wcw DECEMBER 2022

out and about continued
Art Center Sarasota has three solo
exhibitions:
“Alexandra Hammond” revolves
around the artist’s “Quantum Blue”
series of acrylic paintings. According
to the artist, they invite the viewer to
enter “a zone of pure possibility—a
field of active emptiness from which
all forms arise out of formlessness.”
Runs December 8-January 21.
They also have “Jason Hackenwerth”
which reveals the painter’s latest
body of work — abstract paintings,
bursting with dynamic scenarios.
According to the artist, they’re his
way of working through his emotions
under the constant bombardment of
media and life drama.
There’s also a juried show: “Black
& White” which showcases monochromatic
works created in a range
of artistic mediums. Elana Rubinfeld,
the founder of the New Art Agency
and former director at Yossi Milo Gallery
in NYC, will jury this exhibition.
Opening reception for all exhibits:
December 8, 6-8 p.m. Art Center
Sarasota, 707 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.
www.artsarasota.org.
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Sarasota Orchestra’s Harmony
Gallery has Jim Stewart. His exhibition
is titled: Minor Passages.
Stewart’s drawings and paintings are
influenced by his career as a graphic
designer. Fine arts and photographic
experiences also inspire him to find a
balance of impact and legibility with
these abstractions: possibilities for
describing nature. Stewart’s drawings
are created using waterproof, lightfast
India Inks. Runs to December 12.
Claire Desjardins Exhibition,
Living in Color, runs December
16-January 23. Desjardins is an
award-winning abstract painter based
in Quebec and Sarasota. She exhibits
her paintings in galleries across North
America and her work can be found in
both private and corporate collections
worldwide. Desjardins’ paintings,
though abstract, take their visual cues
from forms, colors, textures and patterns
in nature. Beyond the canvas,
Claire’s art transforms commercial
and residential interiors, urban exteriors,
housewares, furniture, package
design and women’s apparel. Her work
has appeared in major motion pictures
and popular television shows.
The Harmony Gallery is at Beatrice
Friedman Symphony Center at 709
North Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Exhibitions
are free and open to the public.
For information visit www.sarasota
orchestra.org.
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ArtCenter Manatee has the 11th
annual exhibit of the International
Society of Scratchboard Artists
(ISSA) in their galleries. The “drawings
in reverse” will be on display
through December 30 with an opening
reception on December 1, 5-7 p.m.
In 2021, artists from the USA, China,
Canada and Australia were represented.
ArtCenter Manatee, 209 9th Street
West, Bradenton.
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Elling Eide Center
November 10 at 11am (free to
attend in person or online via ZOOM)
they have “The Meaning(s) of Birds
on Spirit Jars (Hunping): The Religious
Imagination of Second to
Fourth Century Southeastern
China” This lecture will discuss the
more than 200 heavily decorated
jars with five mouths that have been
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excavated from
tombs in Southeastern
China.
One of their
most notable
features is
that they are
adorned with
figurines of
many birds. Although
several
analysts believe
the birds represent
the souls
of the departed
flying to the
heavens, that
does not explain
why there
are so many.
This lecture
will discuss
these Spirit Jars
and explain
the presence
of these birds
in terms of the local legend that sparrows
stole rice from Heaven and introduced
its cultivation to humans. Birds
thereby were seen as grain and fertility
gods and thus emblems of good fortune
for both the dead and the living.
Tickets: www.eventbrite.com .
Elling Eide Center, 8000 South Tamiami
Trail, Sarasota.
Perlman Music
A evening with Randall Goosby is
on December 8 at The Sarasota Opera
House. It’s a rare special performance
by internationally acclaimed violinist
and PMP Alum, Randall Goosby and
pianist Zhu Wang.
The PMP Winter Residency returns
once again in December. They are
looking forward to seeing everyone in
the tent at USF Sarasota-Manatee to
watch and hear the new and returning
“Littles” as they train with the esteemed
faculty led by Itzhak Perlman.
The PMP Winter Residency runs
December 28-January 7 and offers
unparalleled musical training for
gifted students ages 12-18 who play
the violin, viola, cello and bass. PMP’s
world-class faculty, led by Itzhak Perlman,
oversees a curriculum of solo,
chamber music, and orchestral repertoire
at the highest level. The public is
invited to watch these orchestra and
chorus rehearsals and works-in-progress
recitals in a performance tent on
the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus.
