Women are the heroes in ‘She Kills Monsters’ at FSW The 8th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival best films

This is what’s happening March 22-31, 2018

Here’s what’s taking place in the arts, indie films and community theater between March 22 and 31, 2018:

Fort Myers Art Walk returns to River District April 6 & 7 (03-31-18)

The River District will come alive Friday, April 6 when Art Walk returns to downtown Fort Myers. Now a two-day event, Art Walk will continue Saturday, April 7, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. With exciting new exhibits and live art demonstrations, rain or shine, this is a “must attend event.”

New exhibits include exceptional art in a variety of mediums done by a bevy of local artists and some national and international artists as well. You can meet the artists and talk art at the self-guided Friday night event, which brings together art enthusiasts, collectors and community friends who celebrate the arts each month. The Friday night Art Walk sees First Street closed to traffic. Local artists set up in the street selling their art, and face painting is offered at several locations along First Street. And at the Broadway and First Street intersection, the Fort Myers Art League will be hosting a “Make It/Take It” table for children of all ages.

Saturday Art Walk is a quieter affair with most of the galleries open for examining the art at more leisurely pace. This new and improved version of Art Walk includes 14 galleries and art stops, including:

American Legion Veterans Gallery showing Art done by Veterans
Art League of Fort Myers – new exhibits each month
Arts for ACT Gallery – features three or more art exhibits every month plus co-op members art
Bootlegger Alley Gallery – outdoor gallery open only during Art Walk in The Patio de Leon
Grand Illusion Gallery – art, tee shirts and more
Marc Harris Wildlife Photography – on Jackson Street
Miville Art Gallery – art and photography in the Franklin Shops
Ollie Mack Gentry Photography – photography at 2180 West First Street
Reverie & Rock Art Gallery – concert photography and Surrealistic digital art
Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center – Main Gallery Exhibit and Capitol Exhibit on the 3rd Floor
The Barrel Room – Jazz art – on Bay Street
Timeless Gallery – gallery and gift shop featuring steampunk art and more
Two Newts Gallery – co-op gallery located off West First Street at 2064 Bayside Parkway
Unit A – urban contemporary gallery of internationally-acclaimed artist Marcus Jansen located in Gardener’s Park

As this survey of participating galleries reveals, Fort Myers Art Walk spans the core of downtown Fort Myers and includes the Gardener’s Park area and West First Street. Most of the action is located on First Street, but you can obtain a Fort Myers Art Walk map at any of the galleries that will lead you to all the art venues and Art Walk partners. “Enjoy cultural venues, restaurants, bars and businesses, plus live music,” touts the River District Alliance. “Watch live art demos on First Street, eat amazing food, shop the unique local boutiques or just enjoy the atmosphere.”

So whether you prefer the energy of night or the calm of day, there’s something for everyone during this new-and-improved weekend of art that Fort Myers still calls Art Walk.

The best way to get to Fort Myers Art Walk:

off I-75 North: Exit #141 then west on Palm Beach Blvd
off I-75 South: Exit #138 then west on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
From U.S. 41 Northbound: exit at Historic District McGregor Blvd., Right turn or
From U.S. 41 Southbound Exit before the Caloosahatchee bridge.

There is free street parking and $5.00 at any of the parking garages. In season ride the free River District Trolley. Fort Myers Art Walk is a Pet and Family Friendly free event! Fort Myers Art Walk is hosted by The River District Alliance, a non-profit organization. For more information, please visit www.fortmyersriverdistrictalliance.com.

To become a volunteer, partner or sponsor of Fort Myers Art Walk, contact Claudia Goode via cgoode@actabuse.com.

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Naples Art District holds next 1st Wednesday Studio & Gallery Tour on April 4 (03-31-18)

On Wednesday, April 4, the more than two dozen galleries and artist studios that comprise the Naples Art District open their doors to the public from 5:00-8:00 p.m. Called 1st Wednesday Studio & Gallery Tour, the event is a unique opportunity to not only visit some of Southwest Florida’s most interesting galleries, but immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and smells of the studios of more than 40 emerging and mid-career artists working in a broad cross-section of genres and media. Look for the magenta and white art flags. Call 239-289-5-70 for more information.

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Sweet Art hosting four-artist contemporary show (03-31-18)

Sweet Art Gallery in the Naples Art District is featuring the art of four contemporary artists during the 5:00-8:00 p.m. 1^st Wednesday Art Studio & Gallery Tour. The show will be characterized by “the magnified rich colors of Caryl Gordon’s encaustic, deconstructed landscapes, the inspirational evolution of Nancy Iannitelli’s self-expression on canvas, the atmospheric expressions of Fabian Vieryes’ mixed media canvases,” and Kristy Gammill’s exploration of line and color through her signature dynamic brushstrokes and the emotion, control and energy they convey.

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Ten new 10-minute plays to premiere at Bonita’s ‘Stage It! 2 10-Minute Play Festival’ (03-31-18)

The Center for Performing Arts of Bonita Springs has announced the line for its Stage It! 2 Ten-Minute Play Festival which takes place at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, and 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 29 in the Moe Auditorium & Film Center. Ten plays will premiere at the two-day event, which also includes a Book Release Party to celebrate the publication of all the winners.

A total of 206 plays were received from around the nation, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and England. Each play was critiqued by two of 21 judges from across the country and Canada. The judging panel included playwrights, directors, screenwriters, professional actors and editors from New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Toronto, Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, Jacksonville and Naples.

Thirty plays were selected for publication in the STAGE IT! 2 Ten-Minute Plays book that will be released on the opening night of the Festival. Ten of the plays will be performed over the two days by CFABS community theatre performers, and an “Audience Favorite” will be selected by the patrons attending.

These are the ten plays that will be performed during the festival:

You’ll find these plays and the rest of this announcement here.

