Meet Florida Rep's new artistic director, a familiar face at the Fort Myers theater

Greg Longenhagen was a part of Florida Rep before there even was a Florida Rep.

The theater’s new artistic director worked with Florida Repertory Theatre founder Bob Cacioppo at Cacioppo’s former theater, Pirate Playhouse, on Sanibel Island. Then he followed him to Fort Myers for the birth of Florida Rep.

Since then, Longenhagen has worked on about 60 different productions at the downtown theater as an actor, director, fight choreographer or dialect  coach.

Florida Rep, he says, means everything to him.

“This really has been my artistic home throughout my career in the theater,” says Longenhagen, 51, of Fort Myers. “I’ve watched it from the beginning. I’ve watched it grow. And not just from the sidelines.”

That’s why Longenhagen says he applied for the artistic director job, which opened after the theater’s board of directors fired Cacioppo in April.

Florida Rep means too much to him, he says, to risk having an outsider take the reins and perhaps disband the ensemble of actors, directors and other artists they’ve built over the last two decades.

“I thought, my goodness, we’ve spent 20 years trying to build the theater,” he says. “We’ve all been a part of it.

“Like any company — and the theater is a company — it’s only as good as the people who work there. Those are just the facts.”

• More: After tumor, Florida Rep founder Cacioppo feels blessed, 'lucky to be alive'
• More: Florida Rep looks toward the future after Cacioppo
• More: After tumor, Florida Rep founder Cacioppo feels blessed, 'lucky to be alive'

Now Longenhagen is running Fort Myers' biggest nonprofit arts organization, a nationally acclaimed theater with a $4.1 million budget, 55 employees and an annual attendance of about 90,000 people.

“I really do feel that this is an honor to lead this company,” he says. “I feel blessed. I feel like I’m surrounded by really great artists and really great administrators.

“It’s a good group of people, and I’m excited about where we can go and where the theater could be.”

Florida Rep’s board of directors named Longenhagen to the position in October. At the same time, they also promoted interim artistic director Jason Parrish — a longtime Florida Rep actor and former associate director — to the job of associate artistic director (SEE SIDEBAR).

Marc Laviolette, chairman of Florida Rep’s board of directors, says they decided to look at internal candidates for the artistic-director job before looking nationwide. “We thought we had pretty good talent there.”

Longenhagen was one of three candidates they considered, he says, and they were all strong options. Eventually, it came down to Longenhagen’s long tenure with the theater and his business experience (including running local video-production company Abbott Productions).

“You have to have somebody that’s going to be a really good fit,” Laviolette says. “He was the clear front-runner. … And he’s been doing excellent.”

Longenhagen says he never would have applied for the job, though, if his friend Cacioppo hadn’t approved. That’s why he called his mentor to get his blessing.

Longenhagen says it was it a gesture of respect for Cacioppo and his legacy at Florida Rep. The theater board fired Cacioppo in April for alleged "inappropriate behavior," but it was recently revealed that a brain tumor might have been responsible for much of the producing artistic director's behavior.

“There would really be no Florida Rep were it not for Bob and (his wife), Carrie,” Longenhagen explains. “I know that, and I think a lot of other people know that.  

“But mostly (it’s) respect for somebody I love dearly. He’s like a brother to me. That’s something that was very important to me, to have his blessing before I threw my hat in the ring.”

Cacioppo, in turn, says he wholeheartedly approves of Longenhagen’s new role as artistic director. Longenhagen has the maturity and business skills to lead the theater, he says. And he’ll preserve the ensemble that Cacioppo and his team have built since 1998.

“I want only the best for the Rep,” Cacioppo says. “I only wish the best for the board and the success of the theater.

“And Greg has my love and support. … The theater’s in good hands with Greg, I think, for the future.”

Florida Rep is more than just a job for Longenhagen, though. It’s also a family affair. He met his wife, occasional Florida Rep actor Liz Abbott, at a cast party at Cacioppo’s house (they were married in 2005).

Now his 11-year-old daughter, Liza Jayne Longenhagen, has launched her own acting career there. In fact, the two share the stage in Florida Rep’s current production of “A Christmas Carol.”

Longenhagen has spent a lot of time at the downtown theater, obviously. He was in the audience on opening night of Florida Rep’s first show in 1998, the comedy “Noises Off.” And he would’ve been acting onstage, too, if it weren’t for a torn meniscus in his knee —just days from showtime.

“I was out of it, but I stuck around town a little bit and worked as an assistant director with Bob,” he says. “We worked in a new actor … and flew him in the day after to come in and take over the role. He went out with a book in hand and did a phenomenal job.

“I sat and watched it from the audience. In fact, I sat there with a script, as well, in case he got lost and needed it. I was going to feed him the line right from the seat!”

