Search results for

Multi-award-winning Blues musician, songwriter, painter, and craftsman James “Super Chikan” Johnson visited Florida Gulf Coast University this past spring to speak to students and make a couple of performances at Artis-Naples. During his visit he stopped by the WGCU studios for conversation about his life’s journey through music, his handcrafted instruments made from recycled parts, and how he got his stage name.

The Marco Island Historical Society is hosting a retrospective exhibition of works by Naples-based impressionist painter Paul Arsenault titled, “Reflections of South Florida: A 50-Year Art Adventure,” through Feb. 15, 2025. We listen back to our conversation with Arsenault ahead of the opening reception about his work, his storied career, and his advocacy for protection of our natural world.

Players Circle Theater is mounting a production of playwright Joshua Harmon’s multi-award-winning play “Admissions.” The family drama explores themes of race, diversity and privilege. We explore the play in a conversation with Players Circle Theater’s Bob Cacioppo, Carrie Lund Cacioppo and Harvey Evans.

Laboratory Theater of Florida in Fort Myers announced this month that founding producing artistic director Annette Trossbach is retiring from the theater company. Trossbach reflects back on the triumphs and challenges that have come during her tenure, the theater’s impact on the Southwest Florida community, and highlights some of Lab Theater’s stand-out productions over the years.

Ahead of the final weekend of Florida Repertory Theatre’s production of playwright Steven Dietz’s time travel love story “Bloomsday,” we listen back to our conversation with the playwright recorded on the set of the Florida Rep’s production.

A production of playwright August Wilson’s “Jitney” opens this week at the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers. The play marks the eighth chronological installment in Wilson’s series known as the American Century Cycle. Set in the late 70s, “Jitney” centers on the lives of some unofficial, unlicensed taxi drivers operating in Pittsburgh’s Hill District community, where traditional taxi services wouldn’t go. We take a deeper dive in a conversation with director Sonya McCarter and actor Shontae White.

Florida Repertory Theatre in Fort Myers is mounting a production of playwright Steven Dietz’s time travel love story “Bloomsday.” We feature a conversation with the playwright recorded on the set of the Florida Rep’s production.

The third annual Fringe Fort Myers runs May 29 – June 1, 2025. Ahead of the opening “Flamingle with the Artists” at the Alliance for the Arts, we talk with one of this year’s nine featured performers, Dawn Truax, about her one-woman show “Genius, Madness and Murder: Tales of the Scandalous Family of John Wilkes Booth.”

Composer, performer, author and inventor of the Mutantrumpet, Ben Neill, has written a new book titled “Diffusing Music: Trajectories of Sonic Democratization,” which explores how AI and other technology is transforming how we create and experience sound. He joins us ahead of his concert event, March 27 at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College.

Players Circle Theater is mounting a production of the hilarious and irreverent play “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)” through July 13. The two-act play has three actors covering all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays in just 97 minutes. We take a deeper diver into the show in a conversation with director Ted Wioncek III, and actors AJ Mendini and Steven Kennedy.