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Art gave Theresienstadt children strength to endure Holocaust (03-31-18)

Holocaust survivor Steen Metz will speak at The Laboratory Theater of Florida at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, April 2 as part of the Theater’s expanding tolerance and cultural education programming. A Danish Jew, Metz was arrested with his family on October 2, 1943 and deported to a concentration camp by the name of Terezin, a ghetto inside an 18^th century fortress named Theresienstadt located in Czechoslovakia about 30 miles north of Prague.

Many of Theresienstadt’s inmates were educated. Unlike other camps, Terezin’s detainees included scholars, philosophers, scientists, visual artists and musicians of all types, some of whom had achieved international renown. Many of these contributed to the camp’s cultural life.

Besides Metz, Theresienstadt was home to Sigmund Freud’s sister, Esther Adolfine (who died there in 1943) and Helga Hoskova-Weissova, a teen who wrote a diary that includes drawings and paintings depicting her life there and at Auschwitz (she survived both). The diary was published on April 22, 2013 under the title Helga’s Diary: A Young Girl’s Account of Life in a Concentration Camp by W.W. Norton & Co.

Ela Weissberger was also interned in Theresienstadt as a child. While there, a Bauhaus-trained artist by the name of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis took Ela and the other children in the ghetto under her wing, teaching them how to process and express the trauma of their experiences through art. Before she was ultimately murdered, Dicker-Brandeis saved thousands of the kids’ drawings and poems in suitcases. Recovered after the war, many of them are now on display at the Ghetto Museum in Terezin. And it was a poem written by one of the children of Theresienstadt that inspired a grassroots global initiative in 2006 that has come to be known as The Butterfly Project.

You will find the rest of this story here.

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Holocaust remembrance community talk-back to follow April 19 performance of ‘Visiting Mr. Green’ (03-31-18)

Opening April 13 at the Laboratory Theater of Florida is Visiting Mr. Green, a cannily-crafted dramedy about two men thrown together under the oddest of circumstances. Having almost hit 86-year-old widower Mr. Green with his car, Ross Gardiner is charged with reckless driving. He must now complete a form of community service that involves visiting Mr. Green every week for the next six months. Both men resent these forced visits at first, but soon their conversations reveal family secrets and past hardships in need of being brought into the light of day. A story of acceptance and open-mindedness, replete with charm and poignancy quickly develops.

Following the April 19th performance, The Lab is holding a community talk-back with Holocaust survivors, concentration camp liberator and well-known speaker Robert Hilliard, and others.

For the rest of this announcement, read here.

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Many died at Theresienstadt, but nearly three times as many were sent to their deaths at Auschwitz-Treblinka (03-30-18)

A Danish Jew, Metz was arrested with his family on October 2, 1943 and deported to a concentration camp by the name of Terezin within the town of Theresienstadt, an 18^th century fortress located in Czechoslovakia about 30 miles north of Prague. There, they joined Jews from Vienna, Prague and Berlin. Penniless, deprived of all their belongings, overcrowded, ill-fed and overworked, more than 32,000 perished of disease and starvation between the camp’s establishment on November 30, 1941 and its liberation by the International Red Cross on May 4, 1945.

But this does not count the more than 88,000 Jews who were sent from Theresienstadt to the death camps. Theresienstadt, you see, was a staging area, a ghetto where Jews were temporarily held before being sent on for extermination primarily at Auschwitz and Treblinka, but smaller camps such as Belzec and Chelmno as well.

Read here for the rest of this story.

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Square One Improv and improv classes coming to Alliance (03-30-18)

Square One Improv comes to the Alliance for the Arts on Friday, April 6. A fast-paced, hilarious, musical, completely improvised comedy show, Square One Improv features the most talented cast of comedians performing in Naples, Marco Island, and Fort Myers. No two shows are the same, and they are always packed with hilarious songs, sketches, and jokes made up on the spot based on your suggestions. The show runs from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. and costs just $15 per person.

And if you’re the pro-active type, don’t just watch improv, do improv. And to help you make the transition, the Alliance is offering an introductory class developed at Chicago’s Second City and seen on “Whose Line is It Anyway?”

Improv is about playing together, laughter, joy and support. Through exercises and games you will learn about the “rules” of Improv, agreement, listening, story, teamwork, and the basics of scenes. You will also improve your memory, self-confidence and overall health. And here’s the secret: Anyone can do it! There is no memorization, you don’t have to be funny and, best of all, there are no mistakes. Make new friends or bring old ones, give it a try and sign up today!

There’s no supply list to worry about. Just wear comfortable cloths and closed toe shoes. The class takes place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on each Thursday in April, beginning April 5. That’s right, you’ll have four classes spaced a week apart to develop your inner improve. Tuition is just $88 for non-members and $70 for members.

The Alliance for the Arts is located at 10091 McGregor Blvd. (where Colonial empties into McGregor). For more information or tickets, please telephone 239-939-2787.

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‘Sac de Merde’ pokes fun at dates gone horribly wrong (03-30-18)

The 8^th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival screened an uproariously funny short film titled Sac de Merde. And yes, that’s French for “bag of shit.”

Sac de Merde tells the tale of Mazel Mankewicz, an unlucky-at-love yet irrationally optimistic New Yorker who thinks her luck has changed when she spends the night with the man of her dreams. But as their passion ignites, he reveals he has a colostomy bag. “I’ll understand if you want to leave; you wouldn’t be the first,” he tells her. Not wanting to seem like an insensitive schmuck, she stays and finds out, the next morning that the schmuck is really him and it has nothing to do with the bag he wears strapped to his abdomen.

[Watch a 2-minute clip here.]

Read here for the rest of this post.

