Arts + Entertainment 5.30.24

MAY 30, 2024

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

UNCHAINED MELODY Celebrating its 60th year, the Sarasota Music Festival will defy convention with ‘Music Unbound.’

MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

S

ixty or so years ago, when Paul Wolfe co-founded the Sarasota Music Fes-

tival at New College, little did he know what his baby would grow up to become. What was once a humble one-week summer music camp with seven guest mentors has grown into one of the most important teaching festivals in the world with 40 guest faculty members playing alongside 60 fellows during a three-week period.

When Wolfe co-founded the music festival, Sarasota was still a sleepy beach town whose main claim to fame was being the winter home of The Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. Over the years, the growing city has become a magnet for arts patrons to feast on artistic performances that include theater, ballet and opera.

For local music lovers, the three weeks of the Sarasota Music Festival, which takes place in

Courtesy images

Sarasota Music Festival 2023 fellows Ellen Hayashi, Ray Wyant, Melanie Chen and Daniel Itzkowitz relax with their instruments.

Holley Hall and the Sarasota Opera House, are “pure heaven,” says Roseanne McCabe, who moved to Sarasota in 2020 to become executive director of the festival.

For snowbirds, the classical music jamboree is a reason to stay on after season or fly back to Sarasota on weekends.

SEE FESTIVAL, PAGE 2

IF YOU GO 60th Sarasota Music Festival When: June 2-22 Where: Holley Hall, 709 N. Tamiami Trail, and Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave. Tickets: $30 to $42 for concerts Info: SarasotaOrchestra.org/festival

Jeffrey Kahane is the music director of the Sarasota Music Festival and spent 20 seasons as music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

“This is a legendary festival. It attracts a faculty of the greatest musicians. The list of alumni includes an incredible array of people who have gone on to careers as soloists and orchestra musicians.” ­— Jeffrey Kahane

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT | THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2024

Festival FROM PAGE 1

In an interview, McCabe says she was lucky to have joined while Wolfe was still running the show. “He was an extraordinary man,” she says.

Wolfe, who died in 2016, spent more than three decades as artistic director and conductor of the Florida West Coast Symphony, which rebranded in 2008 as the Sarasota Orchestra. The festival and symphony merged in 1985.

During 2023-24 season, the Sarasota Orchestra celebrated its 75th anniversary and the Sarasota Music Festival is marking its 60th year, even though historical accounts show the festival was actually founded in 1965. Anniversaries can be tricky when dealing with years and seasons.

IMPROV GAINS FOOTING

But why let dates stand in the way of a good party? To celebrate its 60th year, Jeffrey Kahane, the music director of the Sarasota Music Festival, has come up with a daring program called “Music Unbound.”

His aim is to encourage improvisation and cross musical boundaries.

Most people associate improvi-

To celebrate its 60th year, Jeffrey Kahane, the music director of the Sarasota Music Festival, has come up with a daring program called “Music Unbound.”

His aim is to encourage improvisation and cross musical boundaries. sation with jazz and folk music, but it’s becoming a trend in the classical music world as well. One of its leading practitioners is Robert Levin, who was the second music director of the Sarasota Music Festival.

Kahane explains that improvisation, either composing on the fly or taking requests, was once popular in classical music. “Improvisation was once a central part of classical music,” he says. “Bach, Mozart, Chopin and Beethoven were as famous for their ability to improvise as for their ability to compose and play. So was Liszt. The list goes on.”

During his annual music festival

Tessa Lark plays both classical and bluegrass music and will perform and teach at the 60th anniversary of the Sarasota Musical Festival June 2-22.

lecture, Levin will invite the audience to submit requests, either in writing or verbally, and will improvise what Kahane calls a “fantasia.”

Pretty heady stuff. No wonder McCabe says the festival has attracted a legion of “superfans.”

These music lovers take advantage of the festival’s $75 pass, which allows them to attend three weeks of classes. The pass doesn’t cover the cost of formal concerts.

