This past April, Florida Studio Theatre unveiled ambitious plans for The Suffragist Project, an 18-month, community-wide celebration of the woman’s right to vote, culminating in August 2020—the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. This week, the theater revealed the project’s theatrical centerpiece in the commissioning of four playwrights to create brand new plays about the women’s suffrage movement and its impacts.

Two of the commissioned playwrights, Jacqueline Goldfinger (Babel) and Mark St. Germain (Wednesday’s Child, Relativity and Dancing Lessons), will be familiar to FST audiences, while Sandy Rustin awaits her FST debut this July with The Cottage. For Arkansas playwright Rachel Lynett, this will begin her official relationship with FST. Each will receive a commission of $10,000, as well as continuing support from the theater over the course of the next 14 months, in the form of residencies and access to professional actors and directors, as well as opportunities for audience feedback.

Chosen for craft as well as perspective, each playwright offered their own take on the material, addressing different eras and through different genres—something the theater put a premium on. Being a suffragist can come in many forms, and The Suffragist Project celebrates them all.

“We wanted diverse voices,” says FST Associate Artist Catherine Randazzo. “These are people who get FST, know our audience and are able to produce well-written plays that offer new things. They write fast and they know how to get to the heart of a draft.” One playwright, she says, has already completed more than 70 pages of a first draft, and expects there could be something for FST to see as early as July.

Beyond the theater, to date, more than 35 local organizations have partnered in the endeavor, offering to create their own complementary programming to “accentuate the reason why this is such an important time in women’s history,” says Randazzo, but the greatest collaborations could be yet to come. “The commitment that we have seen from the community partners and the work done in developing those relationships has opened a panoply of ideas,” she says.

And, at its best, that’s the power of something like The Suffragist Project—to create lasting impact beyond the moment. “100 years is a long time,” says Randazzo, “but we need to remember that people fought for us.” 

Pictured: Playwright Jaqueline Goldfinger.

Celebrate turtle nesting season and the summer solstice by sustainably supporting Sarasota sea turtles. The charitable vinyl decals from SRQ Ocean Blvd are an adhesive addition to any beachgoer’s paddle board, car, cooler, laptop or reusable water bottle. Aside from being a decorative admiration of marine life, for every turtle decal purchased, Ocean Blvd will donate $1 to Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in an effort to combat ocean pollution and support aquatic conservation. So when the beach overflows with tacky tourists, hungry seabirds, rogue umbrellas and plastic pollution again come season, the activist within you will have taken a small stand—showcased when taking a swig out your Hydroflask canteen. Plastic? Never heard of it. 

Vinyl decals, $6/each. Made by locals for locals, all items are sold exclusively through the Instagram page @srq.ocean.blvd 

Photos courtesy of SRQ Ocean Blvd.

Art Center Sarasota recently launched a new online sales gallery called “artsite.” According to Lisa Berger, the organization’s executive director, the site provides a national platform for area artists who have participated in exhibits at Art Center Sarasota, connecting these area talents with potential collectors, gallerists, interior designers and patrons from around the country. The site will showcase emerging and established visual artists who have a complete series of work and a distinctive style, displays six images at a time for each participating artist in their own personal gallery. These artists must be regionally based, and actively participate in the area’s arts scene. In addition, artsite only represents those artists who have exhibited in Art Center Sarasota’s juried or curated exhibitions within the last two years and have been approved by the artsite review committee. Artists pay an annual fee of $100 for ACS members or $175 for non-members for administrative and hosting expenses.

Currently, sale of art is limited to buyers in the United States, but the site can be viewed worldwide. Danielle Dygert, exhibitions and marketing coordinator and the site’s creator, notes that Art Center Sarasota’s online presence is already strong, attracting more than 2,000 new visitors a month and growing. 

artsite

In July, five Florida public school arts teachers will be spending three weeks in Sarasota County working on their own artistic endeavors. They’re the winners of the 2019 State Teacher/Artist Residency program (STARs), presented by the Hermitage Artist Retreat and the Florida Alliance for Arts Education (FAAE). This year's recipients include four visual artists and a composer. The five receive a three-week summer residency, July 1-21, at the Hermitage in Englewood, where they live and work as artists, without any expectation, schedule or demands.

The chosen five are Cheryl Meehan, a visual arts teacher at Freedom Elementary in Bradenton; Robert Constable, a music composition teacher at Crestwood Elementary in Tampa; David Martin, a visual arts teacher at Bonita Springs Elementary in Naples; Julie Orsini-Shakher, a visual arts teacher at Dr. Michael Krop Senior High in Hollywood; and Mirena Suarez, a visual arts teacher at Ada Merritt K-8 Center in Miami. 

Hermitage Artist Retreat

Two Van Wezel executives have been elected to new state and national offices. Anthony Becich, general manager of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, was named to the Board of Directors of the Florida Facilities Managers. The FFMA is an association of Florida’s major stadiums, arenas, convention centers and performing arts centers. The FFMA is focused on best practices of venue management from security, construction and tickets to booking and beyond. Becich joins Mary Bensel, executive director of the Van Wezel, on the board. Bensel, a past president, was the first female president and first president to come from a performing arts hall. Bensel, who joined FFMA in the late 1990s when she was general manager of the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers, FL. Bensel was elected to Full Membership Status of the Broadway League as well, and is now a Tony voter again. 

Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

There's still time to connect with the team at SRQ Magazine | Live Local and Love Local for the 2019 Readers Engagement Survey. We invite readers to share their thoughts on how they want to enjoy their time with the magazine—from the types of stories we cover to the way we lay them out in our pages. We want to know what you'd like to see more of in our coverage. Thank you for sharing your insights with us. Click below to take the survey before it closes on July 1st. 

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