In the age of cell phones and dating apps, it’s easy to forget how finding love used to be totally different. How communicating and building a relationship with another person couldn’t be done with the typing of a text message or the snapping of a selfie. Finding love had to happen organically, from either, gulp, actually speaking to someone in real life or perhaps through a pen and paper. Florida Studio Theatre (FST) explores this dynamic through the latest play in their Summer Mainstage Series, Dear Jack, Dear Louise. This epistolary play from Ken Ludwig chronicles the relationship of his parents, who first met through writing letters to each other during World War II.

“Dear Jack, Dear Louise is a love letter by Ken Ludwig who wrote it because it's how his parents met. They met writing love letters to one another at the very beginning of WWII,” says Richard Hopkins, Producing Artistic Director and CEO of FST. “His father was a Captain and surgeon in the U.S. Army stationed first in Oregon and later shipped abroad. The woman in the play who would later become Ken’s mother was an aspiring actress in New York.”

The play, which is directed by FST veteran Kristen Clippard, is an epistolary work–the piece is told entirely in the form of letters, which play out like conversations between the characters of Jack Ludwig and Louise Rabiner. As the story progresses, the main antagonist becomes the war itself, an entity that threatens to destroy Jack and Louise’s relationship before the two even have the chance to meet in real life.

“What I love about this play is that it shows how things change and how they stay the same. How love has stayed the same, but the way we fall in love and communicate with one another has changed so significantly since WWII–back then people were using letters to communicate, now they just go on their computers or cell phones,” says Hopkins. “Letters back then, however, I think allowed for a little deeper communication. When you get into this play, you find out wow, the things they’re talking about are really pretty significant. It’s a great piece and a true love letter of a play.” 

Jordan Sobel and Maggie Lou Rader. Photo Courtesy of John Jones

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Stepping into Chasen Galleries at The Mark is like stumbling headfirst into a forest of multicolored glass, some strange Narnia fashioned of intricate and eye-popping glass sculpture that’s been carved, cut, blown, blasted, fused, fastened and dyed into shapes and compositions that defy the imagination. It’s a feast for the eyes and a nightmare for the wide-elbowed. Soaring above it all, artist Collin Rowland imagines a flock of glittering glass birds, frozen in flight over this kaleidoscopic kingdom. The artist’s latest large-scale installation, he installs the project next week.

Called Flock of Freedom II, the installation comprises 25 birds made of metal, epoxy resin and glass, each a distinct sculptural piece crafted by Rowland. And when arranged in formation upon the wall of the gallery, they become the artist’s winged homage to the simple majesty of birds in flight, moving as one in an entrancing display of pattern and rhythm in the sky.

A true multimedia venture, every sculpture in Flock of Freedom II begins with a hand-drawn sketch made in nature. It’s a grounding element that Rowland tries to preserve throughout the project, even as the sketch passes first through the computer and then to the laser-cutter that will carve the bird from aluminum for him. “That hand-drawn aspect of the original design adds an emotional connection,” he says. “And I don’t want them to look mass-produced and manufactured.” So after laser-cutting, Rowland takes a metal grinder and gives each bird its final shape by hand.

Once satisfied with the shape, Rowland builds each bird with heavy coats of spray paint and epoxy resin, mixing ink dyes and metallic powders into the pour, mounding and layering the material to create organic textures and patterns on the surface. “I try not to control things too much,” he says. “I just let
things happen.” And while the resin is still malleable, he adds the final adornments in beads and broken glass. The end result is something that straddles the figurative and the abstract, playing with obvious symbolism as a whole while letting each individual component find its own path. It’s a message Rowland hopes comes through.

“The job of an artist is to slow down enough to notice the beauty and the miraculous that’s all around,” he says, whether that miracle is flying through the air above them or beating inside their very own chests. “And I just wish that everyone knew they were an artist.”

Flocks of Freedom II will be installed at Chasen Galleries at the Mark next week. Flocks of Freedom is currently on display at the Chasen Gallery location on Osprey. 

Pictured: Flock of Freedom II readies to take flight at Chasen Galleries at The Mark. Photo Courtesy of the artist.

TThe Sarasota Players is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to entertaining, educating and engaging the community through high-quality live theatre. Performances take place year-round and appeal to visitors and locals alike. The Players Studio, the education and outreach department for The Sarasota Players, promotes inclusive learning and upholds the ideals of equality and diversity, while providing a safe environment for students of all ages and abilities. The Sarasota Players is thrilled to produce the Sarasota-premiere of Green Day’s American Idiot August 7 to 18 at The Crossings at Siesta Key (3501 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34239). The two-time Tony Award-winning hit musical, based on the Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum album, explores the struggle to find oneself, grow up, battle disillusionment with the American Dream and more. Dates: August 7-10 and 14-17 at 7:30pm August 11 and 18 at 2pm.  

Cast members pose in character. Photo Courtesy of The Sarasota Players

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Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is proud to present The Outsider, a play about a lieutenant governor who is forced out of his world of paperwork and behind-the-scenes actions to become governor in a special election following a gubernational scandal. Called, “Insightful, witty satire,” and, “Dynamic,” by Broadway World, The Outsider begins playing July 24 in FST’s Gompertz Theatre. Tickets are available at FloridaStudioTheatre.org or 941-366-9000. 

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Sarasota Jewish Theatre (SJT) is pleased to announce its 2024-2025 season. The season opens with a two-performance special production of “Being Somebody – Growing up Brooklyn, A Father/Daughter Tale” in October. The season continues with three plays and a documentary screening from January through May: “Visiting Mr. Green” by Jeff Baron, “Lost in Yonkers” by Neil Simon, “Bad Jews” by Joshua Harmon, and “The Catskills – The Rise and Fall of the Borscht Belt.” The plays and screening are presented at The Players Centre Studio 1130 at the Crossings at Siesta Key mall, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. To purchase tickets and subscriptions ($15-$111), visit ThePlayers.org or call 941-365-2494. For more information, visit SarasotaJewishTheatre.org. 

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Fill your long hot summer days by getting out and getting active, July/August 2024. 

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