She doesn’t refer to herself as a superfan, but Deborah Hamm has been attending music festival classes and concerts and volunteering since 2008, when she and her husband moved in across the street from Holley Hall. “There’s nothing like watching a master class where Jeffrey Kahane is coaching a student and you can see the immediate improvement,” she says.

According to McCabe, the superfans understand that each festival will have performances that will be “once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.”

Several once-in-a-lifetime concerts appear to be in the offing due to Kahane’s embrace of what he calls other “musical languages” (don’t call them “genres’) during this year’s festival.

FROM BLUEGRASS TO CLASSICAL

A prime example of this crossover phenomenon is Tessa Lark, a violinist who grew up in Kentucky and plays bluegrass fiddle. Lark is a faculty member in this year’s festival and will also perform.

The revolutionary approach that Kahane is taking with this year’s festival has got returning fellow Ellen Hayashi all jazzed up. “I’m really excited for this year,” she says.

“They’re turning the traditional into unconventional.”

Hayashi is looking forward to a class called “The Global Music Collaboration,” arranged by cellist Mike Block, where musicians will have to learn everything by ear. “It’s going to be something special,” she says.

If you live here, it might be easy to take the stellar musicians and future superstars at the Sarasota Music Festival for granted. Many locals may not be aware of the festival’s stature in the global music scene.

Kahane doesn’t hold back when asked to describe how the Sarasota Music Festival is perceived. “This

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is a legendary festival,” he says.

“It attracts a faculty of the greatest musicians. The list of alumni includes an incredible array of people who have gone on to careers as soloists and orchestra musicians.”

To quantify the appeal of the festival, Kahane notes that the festival gets about 500 applications for 60 slots.

Before everything moved online, applicants would audition by submitting cassette tapes, recalls McCabe, now the Sarasota Orchestra’s vice president of operations. Today, applicants upload their performances into an online portal that can be seen by faculty members wherever they happen to be in the world.

Even with technological change, it still takes a year to plan a three-week festival, McCabe and Kahane say.

“We present as many concerts during the festival as a typical orchestra does in a season — about 13 or 14,” Kahane notes.

The festival’s 60th anniversary begins with a June 2 concert featuring Kahane on harpsichord and festival alum Marianne Gedigian on flute in what is bound to be the first of many memorable concerts.

Sarasota Music Festival co-founder Paul Wolfe conducts a performance of the festival fellows circa 1970.

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Sarasota filmmaker tells a tale of gal pals in ‘Guy Friends’ Jonathan Smith’s film premieres May 31 at Burns Court Cinema.

MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

A

s a guerrilla-style filmmaker who scouts his own locations and “steals scenes” (shoots without a permit), Sarasota native Jonathan Smith was prepared for some pushback when he made Jonathan Smith his latest film, “Guy Friends,” mostly outdoors in New York City as pandemic restrictions were easing. named Jamie who learns that her After years of TV shows like “Law male pals are secretly in love with her & Order” and “Sex and the City” after she and her boyfriend split up. being filmed on their streets, New The revelations prompt her to form Yorkers are notoriously cranky about her first meaningful friendship with their sidewalks and other public a woman. spaces by invaded by cast, crew and “Guy Friends” will make its world equipment. Having the “craft ser- premiere simultaneously in Saravices table” (chow wagon) block- sota, Los Angeles and New York on ing the stairway to your apartment May 31. Because most of his cast and building isn’t a lot of fun. crew live in New York and its subThat’s why Smith was surprised urbs, Smith has chosen to attend the when someone leaned out their premiere there. However, the Sarawindow while he was filming “Guy sota premiere, at Burns Court CinFriends” and yelled, “Thanks for ema, will be a watch party of sorts for making a movie.”

Smith’s family, friends and fans.

Recalling the incident, he says, Born in Birmingham, Alabama, “They were grateful because it meant Smith’s family moved to the Sarathings were getting back to normal.” sota area when he was a youngster.

