by Margaret Edson.