Art

Most folks know Lin-Manuel Miranda as the creator of the 2015 Broadway smash Hamilton, which won 11 Tony Awards. When the show came to the Barbara B Mann Performing Arts Hall for a two-week run in 2020, the demand for tickets was so great that the producer held a lottery two days prior to each performance where lucky theater-goers could win a ticket for the rock-vottom price of just $10. And now, Will Prather and Prather Entertainment have brought another of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway hits to Southwest Florida - In the Heights. And WGCU's Tom Hall predicts this one is going to play to sold out audiences too.

Head over Heels opens at New Phoenix Theatre on McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers on April 7th. The musical production is a resounding rejection of the divisiveness of the Don’t Say Gay Bill that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law on March 28th - as Director Scott Carpenter makes abundantly clear: “When we picked this show the political climate was not quite this rancid regarding the LBGTQ community and transgender. Right now, with the Governor signing the bill into law, the Don’t Say Gay Bill, I think it’s extremely important that we’re doing this show right now. Not only are we saying gay, we’re singing it out loud to everybody with the music of the Go-Gos.”

A conversation with the Baker Museum at Artis-Naples Director Courtney McNeil about new complimentary exhibitions titled, “Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group,” and “Invisible Thread.” Both exhibitions feature works by artists who strive to transcend the physical world and reach a higher spiritual reality through abstraction synesthetic experiences, and metaphorical representation.

This year, the theme of National Women’s History Month is women providing healing, promoting health. Sometimes this occurs within the context of helping survivors end abusive relationships and forge a new life. And that’s the subject of a play opening at The Naples Players on March 30th which WGCU Reporter Tom Hall calls the most consequential show to be produced anywhere in Southwest Florida this theater season.

Playwright Beka Brunstetter’s poignant comedy The Cake recently completed and extended run at The Naples Players. Now it’s Fort Myers’ chance to see what the fuss is all about. There’s a lot in this play for local theater-goers to sink their teeth into.

Art Walks the Runway is a star-studded two-day fashion show that is hosted in one of Southwest Florida’s most picturesque and historic landmarks, the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in the Fort Myers River District. Produced by Melissa DeHaven, this must-see event features the hottest local boutiques and one-of-a-kind couture fashion.

An installation of works by iconic German-American Artist Peter Max titled “The Peter Max Experience,” is now on exhibition at the Mercato in Naples. Ahead of a series of limited engagement gallery receptions this weekend, we explore Peter Max’s work and its lasting impact with Road Show Company North America Director of Traveling Exhibitions Lesley Smith, who is also a noted Peter Max historian and curator.

Now that this year’s Academy Award nominations are out, last year’s best films are attracting a lot of attention. Half were made in legendary filmmaking cities like L.A., New York, Boston and London. The rest were shot in nontraditional locations such as Norway, New Zealand, Hiroshima and Buffalo. Now, there’s an intrepid group of filmmakers here in Southwest Florida that are bound and determined to add Naples, Florida to the list of places where great films are made.

We speak with Southwest Florida-based visual artist Patricia Turner who conceived of a trio of art exhibitions opening Friday at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in downtown Fort Myers. All the exhibitions include art about women, all by women artists.

A design by multimedia artist Cecilia Lueza that embodies the concepts of dreams, hope and civil rights will be constructed at the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Veronica S. Shoemaker Boulevards.