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During troubled times, ‘Miss Bonita Springs 1967’ is a candy bar for the mind (03-30-18)

Among the Strictly Local short films juried into this year’s Fort Myers Film Festival is Miss Bonita Springs 1967. It’s a lighthearted story that the filmmaker describes as “a candy bar (a Mars bar to be precise) for the mind,” a humorous salve for the soul during the troubled times in which we live.

Aaron and Lacey are married but have a few things to work out. Following an argument, Lacey escapes to the beach. With waves gently crashing on the beach in front of her, Lacey does yoga to help her relax. Bored, her dog, Luna, begins digging in the sand. Lacey joins in, and together they find a gold ring bearing two inscriptions. On the inside, the words “Fish With Me Forever” are incised in the band. On the outside, the inscription reads: “Miss Bonita Springs 1967.”

Her curiosity piqued, Lacey tracks down Miss Bonita Springs 1967, a woman by the name of BeBe Nowitzki. They meet for coffee and, sure enough, it’s BeBe’s ring. BeBe then recounts how her husband, suffering from PTSD following service in Vietnam, simply up and disappeared one day and she never saw him again. In her despair, BeBe had gone to the beach for solace one day, and lost the ring there.

Read here for more.

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‘What’s the Point?’ wins Audience Choice award at 8th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival (03-29-18)

The 8th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival wrapped last Sunday night at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre with a champagne and dessert awards ceremony, and taking top honors as Audience Favorite was a 2016 short film by Mario K. Maturo titled What’s the Point? Fort Myers Film Festival attendees were invited to vote on social media (including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook) for the film they most enjoyed, with What’s the Point? garnering the greatest number of such votes.

Read here for the rest of this post.

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‘What’s the Point’ co-star Cassidy Reyes in the frame (03-29-18)

The 8th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival wrapped last Sunday night at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre with a champagne and dessert awards ceremony, and taking top honors as Audience Favorite was a 2016 short film by Mario K. Maturo titled What’s the Point? The film includes a number of popular local actors (such as Mike Dinko and Marta Sand) and stars Cassidy Reyes and Kaycie Lee.

Model and film actor Cassidy Reyes is known for Casting (2014), Seers of Light In Shadows (2016) and The Meaning of Life (2017). She also played the role of a reporter in the indie film movie Hanging Millstone shot by filmmaker Curtis Collins at various locations in Fort Myers in 2016. In 2013, she also assumed the role of Media Coordinator for UFTA (United Film & Television Artists).

Reyes realized early on that she wanted to be part of the entertainment industry.

“By the time I was 13, I realized that acting was what I was born to do,” she relates.

Here’s the rest of Cassidy’s profile.

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‘What’s the Point’ co-star Kaycie Lee in the frame (03-29-18)

The 8th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival wrapped last Sunday night at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre with a champagne and dessert awards ceremony, and taking top honors as Audience Favorite was a 2016 short film by Mario K. Maturo titled What’s the Point? The film includes a number of popular local actors (such as Mike Dinko and Marta Sand) and stars Cassidy Reyes and Kaycie Lee.

Lee is a young SAG-eligible film actress who lives and goes to school in Cape Coral. Her film credits include the lead in Shapeshifter (Ringling/Darrien Land), Blue Guitars (JemStar Media), The Scent of Her Soul (I Am Resistance Productions) and Fallaway (Aurora Jar Productions), as well as supporting roles in WYDSN (Mountview Creative), Hanging Millstone (Curtis Collins Productions) and a 2016 short science fiction film titled Seers of Light in Shadows. Her work in television includes guest starring in the pilot for Fox’s Ana Polo and GymBrats 2.0, a recurring role in S.O.L.I.S. for GetLive TV and the pilot for Believe TV.

For the rest of Kaycie’s profile, read here.

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The plight of Denmark’s Jews during World War II (03-29-18)

Metz was born in Odense, Denmark. He would have been just 5-years-old when German forces occupied Norway and Denmark in advance of their Blitzkrieg of Belgium, Holland and France a month later on May 10, 1940. Following the occupation, 1,700 Jews in Norway and 7,400 Jews in Denmark (1,400 of which were refugees from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia) were now within putative Nazi control. But at the insistence of Norwegian and Danish authorities, no harm came to the Jews living within their territorial borders.

That changed toward the end of September, 1942 when the Reich’s Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop ordered his attaches in Hungary, Bulgaria and Denmark to undertake negotiations with the provisional governments in those countries for the “evacuation of the Jews of these countries.”

Steen Metz was now seven.

For more, read here.

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Lab’s ‘Visiting Mr. Green’ cannily crafted dramedy about family, friendship and forgiveness (03-28-18)

Opening April 13 at the Laboratory Theater of Florida is Visiting Mr. Green.

The story follows two men thrown together under the oddest of circumstances. Having almost hit 86-year-old widower Mr. Green with his car, Ross Gardiner is charged with reckless driving. He must now complete a form of community service and visit Mr. Green every week for the next six months. At first, both men resent these forced visits, but soon their conversations reveal family secrets and past hardships in need of being brought into the light of day. A story of acceptance and open-mindedness, replete with charm and poignancy quickly develops.

Local favorite Michael Hennessey (The Best Man) plays Mr. Green.

“Visiting Mr. Green transcends the ‘gaps’ between young and old, gay and straight, parent and child by immersing us in their one unifying common thread, love,” says Hennessey. “You will love this play.”

RELATED POSTS.

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Holocaust survivor Steen Metz to speak at The Lab on April 2 (03-28-18)

In Hebrew, Holocaust Remembrance Day is called Yom Hashoah. For the most part, Yom Hashoah is generally observed with speeches, poems, prayers and song. Often, six candles are lit to represent the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. And during this time, Holocaust survivors speak about their experiences or share readings.

Throughout Florida, synagogues and Jewish service organizations hold Holocaust remembrance events, which are typically open to the public. Though the theater is not a religious organization, it is through theater and the arts that people get a chance to share and learn from each other. In this tradition, it is The Lab’s mission to enlighten, bring awareness, and break down the walls of fear and hatred through education and understanding.

