On September 25, 2020 at 7:30pm, The Players Centre for Performing Arts is proud to host A Few of Our Favorite Things, a virtual homage to 90 years of live theatre in downtown Sarasota. A Few of Our Favorite Things was originally set to close our 91st season, but due to COVID-19 and our impending move in October, The Players has made it virtual and moved this cabaret to the top of our 91st season. Volunteers, patrons and staff have submitted songs, dances and stories about The Players, they’ve been edited together into one spectacular trip down memory lane. Expect a few surprises and maybe even a couple tears.  The Players was established in 1929, the same year the Iron Lung and the car radio were invented. That is 90 years of memories, friendships, and community arts education and entertainment. Such a historic and loving facility deserves a send-off like none other. This isn’t “goodbye,” it’s only “see you later.” Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.theplayers.org or by calling 941-365-2494. 

Matthew McGee, a well-known performer in the Tampa/Sarasota area, will host ALSO Youth’s upcoming Virtual Variety Show “Better Together” on September 26th from 6:30 to 8:30. Mr. McGee has performed locally with the Asolo Rep, freeFall Theatre Company, Stageworks, American Stage in the Park, and the Suncoast AIDS Theatre Project. He is a two time Theatre Tampa Bay Award winner and a Broadway World’s Best Actor in a Musical winner. The Virtual variety Show will feature performances by local theater, dance, circus arts, and drag performers as well as cooking and cocktail demonstrations. An online auction featuring vacation stays, experiences and gift baskets will begin two weeks prior to the event and will conclude at the end of the Variety Show. Proceeds from the event will support ALSO Youth’s programs for LGBTQ+ youth. For more information about the event contact TonyBoothby@michaelsaunders.com or james@alsoyouth.org.

As part of Florida Studio Theatre’s Suffragist Project, an artistic celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the ratification of women’s right to vote, this stellar all-female quartet which includes Artist Series Concerts co-founder Lee Dougherty Ross, performs pieces by Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Amy Beach and Marion Bauer. The concert was filmed in July 2020 at Church of the Palms in Sarasota. Women of Note is hosted by Marcy Miller, executive director of Artist Series, and features cameo appearances by Kate Alexander, Ariel Blue and Meg Gilbert. With Jenny Kim-Godfrey, soprano; Robyn Rocklein, mezzo soprano; Gail Berenson and Lee Dougherty Ross, piano.

Dr. Allen will explore how ideals of freedom and moral responsibility for personal conduct can be squared. The pandemic of COVID 19 and increased state and industry surveillance raise this issue acutely. Anita L. Allen (’70-’74) is the Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law and professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. Allen is a global thought leader in the fields of privacy law, data protection and ethics. She is the chair of the board of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and has received EPIC’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 30 years of pioneering privacy scholarship and advocacy. Allen is one of the first African-American women to receive a doctorate in philosophy and the very first in history to be elected president of the American Philosophical Association. A prolific scholar, Allen has written and spoken about a wide range of topics, including privacy law, the philosophical basis of privacy, bioethics, women’s rights, and race relations. These issues mark the fault lines of American society—and explain the seismic shift in our law and culture.

Virtual

No name has dominated Sarasota’s history like that of John Ringling, commonly known today as the “circus king who built a museum and started an art school.” A century ago, Ringling and his wife, Mable, spent a dozen quiet winters in Sarasota before the dramatic Florida Land Boom began in the 1920s. Always one to recognize opportunity, Ringling, often working with developer Owen Burns, seized the chance to profit from his significant land holdings in Sarasota and on its barrier islands. While developers George Merrick, Addison Mizner, Glenn Curtiss and Carl Fisher fought over the Miami-Palm Beach corridor, Ringling had freshly minted Sarasota County largely all to himself. This program traces the riches-to-ruin story of both the Florida Boom and John Ringling. He had many acquaintances but few friends, yet he reshaped Sarasota’s image and helped make it the cultural capital it is today. In this lecture, you will learn details of Ringling’s life that go far beyond the common perception. Tickets: $15. Members: $10.  Registration Closes On: Tuesday, September 29, 2020 @ 12:00 AM

Online Seminar

In the conservative heartland of Boise, Idaho, a most unexpected industry has emerged— commercial surrogacy. Here, 1 in 15 mothers (most of whom are Mormon or Catholic) will carry a baby for strangers who struggle with infertility, for gay couples, and single men from around the world. The local hospital St. Luke’s, runs the most comprehensive surrogacy program of its kind with a network of community, medical, and legal support. Made in Boise is an eye-opening rare glimpse into how this red state became the unofficial surrogacy capital of the U.S. and is redefining family in unexpectedly progressive ways. This surprising story is beautifully told and heart-warming at every level. Tuition: $15. Member: $10. Registration closes on October 10 at 12am.