When Smith started making the “We lived in a few houses in Sarasota, movie, “Guy Friends,” before the always in the Nokomis ZIP Code,” he pandemic started, he had a color says. film in mind. But stuck at home Smith first attended Epiphany during lockdown, he had what he Cathedral School in Venice before calls a pandemic “flash.” He decided switching to the Pine View School to film mostly in black and white, in Osprey, both aimed at developing while retaining some earlier inter- the talents of gifted students. GrowE T Hshot E A T in E Rcolor.

L A T T É D A W O ing R L Dup,P R E M I Ewas R E aP member R O D U C of T I the ON viewT H scenes Smith Moving to black and white allowed Sarasota Scullers.

Smith, who writes, directs and edits The youthful oarsman got bitten his films, to make “Guy Friends” for by the film bug when he saw “Jurasa micro-budget of $5,000. It is his sic Park” in a movie theater for the fourth film. first time. “I didn’t know what Juras“Guy Friends” is about a woman sic meant when I walked in. I didn’t

Courtesy images

even know it had dinosaurs. But I decided I wanted to grow up to be Steven Spielberg,” Smith says.

Smith pursued parallel tracks of rowing and film while studying at Yale University. In many ways, his dual life has continued: In addition to making indie films, Smith serves as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy.

After graduating from college, Smith moved to Los Angeles to follow his celluloid dreams and lived there for more than eight years.

Unlike some indie filmmakers, who use their productions to showcase their acting talents, Smith has no interest in being on the screen.

While he was in Los Angeles and trying to get funding for his first feature film, called “Breast Picture” (ironically, it has no nudity), Smith fell in with improv comedy groups such as the Upright Citizens Brigade.

Some of his fellow improv performers have found their way into his films, which rely heavily on comedy.

While Smith is a proponent of improv, it is not something he encourages on the set. “Yeah, it’s kind of ironic, isn’t it,” he muses in a telephone interview. “But I work hard on dialogue and scene structure, so I want that to be the point of the project.”

The exception to the rule was when he needed some montage scenery for his third film. “I allowed actors to improvise,” he says.

As many an indie filmmaker has learned the hard way, making a film without the backing of a studio can result in huge credit card debt if the director doesn’t find a distribution deal for his film.

Given the daunting odds of turning a profit on an indie film, what motivates Smith?

First, he wanted to poke fun at his own “courting behavior” with the scenes between Jamie and her male comrades-turned-suitors in “Guy Friends.”

Second, Smith says he wants to bring enjoyment to as many people as possible through a humorous film like “Guy Friends.”

Last but not least, Smith hopes that “a producer will see ‘Guy Friends’ and give me the money to make my fourth film.”

Who knows? Maybe one of Sarasota’s well-heeled arts patrons will show up at Burns Court Cinema on May 31 with checkbook in hand.

Jonathan Smith’s indie film, “Guy Friends” was filmed mostly on the streets of New York City.

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‘GUY FRIENDS’ When: 2:30 p.m. May 31 Where: at Burns Court Cinema, 506 Burns Court Ticket: $6-$11.50 Info: Visit FilmSociety.org

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT | THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2024

THIS WEEK THURSDAY

‘VOCES DE LA MATERNIDAD’ (VOICES OF MOTHERHOOD) 8 p.m. at Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W, Bradenton $22 Visit CreArteLatino.org.

Angélica Castro and Marcela Vanegas unveil their latest directorial effort, “Voces de la Maternidad (Voices of Motherhood),” an exploration of motherhood within the Latino community in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Presented by CreArteLatino, the program consists of actors reading powerful narratives collected from conversations with community members. Runs through June 2.

‘RHINESTONE COWGIRLS’ 7:30 p.m. at FST’s Goldstein Cabaret, 1239 N. Palm Ave. $18-$42 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Created by Nancy Allen Productions, this country music tribute stars Samantha Duval, Charity Farrell and Gianna Maria. The revue features such country classics as Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man” and Carrie Underwood’s “Last Name.” Runs through July 28.