Now 79, Metz spends his senior years recounting his story every chance he gets at schools, libraries, churches, senior centers and civic organizations throughout the country. However, it wasn’t always that way. Until he was 70, Metz kept his experiences at Theresienstadt private. For decades, many Holocaust survivors found it impossible to talk about what happened in the camps, even to their own children and grandchildren. But in 2011, Steen decided to write his memoirs, which he’s compiled in a self-published book titled A Danish Boy in Theresienstadt. Now, it’s Steen’s life mission to share his experiences with as many people as he can reach.

“I’m determined to keep the victims’ memories and stories alive,” he avows.

You will find the rest of this announcement here.

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Axelrod’s ‘Carol’s Last Chance’ is Fort Myers Film Festival’s ‘Best Short’ film (03-27-18)

The 8^th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival wrapped up last night at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre with a champagne and dessert awards ceremony, and taking top honors as Best Short film was Jordan Axelrod’s Carol’s Last Chance.

Short films are particularly popular at the Fort Myers Film Festival. Not only are they featured during Thank God for Indie Mondays (T.G.I.M.), the blocks of short films screened at the festival are typically jam packed with eager film-watchers who appreciate the opportunity to sample a diverse collection of short, impactful films.

“So this was a particularly difficult [category to judge] because we had more short submissions than any other type of film,” noted Eric Raddatz before announcing the winner.

Carol’s Last Chance follows a soon-to-be-father by the name of Carol (played by Lars Engstrom). The baby is due to arrive in the next day or two, and Carol is just not sure he’s ready to be a responsible father. Although he’s not dissatisfied with his life in general, he is also not entirely sure he’s ready to close the book on the carefree days of his youth. There’s so much he hasn’t done; so much he still wants to do; so much he may be missing out on. But some decisions you just can’t take back. Or can you? [Read here for more on the film.]

“[M]y cast and I spent weeks in rehearsal improvising, discussing … in the effort to create an authenticity in the relationships we wanted to capture in the film,” divulges Axelrod, who credits Robert Altman and Mike Leigh as inspirations. “Working closely with my cast and drawing directly from our lives, the making of this film was a long series of asking questions rather than looking for obvious answers.”

The rest of this story is here.

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The Fort Myers Film Festival announced winners in seven categories last night (03-26-18)

The 8^th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival wrapped up last night at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre with a champagne and dessert awards ceremony. During the five night, four day festival, 80 films were screened at six separate locations, including the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, Alliance for the Arts Foulds Theatre, Edison Ford Winter Estates, AMC Classic Merchants Crossing 16, and IMAG History & Science Center.

The cinematic pieces shown by the Fort Myers Film Festival this year spanned a wide variety of topics and interests.

“This year we’ve cherished rock ‘n roll era from a time gone by, the importance of our Florida waters and the environment,” said Director and FMff founder Eric Raddatz in his closing remarks. “We’ve seen the joys of miniature golf, cinematography, poetry, dance, music, art and the exploration of the mind’s capabilities. We’ve seen athletes rise from poverty to give back to the community they came from, filmmakers espouse better lives when it comes to healthcare, justice, freedom and prosperity.”

There were many films with subject matter that pulled back the emerald curtain. It’s a reference to the classic film Wizard of Oz that Eric used in his welcoming remarks, as well.

For more, read here.

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‘Melody Makers’ takes honors as Best Documentary at 8th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival (03-26-18)

The 8^th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival wrapped up last night at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre with a champagne and dessert awards ceremony. During the five night, four day festival, 80 films were screened at six separate locations, and taking honors as Best Documentary was Melody Makers directed by Leslie Ann Coles.

The 78-minute documentary captures the birth of rock ’n’ roll journalism through the aperture of Melody Maker magazine. Originally established in 1926 as a weekly trade paper for jazz musicians, Melody Maker morphed in the mid-1960s into an internationally-recognized “must read” for rock and roll musicians and their fans. Melody Maker played a pivotal role in helping shape the genre, rock ‘n’ roll bands and individual recording artists. In fact, it was such an influential pop culture phenomenon that musicians flocked to the publication’s Fleet Street office eager to be interviewed by the magazine’s journalists in much the same way that vaudeville actors were drawn to Menlo Park, New Jersey in hopes of being cast in one of Thomas Edison’s seminal Black Maria moving pictures.

The film’s centerpiece is Money Maker itself, and Leslie Ann Coles uses the images taken by the magazine’s chief contributing photographer to tell this part of the story. Barrie Wentzell held this position from 1965 to 1975, and his camera captured every notable artist who emerged during this time frame including The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, David Bowie, The Kinks, Marianne Faithfull, The Rolling Stones, Elton John and Yes, to name just a few.

But the documentary fleshes out the stories chronicled by Wentzell’s photographs through a string of candid interviews with original Melody Maker staff members, managers, PR reps, and music legends ranging from Eric Burdon to Ian Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Steve Nardelli, Roger Dean, Sonja Kristina and other notable musicians who provide new insight into the magazine’s cultural significance. It took Coles several years to complete the film and many of the interviews were recorded six to eight years ago (which is why the filmmaker was able to include the Squire interview in the final edit).

Read the rest of this post here.

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‘Bad Kiwis’ wins best Short Short Film at 8th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival (03-26-18)

The 8^th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival wrapped up last night at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre with a champagne and dessert awards ceremony, and taking top honors as Best Short Short film was Bad Kiwis, directed by and starring Deb Foster and Rebecca McFadzien.