• Tent Rehearsals, Works in Progress,
and Recitals: December 29-January
7 on the USF Sarasota-Manatee
campus. Non-reserved seats are free to
the public; reserved and VIP seats are
also available. The Winter Residency’s
daily schedule will be available at www.
PerlmanSuncoast.org in November.
• Celebration Concert: January 5
at the Sarasota Opera House. Tickets:
call Sarasota Opera House’s box office
at 941-328-1300 or at www.sarasotaopera.org.
• Celebration Gala is on January 5
in the tent on the USF Sarasota-Manatee
campus. The evening includes
dinner and entertainment with PMP
students, faculty and the Perlmans.
Tickets are $250 and are available at
www.PerlmanSuncoast.org.
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The Chamber
Orchestra of
Sarasota
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The Chamber Orchestra of
Sarasota has launched its sixth
season featuring Baroque, Classical,
Romantic, contemporary and
popular music performed by a string
orchestra under the direction of
Music Director Robert Vodnoy.
The season opens on December 1
at 7:30 pm with Happy Holidays, featuring
Corelli’s “Christmas Concerto”,
Vaughan Williams’ “Five Variants of
Dives and Lazarus”, Grieg’s “Holberg
Suite”, Holcombe’s “Christmas Wishes,”
and more. Soloists are Giuseppina
Ciarla, harpist, and Scott Kluksdahl,
cellist. The concert will be performed
at First Presbyterian Church of Sarasota,
the orchestra’s first performance
in this venue.
The Chamber Orchestra of Sarasota
will join forces with the Venice High
School Orchestra, Christopher Riley,
conductor, to present a free concert titled
Making Music Together on January
13, 2023 at the Venice Performing
Arts Center.
For information and to order tickets,
visit chamberorchestrasarasota.
org/ or call 219-928-8665.
At The Ringling
Running through February 12,
2023, is Highlights from the Stanton
B. and Nancy W. Kaplan Collection
of Photography—a selection
of works donated to The Ringling in
2019, includes over 1000 photographic
objects and images, representing
some of the most important photo-based
artists of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries.
The Kaplan Collection includes
works by Berenice Abbott, Manuel
Álvarez Bravo, Eugène Atget, Ruth
Bernhard, Margaret Bourke-White,
Brassaï, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lewis
W. Hine, André Kertész, Robert
Mapplethorpe, Edward Weston, and
James Van Der Zee to name but a few.
The John and Mable Ringling
Museum of Art, 5401 Bay Shore Rd.,
Sarasota. Info: www.ringling.org.
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Theatre
Sarasota Players has Miracle On
34th Street, A Live Musical Radio
Play, running through December
11. Adapted from the 1947 Lux Radio
BroadcastWhen a department store
Santa claims he’s the real Kris Kringle,
his case gets taken all the way to the
Supreme Court, and a little girl’s belief
makes the difference in the ‘miracle.’
With live Foley effects and a score of
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holiday carols,
Miracle on
34th Street is a
beloved musical
radio version
of the classic
film that
will melt even
the most cynical
of hearts.
Held at Studio
1130, The
Crossings at
Siesta Key, 3501
S. Tamiami
Trail, Sarasota.
Visit www.theplayers.org.
Manatee
Performing
Arts Center
has The Music
Man, December
1-18. In
River City, Illinois,
the town was promised a marching
band by a salesman named Harold
Hill. What they don’t know is that he is
a con man who has no understanding
of music. He plans to skip town after
receiving money to buy the instruments,
but the plan doesn’t go exactly
as he expected when he meets the
town’s librarian, Marian. As he falls in
love with her, and starts to see things
differently, is it enough for him to
change? Watch as in The Music Man we
learn that Harold either becomes the
biggest con of the town, or the man
who brought music to it.
Information: www.manateeperformingartscenter.com.
On December 9 on the Hermitage Great Lawn: “Angélica Negron: Playing a
Plant.” Hermitage Greenfield Prize Winner Negrón is inspired by nature and the music
all around her.
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Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe
During the holiday season—back by
popular demand—WBTT presents
Langston Hughes’ “Black Nativity.”
