In 1925, a surgeon bought thirty miles of Florida coastline to build a medical paradise. What happened next nearly erased his name from the city he founded — until now.

Building Paradise is a new full-length historical drama by playwright Tom Erb, telling the true, twisting story of how Venice, Florida, was built — and nearly lost — a century ago. It's the story of Dr. Fred Albee, the surgeon who dreamed the city into existence; John Nolen, the planner whose 1926 design still shapes Venice's streets today; Bertha Honoré Palmer, the Chicago heiress whose land became its foundation; and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, whose financial collapse nearly buried the whole project in the Florida land bust.

2026 marks Venice's Centennial year — the hundredth anniversary of the plan that built the city we live in. We're mounting a Fall 2026 workshop production to mark it, and we need your help to get it on its feet.

Your gift funds:

Venue rental for rehearsals and performances

Professional stipends for our cast of 8–10 actors

Costumes, set pieces, and design elements that bring 1920s Venice to life

Production of White City on the Gulf, a companion behind-the-scenes docuseries documenting the making of the play

Our goal is $51,600. Every dollar goes directly toward putting real actors on a real stage, telling a true story about the ground under your feet.

We're currently casting the full company privately — actors, stage managers, stagehands, directors, and lighting designers — through the SW Florida Actors Registry, and you can follow who's confirmed on our Meet the Cast page as the roster fills in.

This isn't a Broadway budget. It's a homegrown, community-rooted production about the town that raised it — and it can't happen without people like you.

Give what you can. Every tier is named and thanked publicly — see below for the details. Thank you for helping us build this.

— Tom Erb, Playwright