Olivia (Foster) and Summer (McFadzien) are two Kiwi actresses trying to make it in Los Angeles. (Kiwi is the nickname by which New Zealanders refer to themselves.) Although they have the best of intentions, things have a way of going awry for the duo, especially during auditions. They have both been asked to audition for a travel commercial. All they have to do is deliver a simple line: “There’s no place like Australia, so come on, get over here.” But there’s a problem. A Big Problem. They must face their biggest rivals, the Australians! In fact, even worse, they must pretend to BE Australian. Things go from bad to worse as Olivia whips out the worst Australian accent known to mankind and Summer totally loses it when the casting directors realize she’s actually from New Zealand.

For more, read here.

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‘Bad Kiwis’ filmmaker, writer and actor Deb Foster in the frame (03-26-18)

The 8th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival wrapped up last night at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre with a champagne and dessert awards ceremony, and taking top honors as Best Short Short film was Bad Kiwis, directed by and starring Deb Foster and Rebecca McFadzien.

Deb Foster plays the part of Olivia. In addition to Bad Kiwis, she is also known for Leap (2016) and Fozz ‘n’ Karpz (2016).

Deb was born and raised a “Westie” from Auckland, New Zealand. She got the travel bug and a thirst for adventure early on in life. At 18, she moved to London, then later to New York City and has settled (for now) in Venice, California.

For more, read here.

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‘Bad Kiwis’ filmmaker, writer and actor Rebecca McFadzien in the frame (03-26-18)

The 8^th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival wrapped up last night at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre with a champagne and dessert awards ceremony, and taking top honors as Best Short Short film was Bad Kiwis, directed by and starring Deb Foster and Rebecca McFadzien.

Rebecca plays the part of Summer. An actor, singer, dancer, filmmaker and writer, Rebecca strives to empower others to be true to themselves while also creating positive change throughout the world through the stories she tells. Essentially, her goal is to bring a little sunshine into the world and make people smile.

Although McFadzien was born in New York, she considers herself a true Kiwi because she was raised in New Zealand, where she developed her love of acting and her dislike for wearing shoes.

She graduated with a Bachelors of Performing and Screen Arts Degree at Unitec in Auckland, made an appearance or two on both Shortland Street (as Veronica Greenwood) and Power Rangers, and then moved to Los Angeles. More recently, she has played the female lead roles in the pilots for three new television series: Project J, Walter Wants a Woman and Fairy Luna and Friends.

For more, read here.

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Still time to see ‘Beauty Heals’ exhibition at Sanibel’s Watson MacRae Gallery (03-25-18)

There is still time to catch Beauty Heals: The Power of Nature in Paint at Sanibel’s Watson MacRae Gallery, a show that contains paintings about nature that touch the heart and feed the soul. On view through March 30, it includes oils on paper, board, panel and canvas by Carin Wagner, Greg Biolchini, Stanley Bielen, Paula Heisen and Kathleen Speranza. Watson MacRae Gallery is located in the Village Shops at 2340 Periwinkle Way. For more information, please telephone 239-472-3386.

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Sanibel’s Watson MacRae marks end of 10th season with ‘Summer Salon ’18’ (03-25-18)

Summer Salon ’18 is Watson MacRae Gallery’s last exhibition of the season. “This is the exhibit that fills the gallery with work by all the artists I showed this season and gives you a chance to see art work you might have missed and new pieces, as well,” relates Maureen Watson.

The opening is marked by a 5:00-7:00 p.m. reception on Tuesday, April 3.

“It is always very festive and lively and I hope you can join us before everyone heads ‘Off Island,’” adds Maureen.

Watson MacRae Gallery is located in the Village Shops at 2340 Periwinkle Way. For more information, please telephone 239-472-3386.

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‘Peter, Paul & Mary’ opening at Arsenault Studio & Banyan Arts Gallery March 21 (03-25-18)

A new exhibit is on view at Arsenault Studio & Banyan Arts Gallery on Naples’ Third Street South. Titled PETER, PAUL AND MARY, it introduces Peter Selgin and Mary Parkman. New paintings by Paul Arsenault are also be featured.

Peter Selgin is an award-winning author and artist. Through his study of primitive, outsider, and folk art, Peter has discovered a new naive approach to painting that frees him from the tyranny of linear perspective and allows him to paint through the innocence of a child’s eye. Peter teaches at Antioch University’s MFA in Creative Writing program in Los Angeles and is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Georgia College & State University.

Mary Parkman graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Fine Arts. She continued her study of art—primarily with abstract expressionists—at the New York Studio School in Manhattan and the international School of Art in Umbria, Italy. Having begun her career as a representational portrait and landscape painter, Mary’s work is increasingly abstract, with greater focus on pure paint and process. Like a tug of war, she pushes and pulls the paint together and apart until she achieves a balance that feels complete. Mary currently lives in Naples and teaches Art at the Community School of Naples.

Arsenault Studio & Banyan Arts Gallery is located at 1199 Third Street South in Naples.

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Paintings by Paul Arsenault at Ave Maria University in ‘Heritage & Harvest’ exhibit (03-25-18)

Heritage & Harvest is on exhibit now through June 24 in the Canizaro Gallery at Ave Maria University. The show includes paintings and stories of Southwest Florida rendered by Naples artist Paul Arsenault.

Over the 44 years Paul Arsenault has devoted to painting in Collier, Lee, and Hendry Counties, he has recorded places and events that visually tell a story of the region’s prehistory and history. The painted stories in this exhibition include the thousand-year-old era of the Calusa Indians, but mainly concentrate on Southwest Florida’s evolution over the last 150 years from a raw wilderness inhabited by Seminole Indians and extremely hardy pioneers into a manicured metropolis of international renown.

Heritage & Harvest depicts not only the bountiful natural resources that attracted and helped sustain early Native Americans and 19th-century settlers, but also the architectural expressions of that bounty, including early homes, stores, and schools, and particularly the waterfronts. The exhibit ranges geographically from the Everglades to Naples to Boca Grande and Pine Island Sound and inland to Immokalee, LaBelle, and the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation.