‘THE FLIP SIDE’

7:30 p.m. at FST’s Court Cabaret, 1265 First St. $37-$42 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

With songs like “The Ballad of Sigmund Freud” and “Killed by a Coconut,” the latest cabaret creation of Richard and Rebecca Hopkins tips its musical hat to comic songwriters.

The quirky show features arrangements by Jim Prosser. Runs through June 16.

‘TWELVE ANGRY MEN: A NEW MUSICAL’ 7:30 p.m. at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail $35-$95 Visit AsoloRep.org.

The jury meets jazz in Asolo Repertory Theatre’s innovative musical adaptation of the classic courtroom drama. Director Peter Rothstein, Asolo Rep producing artistic director, first directed “Twelve Angry Men: A New Musical” at Theatre Latté Da in Minneapolis, where it made its world premiere in 2022. Runs through June 9.

‘OAK’ 8 p.m. at Urbanite Theatre, 1487 Second St. $7-$44 Visit UrbaniteTheatre.com.

Urbanite Theatre wraps its 10th anniversary season with the Southern Gothic horror play “Oak.” Written by Terry Guest and directed by Mikael Burke, “Oak” is a National New Play Network rolling premiere. Runs through June 30.

FRIDAY ‘GUY FRIENDS’ 2:30 p.m. at Burns Court Cinema, 506 Burns Court $6-$11.50 Visit FilmSociety.org.

When Jaime and her boyfriend break up, all of her guy friends simultaneously profess their secret love for her in “Guy Friends,” the fourth feature film from Sarasota native Jonathan Smith.

SATURDAY SCHMIDT VOCAL COMPETITION SEMI-FINALS 10 a.m. at Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave. $15/students $10 Visit SarasotaOpera.org.

DON’T MISS

‘NEW BEGINNINGS’

The Sarasota Music Festival celebrates its 60th anniversary with “New Beginnings,” a program that unites the past, present and future. Among the program’s selections are Francois Couperin’s “Le Rossignol en amour,” featuring SMF Music Director Jeffrey Kahane on harpsichord and SMF alum Marianne Gedigian on flute.

Arensky’s Piano Trio No. 1 is the anchor of the anniversary program. The festival continues through June 23.

IF YOU GO When: 4 p.m. Sunday Where: at Holley Hall, 709 N. Tamiami Trail Tickets: $30-$42 Info: Visit SarasotaOrchestra.org.

www.manasotaonline.com

The Sarasota Opera hosts the Schmidt Vocal Competition sponsored by Schmidt Vocal Arts. The contest is supported by the William E. Schmidt Foundation, whose aim is to create lasting change in communities through the arts, education and youth programs. Continues through June 2.

‘DIRECTOR’S CUT’ 7:30 p.m. at FST’s Bowne’s Lab, 1265 First St. $15-$18 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

In this summer series, Florida Studio Theatre Improv asks audience members to take the director’s seat and decide which of the improv ensemble’s stories continue and which end up on the cutting room floor. Everyone wants to direct, right? Even if you don’t, it’s still fun to watch. Runs Saturdays through June 29.

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MONDAY

OUR PICK

JAZZ JAM SRQ 5:30 p.m. at Selby Library, 1331 First St. Free Visit JazzClubSarasota.org.

ART TALK: JESS POPE - THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF MOVEMENT 4 p.m. at Arts Advocates Gallery, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail, Suite 119 $5 Visit ArtsAdvocates.org.

TED REIDERER’S ‘NEVER RECORDS’ RECORDING SESSION As part of Sarasota Art Museum’s “Impact” collaboration with the Hermitage Artist Retreat, musician and artist Ted Reiderer will lead two recording sessions each day at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., beginning on June 3, with a final morning session June 9.

The sessions take place in the “Never Records” installation at SAM. At the end of each session, participants leave with a new vinyl record and a digital file of their music/performance, free of charge.

Jess Pope, adjunct faculty member at Ringling College of Art and Design, dancer and theater professional, delivers a lecture on “The Transformative Power of Movement.”