Since then, Longenhagen say he’s acted in at least 35 productions at Florida Rep, including first-season show “Spider’s Web” and the theater’s current “A Christmas Carol.”

He says he might continue to act at Florida Rep, occasionally, but he’ll more likely direct instead. “That might be awhile," he adds. "I want to settle into the job and get my feet wet.”

The Allentown, Penn., resident first came to Southwest Florida in 1997 and became a full-time resident in about 2001. In addition to acting, he’s managed a successful marketing business, Abbott Productions, for almost 15 years (he’s stepping down as director of operations to work full-time at Florida Rep). He’s also an assistant theater professor at FGCU, a job he says he’ll be leaving in January after this semester ends.

Now Longenhagen is getting used to running the theater and all the meetings and decisions that require his attention every day. That job includes choosing the plays for the theater’s 2019-20 season — something he says he’s in the process of doing right now.

“I guarantee this: It will be a mix,” he says. “In the way that we’ve done in the past, it will include some light pieces. It will include some of what we call our ‘issue plays.’ It will include hopefully some things with music.”

Longenhagen says he wants to continue the tradition that Cacioppo started: Offering a variety of different theatrical experiences, including world premieres, heavy dramas, lighthearted comedies, musicals and classic theater such as Shakespeare and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

“I think that the content that Bob has picked over the years has been really very good,” Longenhagen says. “He’s a super bright guy — not just a great, great friend of mine —and super brilliant when it comes to that kind of work in the theater.

“And one of the things that he’s done, and that I hope we will continue to do and plan to do, is to continue to stretch the audiences. … When we started years ago, we never would have been able to do a play like ‘Damascus’ (currently in Florida Rep's smaller ArtStage Studio Theatre). I think you have to slowly but surely (get) your audience to stretch a little bit more.”

In other words: Longenhagen doesn’t plan to make any radical changes at Florida Rep. The theater will continue to do the same great work it’s always done.

And that, he says, is a credit to the team they’ve built over the years. That’s why he says it was important for him to step up and take the reins at Florida Rep.

“I knew — because this is what happens everywhere — when you bring somebody in from the outside, it all changes,” he says. “Eventually, not right away. Which means all of the artists who have given their time over the years and have poured their blood and sweat into the theater, they would eventually not be around.

“A new head coming in would bring their own people, and rightfully so. I totally understand. You work with the people you know, that you trust and want to work with.”

Now Longenhagen says he’s looking forward to guiding the theater and excited to see where they go next. It’s like being the director of a play — something he’s done many times — just on a bigger scale.

“If you’re director of a play, you’re directing the play and you’re in charge of all the elements of the play,” Longenhagen says. “But when you’re artistic director, you’re in charge of the whole party. Everything that goes on.

“I love the idea of infusing and invigorating people and motivating people to do their best work.”

Connect with this reporter: Charles Runnells (Facebook), @charlesrunnells (Twitter), @crunnells1 (Instagram)

Meet Jason Parrish, Florida Rep's newly named associate artistic director

Greg Longenhagen isn’t the only familiar face who’s gotten a promotion at Florida Rep. Longtime actor/director Jason Parrish also has a new job: Associate artistic director.

Promoting Parrish was one of Longenhagen’s first decisions as the theater’s new artistic director. And Longenhagen says it was something that was long overdue.

“His title didn’t really reflect the work that he was doing,” he says. “He was doing quite a bit. He was doing a lot of the day-to-day.”

That included taking on the job of interim artistic director after Florida Rep’s board of directors fired theater founder and producing artistic director Bob Cacioppo in April.

“As interim artistic director, God bless him, he really did steer the ship through some stuff,” Longenhagen says. “And he should be commended for doing so. I certainly have commended him for that.”

Parrish, 36,  has been part of Florida Rep for the last 13 years. He started as an acting intern in 2005 — his first role was playing the prosecutor in “To Kill a Mockingbird" — and since then he’s done everything from marketing to directing to performing in 31 more shows.

He directed his first play at Florida Rep in 2011, and he’d been Florida Rep’s associate director and casting director for the last decade. He’s also vice president of the Florida Professional Theatres Association.

Parrish says it’s nice to have the word “artistic” in his job title. It better reflects the job he does, including creating and overseeing the annual PlayLab new play festival and casting actors for all of Florida Rep’s shows.

“I go through all 5,000 headshots we get every year, personally,” he says.

Parrish and Longenhagen will work closely together, although they’re still working out their rhythm and the details of who will do what.

“For me, it’s all about supporting Greg and moving the theater forward,” Parrish says. “I’m excited about what it’s going to mean for us. I want us to move forward and to continue to grow.”

Like Longenhagen, Parrish says it’s important to keep the current ensemble of actors and employees together.

“We’re all still here," he says. "That beating heart is still here.”