For more information and directions, please call 239-263-1214.

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DAAS featuring exhibit of David Hammel works in clay (03-25-18)

During the month of March DAAS CO-OP Art Gallery & Gifts is showcasing the art of guest artist David Hammel in an exhibition entitled Material Goods. The show featurea a collection of folkloric pottery and mixed media compositions in the artist’s well-known style.

“As an artist, I am more interested in utilizing a variety of materials to discover images often hidden within, than creating a ‘style,’” Hammel discloses. “I find raw materials extremely fascinating and I enjoy taking something very ordinary and often overlooked and turning it into a piece of artwork that people may enjoy viewing.”

Hammel was born in southwest Florida. Preferring to remain somewhat enigmatic, he declines to divulge the city of his birth. However, his family has lived in this area for six generations and “here” is where he has always lived.

In 2012, David led a group of roughly 200 ClaysCOOL students at the Naples Art Association build the world’s longest clay chain. Officially recognized by Recordsetter.com, it was more than 135 feet long and consisted of more than 1,000 individual links!

David is a 1988 graduate of the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida and has completed advanced studies at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in 2000. Today, he produces out of his Fort Myers studio, located just a few miles from the SoCo Cultural District.

DAAS CO-OP Art Gallery is located in Suite 84 at the Royal Palm Square, 1400 Colonial Blvd. Business hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For more information, please visit daascoop.com or call 239-590-8645.

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All Florida Juried Exhibition on view at Alliance through March 29 (03-24-18)

Artists from all over Florida submitted more than 530 pieces for consideration in the Alliance for the Arts’ annual All Florida Juried Exhibition. Juror Mark Ormond narrowed the list to 57 pieces, which were unveiled to the public during an opening celebration on March 9. Betsy DJamoos was awarded $1,000 for Best in Show for her abstract piece Natural Vibrations. Elisabeth Arena won a $250 Golden Colors Gift Certificate for her 2nd place graphite work, The Contemplative Crow. Gay Germain won $100 for 3rd place for her acrylic piece Sculpture Garden Reductive III. David Belling, Sherry Rohl, Tammra Sigler and Buck Ward were awarded Juror’s Choice Awards.

“My intuition guides my palette, brush strokes and knowing when the painting is finished,” says Best In Show Winner DJamoos. “All my paintings start out with intuitive marks on a white canvas and the piece evolves from that flow.”

The other artists with work included in the show are Kaitlyn Handley, Hilda Champion, Beverly Yankwitt, Paul Dengler, Alane Enyart, Susan Rienzo, Roxanne Hanney, Carolyn Steele, Ellen Miller, J.T. Phillippe, Imani Gibbs, Sherri Hubby, Maggie DeMarco, Grayson Stoff, Stephen Staack, Barbara Groenteman, Gregory Presley, Katrina Parker, Paula Rucket, Julio Pacheco Delgado, Deborah LaFogg Docherty, Megan Kissinger, Jeff and Dale Ocasio, Taylor Scalzo, Susan Ritter, Christine Di Staola, Diane Schultz, Carol Stream, Vae Hamilton, Sharon Rodgers, Dirce Kennedy, Jolie Black, Mariapia Malerba, Luba Drahosz, Dianne GreenWoman Wickes, Peter Zell, Roseline Young, Mark Wlaz, Victoria Milne, Tracy Owen Cullimore, Susan Martin and Deborah Martin.

“It’s exciting to host artists from across all the pockets of Florida,” says exhibitions coordinator Krista Johnson. “The submissions truly showcase the breadth and creative talent of Florida’s independent artists.”

The exhibit sponsor is Elemental Stone and Waterworks.

The exhibit will continue until March 29 at 10091 McGregor Blvd. Fort Myers, FL 33919. For more information, call 239-939-2787 or visit www.ArtInLee.org.

[Photos provided by the Alliance:

Natural Vibrations, Best of Show winner by Betsy DJamoos;
Graphite artist Elisabeth Arena with 2nd place entry The Contemplative Crow;
Sculpture Garden Reductive III by third place winner Gay Germain;
Harns Marsh II by Juror’s Choice Award winner, watercolorist David Belling; and
A Very Serious Garden – Invaded by Juror’s Choice Award winner Tammra Sigler.

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UNIT A selling early Jansen works on paper to celebrate artist’s 50th birthday, 30-year career (03-24-18)

For Marcus Jansen’s upcoming 50th birthday and to celebrate his 30 years in the arts, UNIT A plans to release some of Jansen’s most sought-after early works on paper signed and numbered in pencil in response to popular demand.

The Fort Myers-based artist is frequently in the news, and is featured in the March 2018 edition of Artillery Magazine, which writes that “Jansen employs abstraction to explore psychic chaos and conflict, in traditional AbEx style, but in his hands, improvisation opens the valves of feeling (to paraphrase Francis Bacon) and experience; he re-enacts or works through (his words) memories of war in the arena of the canvas, creating enthralling panoramas that pit the terrible beauty of destruction against our conflicting moral sentiments. Pictorial space is inconsistent or ambiguous, as in a dream (or in a damaged building near collapse). Tiny figures wander through the detritus, like the tourists and gypsies in paintings of classical or Gothic ruins by Hubert Robert and Caspar David Friedrich.”

Artillery is distributed nationally through galleries, museums, Barnes & Noble and other select book stores, as well as at art fairs, on college campuses and in every room of both the Los Angeles Standard and San Francisco Phoenix Hotels.

