BRADENTON — From the window of his second floor office in the Manatee Performing Arts Center, Producing Artistic Director Rick Kerby can see his company’s future under construction.
Kerby leads the Manatee Players community theater, the resident company at the nearly $20 million center that opened in 2013. But the organization quickly outgrew the center that offers two theaters, offices, costume and scenic storage and construction space and a large rehearsal room that also doubles as a meeting and event venue for numerous organizations and local businesses.
Outside Kerby’s window, on a strip of land just to the west, a $12.6 million four-story building is under construction that will be known as Sara’s Studios, named for Sara Bayard, who with her husband, Steve, has been the company’s largest donor…