On Monday, March 14, Asolo Repertory Theatre announced their upcoming slate of productions for the 2022-2023 season. The season, which will span from November 2022 to June 2023, features six productions - four modern, 21st Century plays in Ken Ludwig’s The Three Musketeers, Silent Sky, Chicken & Biscuits, and Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help - bookended by two classic, 20th century musicals in Cabaret and Man of La Mancha.

It’s an announcement that belies the amount of time Asolo Repertory Theatre dedicates to choosing their productions. “While it’s ultimately our Producing Artistic Director, Michael Donald Edward’s decision, season selection is a very involved process - we (Edwards, Dramaturg Adam Eslayigh, and Rosenthal) read sometimes up to 100 plays just to find the few that are right for us. We are always trying to make sure that we have balance - a little something for everyone. This time around, we wanted to have a season that would lift our audiences' experience, make them laugh, and celebrate the resilience of our community and of our families - both born into and chosen families,” says Asolo Repertory Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director, Celine Rosenthal.

The ability to make audiences laugh became even more of a prevalent factor in 2022-23’s season selection than in years past. “We’re always looking for a high balance of comedy in our productions - especially in darker times, we want to find ways to lift people’s spirits. I’m really proud that in our comedies, however, we have some really wonderful plays that are also filled with poignancy and strong character development as well,” says Rosenthal.

That love of exploring relationships through comedy is also what led Rosenthal to direct their upcoming production of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a play that delves into the bond between the women in an 1970s Irish Catholic family. “It’s a beautiful showcase of the love between these women and the shenanigans they get up to,” attests Rosenthal.

Perhaps most of all, Rosenthal hopes that in the 2022-23 season, Asolo Repertory Theatre can continue to be a transformative space for audiences to escape to. Each of the six shows inhabit a time and place vastly different from our modern world and the problems that have plagued it in recent years. “I hope that our audience will get two messages: ‘All for one, one for all’ from The Three Musketeers and ‘In here, life is beautiful’ from Cabaret. It’s been so hard outside in so many aspects of our lives. We want to gift our audiences a wonderful evening of relief and joy - to come back to the theater and reexperience that community and heal a little bit,” states Rosenthal.

Asolo Repertory Theatre, 5555 N Tamiami Trail. Box Office: 941.351.8000 / 800.361.8388 / patronservices@asolo.org

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Academy at Glengary has received a generous $10,000 Community Impact grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County to support a comprehensive, culturally sensitive approach to county residents seeking mental health recovery. The pandemic has exacerbated the demand for mental health services, disproportionately affecting minorities and other marginalized groups.

The Academy offers a comprehensive wellness approach to mental health recovery that helps people embark on a journey toward community integration, or re-integration, as well as personal goal achievement. There are barriers, however, to reaching people who aren’t connected to mainstream mental health services. This can include such factors as culture, language and socioeconomics. The Academy’s initiative has two prongs aimed at finding and engaging these members of the Sarasota community: An improved online presence that will include a simplified application process, and a highly visible, culturally sensitive awareness campaign in area neighborhoods. An individual’s declining mental health has repercussions for the community—an emotional toll on families and loved ones, and a fiscal strain on overburdened local emergency services. The Academy helps to replace that trajectory with a positive ripple effect based on work, community, skill development and gainful employment. Funding for the COVID Mental Health Re-Engagement initiative provided by the Edward K. Roberts Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. 

Pictured: Academy at Glengary display table-tent 2022.

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The board of The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center has promoted Charlene Altenhain to the role of Executive Director, along with the promotion of three other key staff. The promotions come with the departure of Dr. Kameron Hodgens, who is moving on this month.

Altenhain has served as the organization’s primary operations leader since 2014, and as COO since 2018. With a five-acre campus housing 17 human service nonprofits, she participates in a number of community-wide efforts in the Sarasota/Manatee region. Currently, she is chair of the Community Alliance of Sarasota County, co-chair of the Adult Leadership Program and member of the Leadership Council for the Greater Sarasota Chamber, and she is a member of Sarasota County’s Human Services Advisory Council. The three other promotions include Sarah Glendening, Director of Community Relations; Marian Haupt, Facilities Manager; and Andrea Lane, Director of Administration. 

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The horrifying pictures emerging from the Russian invasion of Ukraine inspired 300 students from Hershorin Schiff Community Day School to act. Dan Ceaser, Community Day’s head of school, said that the crisis quickly became an urgent topic of discussion throughout the campus. “This conflict profoundly affected our students—even though they live halfway across the world. They told us that
their hearts were hurting, and they needed to do something.” After meeting with Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz with Chabad Lubavitch of Sarasota and Manatee Counties, the students decided to donate all the “tzedakah” or charitable funds they had raised to an orphanage based out of Odessa, Ukraine. During the school year, students collect money every Shabbat (Friday) and, typically, pick a cause at the end of the year and donate the money. This time they realized there was no time to wait. They needed to act immediately. On March 8, the students presented $520 to the Mishpacha Orphanage. The funds will be used for food, shelter, and other necessities for 83 orphans who fled Ukraine to Germany. The CDS students said they hope the funds and handmade cards will let the refugee children know that people from across the world are watching their plight.

Ceaser said that the initiative fit perfectly into the school’s mission and programming. “One of our main goals is to create a learning community where students impact
our world as compassionate scholars and global citizens. This act of charity gave them the opportunity to see, firsthand, how their actions can make a difference. When they practice compassion for others, they make the world a better place.” 

Pictured: Community Day Schools fifth grade students and teacher Joannie Bloch with the check that represents the funds the students raised.

JMX Brands, the largest online retailer of Amish furniture at www.dutchcrafters.com, presented Steve Doe with the Category Manager Award at the company’s annual awards ceremony. This award was implemented to recognize the hard work of one category manager, which is a crucial role in the company’s success. Doe joined JMX Brands in 2018 as a furniture specialist and became a category manager with responsibility of the dining room category in 2019. At the ceremony, Product Management and Innovation Assistant Manager Natalie Campos highlighted Doe’s “tremendous attention to detail and exceptional vendor relationship skills.” The University of South Florida alum also serves as the chairperson for the sustainability committee at JMX Brands and led the initiative to install solar panels at the DutchCrafters headquarters and showroom in Sarasota, Fla. Doe previously served on the family and events committee, participated in JMX Brands’ gardening club, and won the Work Without Veneers award, which is given quarterly to a JMX Brands employee who embodies the company’s core values of authenticity, sustainability, creativity, giving and excellence.  

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