Writing for Artillery, art critic DeWitt Cheng continues: “Jansen … never lapses into melancholic musing; the inclusion of incongruous elements (car tires, pigs, toadstools, soccer balls, numbers and letters, flags) that one might find half-buried in any contemporary disaster scene—from our media smorgasbord of war, famine, pandemic, fire, flood, landslide, hurricane, and drought—lends urgency and contemporaneity to his visions. The shadowy survivors picking through the ruins—soldiers, drawn from memory, as well as figures taken from photographs and paintings—are tragic figures, like Goya’s survivors and victims, but rendered without hyperbole, and all the more affecting for that reserve. While Jansen’s large, epic, contemporary history paintings are dazzling tours de force, his smaller canvases are more personal and less rhetorical, and frequently reminiscent of Francis Bacon and Llyn Foulkes. Jansen might be reviving the moral ethos of 1930s painting for our troubled times.”

The limited edition, numbered early works on paper will first become available on March 31. To obtain one for your collection, please email unitaspaceinfo@gmail.com. Availability is subject to change.

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30th Annual Downtown Naples Festival of the Arts is today and tomorrow (03-24-18)

The 30th Annual Downtown Naples Festival of the Arts takes place on Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25, 2015. Last year, 230 artists from around the country were selected for their artistry and craftsmanship to exhibit in this show. Together, they brought an extensive variety of artworks ranging from original oils and acrylics on canvas, panel and galvanized aluminum to watercolors on paper, 2D and 3D mixed media collages, limited edition prints, photography, digital art, metal sculpture, wood carvings, ceramics, hand-crafted jewelry and fashion accessories, leather works, fine furniture and home decor items, and numerous great gift ideas. The fair takes place on Fifth Avenue South, which is cordoned off to vehicular traffic during the two-day show. That helps explain why the artists who responded to the surveys sent out by Sunshine Artist Magazine rated this as the #24 art festival in the country last year. For more information, please visit http://www.naplesart.org/content/downtown-naples-festival-arts-1.

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Bonita Bay Invitational Art Festival is also today and tomorrow (03-24-18)

The Bonita Bay Invitational Art Festival will be held at The Promenade in Bonita Bay on Saturday and Sunday, March 24 and 25. This location on SR 41 was at one time the host of The Bonita Springs National Art Festival. A boutique show produced by Boulderbrook Productions, this event is capped at 39 artists. The festival takes place from noon to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday and from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.

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For rising star Dena Galyean, acting feeds the soul (03-23-18)

Fresh from starring as Nora Helmer in Theatre Conspiracy’s production on Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Dena Galyean kicks back in a simple brown wooden chair on the south porch of Bennett’s Fresh Roast Café in downtown Fort Myers. It’s crisp and cool. Locals might even argue the temps are downright frigid. But a native of the Chicago burbs, Galyean barely notices the folks at adjoining tables shivering beneath sweaters and winter coats.

“This is invigorating,” she proclaims, her lips curling into a satisfied smile.

The actor readily admits that Nora has been her most challenging role to date. When she ticks off the reasons she loves acting, the opportunity to be someone else for a little while figures prominently in the equation. “I like hearing stories, I like sharing stories, and I especially enjoy telling someone else’s stories, embodying that person and giving them a voice,” she says, her big brown eyes twinkling as she sips her coffee.

No surprise, she likes it “bold.”

You’ll find the rest of this profile here.

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‘Mamma Mia!’ at Broadway Palm through April 7 (03-23-18)

Before closing on Broadway in 2015, Mamma Mia! spawned eagerly-anticipated shows in more than 440 cities around the globe. It’s now Fort Myers’ turn. The hit musical is on the main stage of the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre through April 7.

Against the backdrop of music created by ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, the comical storyline revolves around a resort owner by the name of Donna Sheridan and her 20-year-old daughter, Sophie, who is about to get married on a beautiful Greek island. Sophie wants her dad to walk her down the aisle but she doesn’t know who her biological father is. After a hot read of her mother’s diary reveals three candidates, she secretly invites the putative pops to the wedding, forcing her mother into the uncomfortable posture of being suddenly re-united with all three ex-boyfriends on the eve of her daughter’s wedding. What ensues is an enchanting tale of love, laughter, family and friendship set to ABBA classics that include Dancing Queen, Take a Chance on Me, SOS and, of course, the title song Mamma Mia!

Read here for the rest of this announcement.

And for play dates, times and ticket info, read here.

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Church Basement Ladies – and their men – at Off Broadway Palm through April 29 (03-23-18)

What happens when you let not one, but four roosters in a Norwegian Minnesota hen house? Well, you can find out at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre in Rise Up, O Men. The sixth helping from the Church Basement Ladies series, this brand new musical comedy features a handful of the men of East Cornucopia Lutheran Church. It’s in the Off-Broadway Palm through April 29.

You will find the rest of this announcement here.

Read here for play dates, times and ticket information.

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Florida Rep extends ‘Night and Day’ through March 25 (03-23-18)

Florida Repertory Theatre has extended Night and Day: Love Lost and Found through the Eyes of Cole Porter through March 25. The show is being staged in the intimate 115-seat ArtStage Studio Theatre. So make plans now if you want to catch the show before it closes in ten days.

Conceived and directed by Florida Rep Founder and Producing Artistic Director Robert Cacioppo, Night and Day is a thrilling and glamorous revue that tells a story of love lost and love found through the medium of Cole Porter’s masterful lyrics and iconic music. The show features 36 of the most beloved songs our time, including “Anything Goes,” “You’re the Top,” “I’ve Got You Under my Skin” and “Night and Day.” Made famous on film, Broadway, and a recording career that spanned decades, Porter’s songs are some of the most beloved of the 20th century, and in Night and Day they’re used to tell the story of two couples finding, falling in, and falling out of love.

