I was an acting apprentice at FST a few years back and it was one of the most beneficial experience I have had in my acting career. Trust that if you get in close with the people who work there they will give you everything you need. I was a playmaker and made it onto the in house improv team and performed every Saturday night. I even was able to get my contract extended to perform in one of their summer MainStage shows. Yes, the secondary work is tedious and at times frustrating and the pay could be better, but the opportunity to live in a such a nice location with free housing and access to every single aspect of theatre (design, tech, admin, acting, etc) is something most actors never have access to. I owe so much thanks to FST and the crew there and I would do the experience over in a heartbeat.

As other comments have mentioned, the artistic director is wildly inappropriate. In our first interaction with him at our “Lunch and Learn” where we are required to sit and listen to someone during our lunch break, he called an actress he worked with “well endowed” and gestured to big bosoms, and also said that we “can’t condemn slavery and racism”. Again, this was our first interaction. Later he asked the costumes department to make an actress look “more authentically Jewish”. He loves to say he wants to challenge audiences but then put on a show about cancel culture ruining (bad) people’s lives and making fun of liberals and leftists. Please don’t just trust the rating above, make sure to read these reviews because the company is having people write reviews now to keep the rating high!!

There is no one there to speak up for the interns. Our bosses create our schedules so the company’s interest is always put before their interns. A few have tried to create an intern advocate position and it’s always shut down. One intern spoke about the overworking of fellow interns and management threatened to take away design opportunities if they felt tired after a 90 hour week. They said our “primaries come first, then our secondaries, then we get design opportunities.” Secondaries being free labor around the theatre like selling concessions, or directing parking (that could easily be done with a sign). There’s also no HR department, and no wonder with all the stuff happening in the theatre. It’s an HR nightmare. Instead we have Red Flag Reporting which goes to someone in administration who gives you a slap on the wrist or covers it up if the complaint is about someone higher up, typically the artistic director. As everyone else said, don’t work or intern here. No one could ever be desperate enough to stoop this low. (edited)

I worked at the theatre for numerous years in the last decade and eventually quit after years of being quite literally screamed at and berated by executive level staff. I could go on and on with the horror stories but it would be too obvious who I am. The reality of why I quit also has to do with the other reviews here: it was impossible to stand by day after day and make an ok salary (not great but fine) while interns, artists, production teams and others were (quite literally) abused by the theatre. I’m surprised there aren’t public articles out about the theatre but everyone I know is too afraid of being sued by the Hopkins’ to say much publicly. I will say that we did have happy times. Many people who work there in middle management are lovely and doing their best to make change so others can have a pleasant experience, but too many at the top are delusional and diabolical. There’s little opportunity for staff to have any impact (myself included the many times/things I tried). Please do yourself a favor and do not work here. Your job or “internship” should not send you to therapy. (edited)

I was part of the internship program in the early 2010's and later went on to work a full time staff position with them for another 8 years. My experience in both roles was fantastic. Peers I met in the internship program went on to become life-long friends. FST provided education, opportunities, and mentorship for a young professional like myself just getting started in their career. The work itself was most definitely fast paced and there were a variety of roles to work in and explore what I enjoyed and disliked. I met and worked with many amazing actors, performers, designers, and directors from around the country as well. I can't speak more highly of the positive time I had at FST. (edited)

The worst experience of my professional career. A true community theatre masking itself as professional. Run by racist, misogynistic individuals who are concerned with their own self centered little lives. There is no concern for the artists involved or the audience/ donors.

Awful, awful theatre to work at!! Just poorly managed from an administrative/management level, which in turns affected the actors in our show and also the poor, poor interns that work there. I don't even know where I would begin with the amount of issues we had to deal with, but if I were to sum it up, I would say that this theatre does not care about any of its employees, point blank PERIOD. Any issues we would bring up would not be taken seriously or would be met with, "Yes, we hear you, absolutely," and then they would do absolutely nothing to solve the issues. We had constant sound issues, because they are so CHEAP and don't want to invest in new sound equipment. Our set was poorly designed and was not user-friendly at all (and I guess they don't bother to try to find any other designers because again, they're CHEAP). I could go on and on, but it just was giving community theatre vibes when this is supposed to be an Equity LORT house (which also, they violated MANY Equity rules while we were there). Very few times did our show happen where something didn't go wrong, just because of the poor design! And that makes it hard for actors to do their job, especially when all these small, small things start to add up and you feel like you've received little to no support from the theatre. Every show they put up feels like it's the first show they've ever produced. And this theatre has been around since 1973! I felt the worst for the interns that had to work there, who were putting in 60+ hours every week, doing multiple different jobs in multiple different departments. These interns are most often freshly out of college looking for an opportunity to hone their skills. Instead, FST sells them a false narrative that they will get experience in their certain department (i.e. acting, costumes, education, etc.) but instead are roped into being the theatre's literal employees and working box office, house managing, calling patrons to earn subscriptions, working concessions, working as parking attendants, etc.), and then paying them $200/week. It is absolutely gross and predatory, exploitative behavior on FST's part, and the interns don't even get to/have the time to work on the things that they actually accepted the internship for. In the time I was at FST, I had known 5 interns to quit because of how exploitative and horrible the working conditions are. Overall, my cast had a pretty awful time working at this theatre. I honestly wish I could say more, but I think my brain has blocked it all out from the trauma! This theatre has a racist and misogynistic history, and I would avoid at ALL COSTS. It is not worth it; they have a horrible reputation with horrible people running it who don't care about their employees. They do not deserve Broadway-level talent on those stages. Don't say I didn't warn you! (also, sus that the 5-star reviews of this place were all written within a day of one another!!! I agree with another commentator that it is probably someone from FST administration. Definitely something that they would do.)

