By Kim Doleatto Staff Writer. Sarasota Magazine, March 2025
Booker High School’s recently renovated performing arts center is a state-of-the-art facility designed to serve not only the nearly 35 students in Booker’s Visual and Performing Arts magnet program, but also the broader Sarasota community.
The centerpiece is the main 406-seat theater, which now has updated audio-visual integration, balcony seating and tiered orchestra levels. The facility also includes a new black box theater that seats 125 and offers an intimate setting for smaller-scale performances. There’s also an expanded public lobby that doubles as an art gallery and event space, as well as audio-assistive technology, wheelchair lifts and cutting-edge lighting and rigging equipment. “It’s not just an auditorium,” says Booker principal Rachel Shelley, a driving force behind the project. “There’s not a facility that can compare. This is a classroom, and the kids now have what they deserve.”