Each of the members of the limited cast is make his/her Florida Rep debut. Dan Fenaughty was last seen in Riverside Theatre’s Mame and the national tour of The 39 Steps. Travis Kent recently appeared on Broadway in Seth Rudetsky’s Disaster! Larissa Klinger comes to Fort Myers after a recent world tour entertaining our troops with the USO Show Troupe and the national tour of The 39 Steps, while Jennifer Lorae joins the cast after recent runs Off-Broadway and in major regional theatres across the country. Paul Gary, a performance intern here at Florida Rep, makes his ArtStage debut as The Butler.

Robert Cacioppo (Too Marvelous for Words, Fascinatin’ Gershwin) leads an expert creative team, including musical director and arranger Victoria Casella (Fascinatin’ Gershwin), ensemble member, choreographer, and co-creator Arthur D’Alessio (Too Marvelous for Words), set designer Jordan Moore (Shear Madness); costume designer Charlene Gross (Outside Mullingar), sound designer John Kiselica (Disgraced) and ensemble manager Amy Massari (Sylvia).

Night and Day is playing in the ArtStage Studio Theatre through March 11, 2018. Performances are Tuesday-Saturday evenings, with 2:00 p.m. matinees on Thursday, Sunday and selected Saturdays. New for the 2017-2018 Season, weeknight performances (Tues.-Thurs.) begin at 7:00 p.m. Weekend evening performances remain at 8:00 p.m.

Priced at $55 and $35 for previews, single tickets are now on sale through the box office at 239-332-4488 and online at www.floridarep.org. Subscriptions for the 2017-2018 season offer the best seats and the biggest savings, and packages start as low as $150 for 6 plays. Florida Repertory Theatre performs in the Historic Arcade Theatre and the ArtStage Studio Theatre on Bay St. between Jackson & Hendry with limited free parking in the Fort Myers River District.

Visit Florida Rep online at FloridaRep.org, and by following the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Women are the heroes in ‘She Kills Monsters’ at FSW (03-23-18)

Opening Thursday, March 29 is She Kills Monsters, Florida SouthWestern State College Theatre Program’s spring production.

When oh-so-average Agnes finds a “Dungeons and Dragons” notebook that her deceased, super geeky little sister left behind, her whole world starts to change! Qui Nguyen’s hysterical romp through 90’s pop culture is a perfect mix of heart, hilarity, and hope for the geek in all of us!

This play has love, broadswords, and, of course, a dragon waiting in the shadows.

You will find the rest of this announcement here.

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Ghostbird to produce Samuel Beckett’s ‘Catastrophe’ as free piece of guerilla theater (03-23-18)

Ghostbird Theatre Company will end its sixth season by producing Samuel Beckett’s Catastrophe as a free piece of guerilla theater on May 4. The exact location and time, however, will not be disclosed until the last minute. So be alert lest you miss this extraordinary theatrical event.

The play involves a limited cast consisting of an actor (the protagonist), who stands motionless on a plinth, and a director, his female assistant and a lighting tech, who mold the abject thespian’s stance, posture and costume to fit their own personal vision and predilections. Ghostbird describes Catastrophe as a comedy “about directing, or more accurately, a play about directorial hell.”

One of Samuel Beckett’s more overtly political works, the play can also be viewed as an allegory on the power of totalitarianism and the struggle to oppose it – with the protagonist metaphorically representing oppressed people worldwide who are ruled by dictators and autocrats and used as mere pawns in the advancement of their personal, socio-economic and political agendas. In fact, Beckett dedicated the Catastrophe to a Czech playwright by the name of Vaclev Havel, who was imprisoned several times for his dissident political views (with the longest occurring from May of 1979 to February of 1983).

For more, read the rest of this advance here.

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‘Musical Comedy Murders of the 1940s’ on stage at Lab Theater through March 31 (03-23-18)

On stage through March 31 at Laboratory Theater of Florida is John Bishop’s rip-roaring comedy The Musical Comedy Murders of the 1940s. Here’s the set up: The creative team responsible for a recent Broadway flop (in which three chorus girls were murdered by the mysterious “Stage Door Slasher”) assembles for a backer’s audition of their new show at the Westchester estate of a wealthy “angel.” The house is replete with sliding panels, secret passageways and a German maid who is apparently four different people – all of which figure diabolically in the comical mayhem that follows when the infamous “slasher” strikes again. You’ll split a gut even as you try to deduce what’s going on and which of the characters is the infamous Slasher.

For all the details, follow these links:

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Katie Pankow stars in Theatre Conspiracy’s limited run of ‘Grounded’ (03-23-18)

Katie Pankow stars in Theatre Conspiracy’s production of George Brant’s Grounded, which is on stage at the Foulds Theatre stage for a limited engagement March 22-25. This one-woman show targets our assumptions about war, family, and the power of storytelling. Follow these links for all the details about this insightful production:

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A look at the rest of Theatre Conspiracy’s 2017/18 season (03-23-18)

Now’s a good time to look ahead to 2018 to see what Theatre Conspiracy has in store for theater-goers during the remainder of its 2017/18 Season:

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry May 3-5 & 10-12 at 8 p.m. and May 6 & 13 at 2 p.m. Sponsored by: Noreen Raney

A fateful life insurance policy becomes a catalyst that will forever transform the lives of a family living on the South Side of Chicago, as they consider buying a house on the white side of town. Their shared dream of a better life collides with conflicting aspirations, betrayal and racism in this timeless production.

To purchase tickets or for more information, call the box office at 239-939-2787 or visit www.ArtInLee.org/Theatre.

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Eighth Annual Fort Myers Film Festival gets untracked after rad opening night gala (03-22-18)

The 8th annual Fort Myers Film Festival takes place March 21-25, 2018 at various locations throughout Lee County, including the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, Alliance for the Arts, Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, Fort Myers Regional Library and IMAG History & Science Center, with dinners and after-parties at Twisted Vine Bistro, Firestone and other select venues.

Here are links that will tell you about the film and events taking place:

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About the Author

Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.

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This is what’s happening March 22-31, 2018

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