Online.

After 47 years of teaching, Susan MacManus retired as Distinguished Professor Emerita of the department of Government and International Affairs at the University of South Florida-Tampa. She is author and co-author of over a dozen books and a sought-after nationally-known political analyst and noted commentator on state and national television news.

In the past, seniors have been America’s most dependable voters and were coveted by political can-didates because they historically voted at the greatest rate in elections. Nevertheless, the country has been undergoing an upheaval that has hard-ened political views and is causing the electorate to make decisions based more on personality than on political competence. Will the 2020 election bring unprecedented younger voters to the polls based on political issues, a trust of the principles of democracy, and a desire to see America regain its prominence in the world?

Called the “most-quoted political analyst in Florida,” Susan MacManus returns to Einstein’s Circle to share her experienced insight with us. She will talk about voting history, changing de-mographics in Florida, and what the numbers are telling us about the outcome of this very conten-tious race.

Online.

Jennifer and Austin delighted judges and audience members alike at Artist Series Concerts’ 2016 National Voice Competition, where they took first and second place respectively. Fast-forward to 2020 and the duo, each now pursuing a busy music career, returns to Sarasota to perform together for the organization’s 25th season. Soprano Jennifer Kreider is pursuing a performer’s diploma under the guidance of Jane Dutton at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Her past roles include Musetta (La Bohème), Dew Fairy (Hansel and Gretel), Linfea (La Calisto) and many others. She has been a young artist at Opera in the Ozarks, the CoOPERAtive Program in Princeton, New Jersey, and the Franz Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien, Austria. A native of Brandon, Florida, tenor Austin Cripe is currently pursuing his master’s degree at Florida State University. He has performed with Florida State Opera in the roles of Gastone in La Traviata, King Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, the title role in Candide and others. He has also performed with Red River Lyric Opera, the Savannah Voice Festival and Opera Tampa. The trio performs works by Brahms, Donizetti, Kurt Weill, Jerome Kern and more. With Austin Cripe, tenor; and Joseph Holt, piano

Syd Solomon: Concealed and Revealed offers a unique selection of paintings by the artist, along with numerous objects from the Solomon Archive on view for the first time. Syd Solomon (American, 1917-2004) described himself as an “Abstract Impressionist” alluding to the fact that his work infused impressionism into the processes, scale and concepts of Abstract Expressionism. Solomon moved to Sarasota in 1946 with his wife Annie. His was the first work of contemporary art to be collected by The Ringling in 1962. His paintings were greatly influenced by climatic factors and reveal a fascination and concern for Florida’s aquatic environment. Solomon incorporated his experience as a camouflage designer during World War II into his painting. It is not well-known that he was also an accomplished graphic artist, who in his early years designed commercial signage for prominent hotels and businesses in Sarasota. Like his work in camouflage, Solomon’s calligraphic skill was essential to the development of his later gestural abstraction. The exhibition began December 19, 2019 and will end January 24, 2021, during museum hours.

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 5401 Bay Shore Rd., Sarasota

Insects inhabit every domain of our daily lives, performing essential functions that balance our fragile ecosystem on Earth — functions that often go unnoticed because of their small size or scale. Now, using cutting-edge technology and custom methods that put tiny insects on a human scale, artist and photographer Bob Sober allows visitors to see the patterns, textures, colors and details that have always been present, but too small to appreciate in The Bishop’s newest special exhibition: Small Wonders: Insects in Focus.

Creating human-scale images of insects, with resolution so high that every hair, dimple and tiny structure is clearly revealed, was impossible prior to the technological advancements of the past 10 years. Now, Sober’s skills allow us to see the intersection of natural science and art in the smooth metallic finishes and heavily stippled textures, strange body shapes, delicate wing structures and beautifully engineered body components in this series of 30 images that will are on display in the Museum’s second-floor Rincon Gallery and throughout the Museum.

Small Wonders: Insects in Focus features 30 of Sober’s spectacular images and viewers will find themselves at the intersection of art and science. The exhibition, which is included in the cost of admission, is organized by ExhibitsUSA, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance and will be open at The Bishop through October 20.

The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, 201 10th St. W, Bradenton