IF YOU GO When: 10 a.m. Monday, June 3 Where: Sarasota Art Museum, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail Tickets: $15 admission Info: Visit SarasotaArtMuseum.org.

Jazz Club of Sarasota presents its bi-monthly open-mic Jazz Jam, where professional and amateur musicians and vocalists alike are invited to perform.

TUESDAY

MUSIC MONDAY: ANDY ALEDORT 7 p.m. at McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, 1923 Ringling Blvd. $44 Visit McCurdysComedy.com Andy Aledort, guitarist and co-author of the New York Times bestselling “Texas Flood,” explores the music of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and Dickey Betts. Aledort will be joined on stage by Sarasota’s Ramblin’ Rockers featuring RJ Howson, Mike Kach, Garret Dawson and Berry Oakley JR for an evening of sizzling blues and rock.

SQUEAKY WHEEL FRINGE TEASER 7 p.m. at Cook Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail Free Visit SqueakyWheelTheatre.org.

Sample the smorgasbord of shows coming to the second annual Squeaky Wheel Fringe Festival, which runs through June 9.

WEDNESDAY ‘THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND’ 8 p.m. at FST’s Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First St. $39-$59 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Florida Studio Theatre kicks off its Summer Mainstage Series with “The World Goes ‘Round,” a musical revue celebrating the works of John

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Kander and Fred Ebb. The show features memorable songs from hit Broadway shows such as “Chicago,” “Cabaret” and more. Runs through June 23.

SQUEAKY WHEEL FRINGE: ‘I’M FINE’ 7 p.m. at Cook Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail $15.50 plus fees Visit SqueakyWheelTheatre.org.

Leah Verier-Dunn and Moving Ethos Dance bring their piece, “I’m Fine,” to the Squeaky Wheel Fringe Festival.

Dunn recently performed in “Florida Woman,” in The Ringling’s Art of Performance series. “I’m Fine” has an encore June 8.

SQUEAKY WHEEL FRINGE: ‘MY YEAR OF SAYING NO’ 8:30 p.m. at Cook Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts $13.50 plus fees Visit SqueakyWheelTheatre.org.

Squeaky Wheel Fringe presents Janice Creneti of Palm Harbor in “My Year of Saying No,” a one-woman show that encourages audience members to find their “yes.” Based on a true story, the performance follows Creneti during a pandemic experiment where she decided to say “no” to anything that didn’t align with her values. The show has an encore June 8.

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT | THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2024

Squeaky Wheel puts Sarasota on the fringe festival map The festival’s second year features new and returning performers plus hassle-free ticketing.

MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

I

n retrospect, it all seems so clear.

Sarasota is the perfect location for a fringe festival.

But last year it seemed as if festival founder Megan Radish was taking a big risk by launching the Squeaky Wheel Fringe Festival, which ran from June 8-9 at the Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts.

Was Florida’s Cultural Coast ready for a festival of weird, wacky and wonderful performances bound to offend somebody in the audience?

Indeed, it was.

“It went very well,” says Radish, commenting on Squeaky Wheel’s first fringe festival. “We had 12 applicants for nine slots. We made over $5,000 that went back to the artists. We like to keep the money in the community.”

This year, Radish had 20 submissions for the same number of slots.

The fringe fest is back at the Cook Theatre from June 4-9.

On the audience front, Squeaky Wheel attracted 450 attendees, Radish says. Each performer or troupe gets two shows and the audience determines the festival’s winner, who gets a third show.

If you’re not familiar with fringe festivals, here’s a little background.

The concept got its start in 1947, in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is still going strong and is considered the granddaddy of fringe. (In the world of fringe, the word is used interchangeably as an adjective and a noun.)

Most fringe festivals follow Edinburgh’s model and use a lottery system, but some, like Sarasota’s Squeaky Wheel, are curated. Be warned, they are mostly aimed at adults and often have themes outside

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Image courtesy of Sandra Cortes

the boundaries of conventional good taste or political correctness. Hence the term “fringe.”

