Urbanite Theatre takes the Sarasota audience to coal country this Friday with the regional premiere of Northside Hollow. Directed by Urbanite co-founder Summer Dawn Wallace, the drama brings the audience to the site of a deadly tunnel collapse, where a lone miner named Gene awaits his fate alongside a solitary and inexperienced first responder. With little in common and nowhere to go, the pair can look only to each other for comfort or answers. Opening Jan. 26, actors David H. Littleton and Christopher Joel Onken both make their Urbanite debuts.

Wallace took the helm, she says, not just for love of the material itself, but also love for the place it represented—coal country. “Spending a lot of time in Appalachia,” she says, “it’s a part of the world I feel I have an understanding of.” Set in an unspecified coal mine, the play itself doesn’t declare any exact allegiance to any state, but Wallace, who has spent considerable time in eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and eastern Tennessee, would recognize that “neck of the woods” anywhere. The characters too, some stuck in their thinking and others looking outward, but all affected by the place they call home.

To bring the audience into that world, more specifically a collapsed mineshaft, Wallace pulled out all the stops to take full advantage of Urbanite’s blackbox theater style, including building a mock mineshaft for the audience as well as the actors. “They will be walking through a coal mine to get to their seats,” she says. Also eschewing traditional lighting techniques, the production is bathed in shadows, with some of the light coming from select audience members who will be wearing mining headlamps throughout the show. “Utilizing our lighting in a different way really creates the environment of the coal mine—the intimacy, the darkness, the claustrophobia,” she says. “We want the audience to really feel like they are a part of the experience.”

Coming in at a slim 90 minutes without an intermission, Wallace still believes Northside Hollow can be a transformative experience for an audience so immersed. “People will walk away with, I hope, having a little bit of an understanding of someone who thinks completely different than you do,” says Wallace. “In the real world, we’re very quick to discount somebody who thinks differently than we do, without ever really thinking about why they might think the way they do.”

Opening January 26 at Urbanite Theatre, Northside Hollow runs through March 11. 

Pictured: David H. Littleton and Christopher Joel Onken in Urbanite Theatre's "Northside Hollow." Photo by Brendan Ragan..

Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation’s sixth annual educational luncheon, Women & Medicine, will feature Sarasota Memorial Hospital stroke specialists discussing the latest stroke prevention, treatments and technologies. All proceeds benefit the Sarasota Memorial Comprehensive Stroke Care. Join us for this informative, interactive and inspiring event.

March 23, 2018 at Michael’s on East
10:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Register online at smhf.org or call (941)917-1286.

For six years, Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation’s Women & Medicine educational luncheon has featured programs of importance to women. When it comes to making family healthcare decisions, women usually are at the helm. As the primary caregivers for their families, they steer the course for their children, spouses and often their parents and friends as well.

When it comes to stroke, time is of the essence and an experienced stroke program like Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s Comprehensive Stroke Center can make all the difference to the outcome. With a stroke happening every 40 seconds and a death occurring every 4 minutes from a stroke, it is a strong possibility that one at some point, a stroke will affect a loved one or us. It is the leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. and each year nearly 800,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke. 

Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation

During the recent holiday season, two mysterious, yet notable donations arrived at the Community Foundation of Sarasota on behalf of the Season of Sharing. Since then, these anonymous donors have come forth to reveal their identities and although neither woman knew the other, their stories have many uncanny and inspiring similarities. Both chose to move to Sarasota in the 1990s from large northern cities where they had found great success in their careers. Between them, was shared a common belief in the importance of education, engaging in activism and exhibiting a resilient passion for philanthropy. They had each lost their husbands, but were continuing their respective missions to do what came naturally to them—giving back.

Gerri Aaron and Jacqueline Lewis demonstrated that commitment when they decided to become moving pieces in the effort to help the Season of Sharing community, each making a $100,000 donation to this year’s campaign. Who are these astonishingly generous women, and what inspired them to donate such a significant sum to this specific foundation?  

Gerri is a familiar face in Sarasota, and has known about the Season of Sharing, even donated to the campaign in the past. The difference this time was an emotional, deeply-personal urge to make a major gesture. “I just had to do it,” she says, “I wanted to do something really nice.” Jacqueline picked up the Herald-Tribune on her way to the airport and happened to notice one of the edition’s ads for the Season of Sharing with the following in print— “Fill in the blank and send this in.” Jacqueline was unfamiliar about the campaign, so she looked it up online and ended up writing a check and sending it in. She believes that people feel the humanitarian impulse more than they may realize, “It’s natural for everyone when they see a situation where someone is in need, to at least entertain the thought of ‘what should I do?’ You see somebody falling down in the street. Now some people will walk away, but most people do what needs to be done. So for the person who normally does that, maybe they realize how good they feel. It’s a wonderful thing to do, to give as much as you can.”