This production is a celebration of the
Nativity story with gospel, blues, spiritual,
and Christmas music, paired
with the poetry of Langston Hughes
and the creativity of WBTT. Children
and adults alike will be enthralled
by this high-energy, inspiring show.
Jacobs will direct. Show runs through
December 23.
Call the Box Office at 941-366-1505
or visit westcoastblacktheatre.org.
Asolo Rep has Cabaret running
through December 31. Willkommen
to Kander and Ebb’s iconic CABARET,
which transports us to 1939 Berlin and
the dynamic and pleasure-filled Kit
Kat Klub. As a dark shadow falls over
the city and the power of the Third
Reich begins to mount, the Klub’s
performers and patrons must decide
if they’ll wake up to the evil on their
doorsteps or continue to escape to the
alluring fantasy world of the cabaret.
Since its debut in 1967, this classic
musical has won countless awards,
including the Tony Awards® for Best
Musical, Best Score and Best Revival
of a Musical. Packed with vibrant and
beloved songs like “Willkommen,”
“Maybe This Time,” “Money,” “Don’t
Tell Mama” and “Cabaret.”
Tickets: asolorep.org.
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At Venice Theatre: A Christmas
Carol. Venice Theatre is delighted to
announce that its original musical
version of A Christmas Carol will go
on, despite major damage to the theatre’s
main performance space. The
21st annual Christmas Carol will be
performed in The Raymond Center
from December 2-19. Tickets: www.
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venicetheatre.org.
The Raymond Center is the new
name for the former Hamilton Building
which had most recently served as
the temporary Venice Public Library.
Situated on the north end of the theatre’s
three-building campus at 140
Tampa Ave. W., the building is slated
to serve as the theatre’s Arts Education
Center, but for now it will house a
temporary 128-seat thrust theatre.
Venice Theatre’s team is putting the
final touches on a plan to use its other
spaces on campus for presenting a
variety of shows. The 90-seat Pinkerton
Theatre on the west side of the
main building is expected to be ready
for use in January 2023.
Community members are encouraged
to donate to the theatre’s hurricane
recovery at www.venicetheatre.
org/donate.
FST’s Mainstage Series has Something
Rotten! Book by Karey Kirkpatrick
and John O’Farrell; music and
lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey
Kirkpatrick. Runs through January 1,
2023, in FST’s Gompertz Theatre.
• What the Constitution Means to
Me by Heidi Schreck runs December
7 - February 26, 2023, in FST’s Keating
Theatre.
• The FST cabaret series has The
‘70s: More Than a Decade by Rebecca
Hopkins, Richard Hopkins and Sarah
Durham. Musical arrangements by
Jim Prosser. Runs through February
12, 2023 in FST’s Court Cabaret
An original Florida Studio Theatre
musical revue
• A Place in the Sun: A Tribute to
Stevie Wonder by Jason Cannon,
Richard Hopkins, and Sarah Durham.
Runs through March 26, 2023
in FST’s Goldstein Cabaret
Visit www.floridastudiotheatre.org/
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At The Van Wezel
A sampling of upcoming shows:
• Million Dollar Quartet Christmas
on December 7
• The Hip Hop Nutcracker on December
10
• Cirque Música: Holiday Wonderland
on December 17
• A Christmas Carol on December 18
• Jim Brickman: A Very Merry Christmas
on December 22
• The Nutcracker presented by
International Ballet of Florida on
December 23
Pre-show dining is available
through Mattison’s at the Van Wezel
which is located inside the theatre.
Reservations can be made on Van-
Wezel.org or through the box office.
Information: www.VanWezel.org.
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Concerts /
Live Music
WMNF presents “An Evening with
Keller Williams” on December 9 at
Skipper’s Smokehouse, 910 Skipper
Rd, Tampa. Unbeholden to conventionalism,
Williams seamlessly crosses
genre boundaries. The end product
is music that encompasses rock,
jazz, funk, and bluegrass, and always
keeps the audience on their feet.
Williams built his reputation initially
on his engaging live performances, no
two of which are ever alike. His stage
shows are rooted around Williams
singing his compositions and choice
cover songs, while accompanying
himself on acoustic guitar, bass, guitar
synthesizer, and drum samples; a
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continued on page 10
8 WEST COAST WOMAN DECEMBER 2022