“Fringe is some of the best stuff you will ever see and some of the worst,” says fringe festival veteran Keith Alessi, who is coming to Sarasota for this year’s fest with “Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life.”

Radish said after last year’s festival, many performers in the community came up to her and said, “I wish I had known.”

Slowly but surely the word is spreading. Part of the reason for the low profile is that Squeaky Wheel doesn’t have a marketing budget per se. It does have a robust website that is much improved from last year.

All artists in the festival are responsible for their own marketing, producing their own shows and determining their ticket prices. All of

IF YOU GO

Squeaky Wheel Fringe Festival When: June 4-9 Where: Cook Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail Tickets: From $6.50 plus fees Info: Visit SqueakyWheelTheatre.org/fringe.

the artists keep the money they raise from selling tickets, which start as low as $6.50.

Last year, Radish sold Squeaky Wheel Fringe Festival buttons to cover the cost of renting the Cook Theatre and other expenses. All festival employees, including Radish, are volunteers.

Radish has a day job but a decade

of theater experience. Before founding the nonprofit Squeaky Wheel Theatre Group in 2020, she worked in regional theater, in a variety of roles at venues ranging from the Ogonquit Playhouse in Maine to the Utah Festival Opera.

According to Radish, last year’s button scheme didn’t quite work out. Ushers were reluctant to deny admission to a patron who showed up at the last minute with a ticket to a show but no festival button.

This year, Radish has solved the problem by tacking a $3.50 festival fee onto each ticket sale. There is also a platform fee of $2 or $3, depending on the ticket.

If you’re not sure fringe is for you, you can find out by attending Squeaky Wheel’s free Fringe Teaser performance on June 4. That show is a sampler of what’s in store at the Cook Theatre.

“Ed’s Shed” of Safety Harbor, Florida, will appear June 7 and 9 at the second annual Squeaky Wheel Fringe Festival.

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

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THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2024

A FORMER CEO COMBINES FRINGE AND PHILANTHROPY

The Squeaky Wheel teaser brings to mind the 1994 movie “Forrest Gump,” where Forrest’s mom (Sally Field) famously told her son (Tom Hanks), “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” The same could be said of a fringe festival.

The teaser is designed to reduce unpleasant surprises like strawberry creams. And, of course, there is a program outlining the festival’s acts to give potential patrons an idea of what’s in store for them.

More than half of the fringe fest shows (five out of nine) feature local artists. Some are familiar names and faces to theatergoers in town.

Leah Verier-Dunn, artistic director of Moving Ethos Dance, is one-half of the team that staged “Florida Woman” in the Historic Asolo Theater as part of The Ringling’s Art of Performance series. Her partner

Image courtesy of Erika Conway

Keith Alessi brings his show, “Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life” to the second annual Squeaky Wheel Fringe festival.

her when one of his former companies supported a theater she worked at in Edmonton, Canada.

Alessi, who was born in Canada and holds dual U.S. citizenship, says the Great White North is a hotbed of fringe festivals, some of which he used to attend and now performs in. He currently has a house in Naples and lives in southwestern Virginia, in a quaintly named hamlet called “Valley of Dan.” Being among southwestern Virginia’s bluegrass performers has upped his banjo game, Alessia says.

He says he likes the fringe genre because “it forces you to distill your performance to between 85 minutes and an hour.

You’re right up and personal with your audience. You can try new things.”

When he brings his banjo to Sarasota, Alessi will donate all the proceeds from “Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me” to the Squeaky Wheel Fringe Festival. Now, that’s putting your money where your banjo is.

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From festivals to performances and art exhibits, discover the wide variety of events happening in Sarasota and Manatee.

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NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE FESTIVAL AWARD WINNER!

Coconut Cake WRITTEN BY MELDA BEATY

was Rosie Herrera of Miami. Dunn is bringing a piece called “I’m Fine” to Squeaky Wheel Fringe.