The women’s contributions will be advised by the team at the Community Foundation to make sure it goes exactly where it is most needed. These women prove that despite any heartache or triumphs, a little human love goes a long, long way.

The Patterson Foundation will match every $500,000 that is raised in the community through the Season of Sharing with an additional contribution of $100,000. There will be no cap on this offer, and it stands until the end of this month.

Season of Sharing

Kirk Pinkerton in Sarasota recently named Jeffrey M. Guy as a partner at the full-service law firm. With more than seven years of experience, Guy focuses his practice in the areas of divorce and family law, personal injury and commercial litigation. Guy received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Fairmont State University in West Virginia. After completing his undergraduate studies, he worked in the health care industry before leaving to start a business in Florida’s growing construction industry in 2000. After successfully maintaining the business for eight years, Guy attended Stetson University’s College of Law and earned his Juris Doctorate with honors in May 2011. Guy is a member of the Sarasota and Manatee County Bar Associations and is licensed to practice in all courts in Florida. He is also a member of the Sertoma Club of Greater Sarasota. Serving Sarasota and Manatee Counties since 1926, Kirk Pinkerton has 14 attorneys who handle family and divorce law, personal injury cases, tax and corporate law, estate planning, litigation, real estate law and administrative, environmental, governmental and land use laws.

Kirk Pinkerton

State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota (SCF) will celebrate businesses from 11am to 1:30pm Feb. 21 in front of the Student Union at SCF Bradenton, when entrepreneurs set up booths to exhibit their products and services during National Entrepreneurship Week. The Entrepreneur Expo will include representatives from the Manatee Chamber of Commerce and its Better Business Council, CareerSource Suncoast, Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), the USF Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Spark Growth and SCF’s Entrepreneurship Program. The event, which will feature student entrepreneurs, is designed to demonstrate the benefits of owning and managing a business. A DJ will provide music and there will be a food truck on site. Participating businesses will offer information, handouts and promotional items. 

State College of Florida Entrepreneurship Expo

Children First, Inc., the exclusive provider of Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Sarasota County, has named CEO of PGT Innovations Jeff Jackson as board chair for 2018. Jackson served most recently as vice chair in 2017. Thomas W. Cail III, realtor and co-founder of Cail Grande Group, is now vice chair. Wayne Rollins takes on the role of treasurer and Audrey Coleman continues in her role as secretary. Former Chair Jim Rolfes of Dickinson & Gibbons, PA is now chair emeritus. New directors include Barbara Benson, Michael Keebaugh, Brock H. Leach, Katherine Martucci, Katrina Otchet and Jacqueline W. Ray, Ph.D. For more details on Children First’s board of directors, visit the website below. 

Children First

16-year-old Pine View junior, Natalie Kondos, has taken the initiative of starting up her very own nonprofit organization called Instruments of Hope to bring musical instruments to those recovering from natural disasters. When she was just three years old, Kondos’ home was severely damaged by Hurricane Charley. It took nearly three years to repair the house and get things back in order. During that time, Kondos learned to play the piano and cello as a way of coping with the devastation around her. With that difficult experience as inspiration, Kondos’ mission is to reach out to young people in communities affected by natural disasters by providing them with musical instruments and instruction free of charge. With the idea that musical expression can be a powerful healing tool, she hopes to help re-establish a feeling of peace, stability, and joy in children’s hearts as their communities rebuild. Instruments of Hope will have its very first fundraiser on February 4th from 1-3 pm at Paint & Party in Nokomis. Register at the website below. 

Masterpiece Mixers

Richard Miller of executive search firm Brooke Chase Associates has announced the successful placement of Lucas Mitchell as Heating Sales Manager with Rinnai America Corporation. Rinnai is a leading brand in North America in the tankless gas water heater category and continues to lead the market by providing cutting-edge technology, innovative products and creative marketing programs. Mitchell will work in conjunction with the regional sales director and the entire heating team to establish and grow this segment of the business. His primary responsibility will be identifying, analyzing and selling heating products and systems to contractors, dealers, plumbers, engineers, builders and large national accounts. Mitchell’s most recent position was as hydronic sales leader with Harshaw Trane. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University. Brooke Chase Associates is the premier executive search firm specializing in the recruitment of executive management professionals within the building materials and kitchen/bath industries. 

Brooke Chase Associates

“They are experts at finding just the right shoe that adds the perfect touch and you leave feeling beautiful and stylish.”— Elaine Dabney. Glam out in new show-stopping stompers from last year’s Best Shoe Boutique, L. Boutique. T. Georgiano’s, Reasons, Foxy Lady and Gia Ven- tola were close behind in this hot category. Who will be the perfect fit in this year’s Best of SRQ Local Competition? Vote now! 

Vote Here!