I went through many roles at this theatre, and it was a great jump start to my career. There were absolutely difficult days yes but I learned to be a level of detail oriented and have a drive through my work that has made me eligible for competitive job searches and has even come in handy as I've transitioned out of the theatre industry into newer dreams. I began in the intern program and eventually worked into a steady and cross-departmental staff position. In my internship the pay was significantly less than where it is today, and there were many staff members on board to push and stretch the budget to make gradual increases to the stipend paid to interns. Having free housing in Sarasota was a major bonus. There would be no way to find a deal like that in any job in Sarasota. As a staff member, I then got to give back to the intern program that started my career while making connections within the theatre industry and to the artists that worked at the theatre. Additionally, I felt the upper management worked with me directly to talk about the ways I would grow my career at FST. They'd then assign me work that aligned with those goals. If I had a problem, I could have a one on one conversation with my manager or directly with whomever the issue was with (a great life skill to learn) It's professional theatre at the end of the day. It's never enough pay for the amount of work you do, but that's an industry thing. Also, because it operates around the holidays, we have to work while the audience plays, so time off around the holidays is minimal if any at all. These weren't things I was shocked by as I understood the industry standards before going in to the job. To work in a place with such high quality theatre performances and a variety of programming was an incredible opportunity. Even on the hard days, I felt lucky to get to do what I loved.

Being an intern at FST was an overwhelmingly positive experience. I learned more about producing professional theatre in a few months than I did in all of College or in any job since. Also the other interns, staff, and artists at FST were amazing and became both great friends and my professional network. I was a Marketing intern. It was a lot of hard work that wasn’t always fun or easy, but they were all valuable experiences that I’m grateful for. On day one I was working on marketing and PR campaigns for multiple shows. I don’t know of another internship where you get as many opportunities to do meaningful work as part of a team of professional theatre practitioners. We worked hard and we played hard and it was all wonderful. I have recommended FST to many people and will continue to do so.

My experience was the complete opposite of those before me. I was a production intern at FST and had an incredible experience. Yes, the "pay" is low - but when you factor in the free downtown housing I was provided, I made out better than if they had paid me minimum wage. The experience I got, working directly on AEA productions, was incredibly valuable - not to mention the networking I was able to do with the other interns and the professionals who came through the theatre. I HIGHLY recommend this place!

THIS PLACE IS TERRIBLE!!! As the other two reviews said, please don't do it. There are cheap af, treat the interns so badly to the tune of $223 a week, A WEEK- and are just not the best at anything. They call themselves minimalist but thats just cheap for short. The patrons have no etiquette and when concerns are brought up, its not addressed fully or just kinda shrugged off. I can't speak any less of this place and would encourage no one to waste their time or talents on this place. Its a shock this place isn't on the do not work list for so many violations. DO NOT WORK HERE OR LET YOUR FRIENDS WORK HERE! I can guarantee you, you'll be better for it.

Red flags everywhere. (edited)

Enter at your own risk. I could go into details for hours about the exploiting of the interns, the nickel and diming when they also boast a massive subscriber base, and the problematic individuals who run and work at this place. This is not to say everyone is bad at FST, but the toxicity trickles down from the top. To sum it up... just dont do it, unless you want to risk being yelled at, taken advantage of and witness (or be the victim of) a lot of troublesome, misogynist and racist behavior from people in power. If I could rate zero stars, I would. It's too bad, because the set up and resources are great. It should be a great place to work. But for your own mental health and wellbeing, please just dont unless you are someone who can just ignore that kind of behavior.