Amanda Heisey Finnerty, who performs in Sarasota’s Hardheart Burlesque at McCurdy’s Comedy Club and other locations under the stage name Karma Kandlewick, will be repping burlesque at the festival with “Arthurian: The Knights of the Round Table, and Other Furniture. A Burlesque.”

Scott Keys, the retired chair of the theater program of Booker High School, was part of Squeaky Wheel’s inaugural fest last year with a show called “The Sequestered Jester.”

Keys is back this year with “Tea and Armageddon.”

No doubt, he’s directed a few student productions of the classic play “Tea and Sympathy” during his career.

DIRECTED BY LUTHER WELLS

JUNE 12–23, 2024 westcoastblacktheatre.org

941-366-1505 1012 N ORANGE AVE SARASOTA

Sponsored in part by the State of Florida through the Division of Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts

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A former CEO for Westmoreland Coal Co., Keith Alessi collected banjos for years but never really played. It wasn’t until he retired from corporate life and survived esophageal cancer that Alessi learned to play all those banjos.

Still, after taking lessons, reading books and watching videos, Alessi rates himself as no more “than an intermediate player.”

But he’s got a compelling story that helps draw audiences. “I’m an accountant by training,” Alessi says.”Growing up, I had an unhealthy obsession with the banjo.

I didn’t learn to play until after I got the deadly disease.”

Along with his producer, Erika Conway, Alessi created “Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life.” The show has won numerous awards at fringe festivals such as Edinburgh and raised close to $1 million for various cancer and arts charities.

It “isn’t just a show, it’s a cause,” Alessi says on his website for “Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me.” Alessi will perform at the second annual Squeaky Wheel Fringe festival in Sarasota on June 7-8 at the Cook Theatre in the FSU Performing Arts Center. Before that, he’ll be playing for the first time at the Piccolo Spoleto festival May 24-26 in Charleston, South Carolina.

Alessi said he was motivated to publicly play his banjo on the fringe festival circuit and to raise money for the arts and cancer after getting a clean bill of health.

He tapped Conway for her show biz smarts after getting to know

Join us for free innovative programs in music, theater, art, literature, dance, and more, featuring award-winning artists from around the world.

Princess Cruises Event JUNE 5 | 2 PM “Standing at the Beach’s Edge: London to Sarasota”

Join us and our guest from Princess Cruises for a fun and information filled afternoon. Learn about new itineraries and the new ships - Sun Princess and Star Princess. Plus hear about the spectacular savings during our 3-Day Sale.

Fri., June 7 @ 6:30pm • Hermitage Beach (Manasota Key)

London theatergoers can’t get enough of 2024 Hermitage Major Theater Award winner Chris Bush’s latest musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge. Hear from Bush about her career, creating theater in the UK, and how she plans to reimagine Virginia Woolf’s iconic novel Orlando for the 21st century and set in Florida.

Book ANY sailing at Princess Plus fares, June 6 – 8 for all these Expedia Extras & more: - Up to $1,200 Onboard Cash Credit* Princess Plus Package: + Onboard Beverage Package* + Unlimited Wi-Fi* + Crew Gratuities* - Over $900 in Onboard Coupon Value* - Reduced Deposit* (non-refundable)

“Stealing the Show: Broadway, Beach, and Beyond” Wed., June 26 @ 6:30pm • Hermitage Beach (Manasota Key)

Fresh from her Tony Award-nominated performance in Spamalot where she “steals the show” (NY Times), Broadway star and Hermitage Fellow Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer (Beetlejuice) returns to the inspirational shores of Manasota Key to develop several of her own projects and share some of Broadway’s greatest hits.

CALL TODAY | SPACE IS LIMITED

To register (required) for upcoming programs:

(941) 254 6484

HermitageArtistRetreat.org

www.ExpediaCruises.com/Sarasota

* Subject to availability and offer terms & conditions

Fla Seller of Travel Reg No ST39379

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5215 University Parkway, Unit 102 (in the Kohls shopping center) Sarasota, FL

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT | THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2024

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