Gulf Coast Life

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.

Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House his administration has taken many steps that critics describe as executive overreach, and many of his executive actions are already being challenged in the courts. So, in an effort to gain perspective on this administration’s approach so far, and how it might impact higher education, we sit down with FGCU President Emeritus, Dr. Mike Martin, to get his views on these times we’re in.

Robert Mnookin has spent his career exploring exactly this conundrum: the ways interpersonal, and geopolitical, disagreements unfold — and how to handle really difficult disagreements mindfully and rationally rather than emotionally and thoughtlessly. He is the Samuel Williston Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School – and he is the author and/or editor of at 10 books, including “Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight” which was published in 2010. It offers practical advice on addressing tough conflicts analytically through examples that range from siblings fighting over an inheritance, to Winston Churchill’s decision to refuse to negotiate with Adolph Hitler.

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 is home to more than 500 nonnative species, more than 50 of which are reptiles. Current monitoring techniques depend on visual surveys by scientists, and this is far from an exact science because reptiles — particularly snakes — are extremely elusive. A new technique being developed by scientists at University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) can identify DNA traces of Burmese pythons — as well as northern African pythons, boa constrictors, and rainbow boas — weeks after they have left an area using soil or water samples.

The United States was founded with three branches of government which were designed to act as checks on each others’ authority, and the role of the head of the Executive Branch — the President — was intended to be that of a head of state who would be a unifying force that stayed above the partisan fray. But the role of the president has changed greatly since George Washington left office, and has evolved to become more of a party head who makes bold promises in order to gain and maintain support for their policy agenda. Our guest says this evolution has not strengthened the United States and in many ways has led to the deeply partisan divide we’re living through right now.

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.

In Bonnie Jo Campbell's latest novel The Waters, three generations of women—a matriarch who concocts healing potions, her daughters who scatter to various points, and her granddaughter, who’s left to care for herself—live alone on an island.

Last July we talked with a woman who was closely following Project 2025 on her Substack “How Project 2025 Will Ruin Your Life.” Andra Watkins is a bestselling author who doesn’t normally follow these kinds of things, but she was raised with a Christian Nationalist worldview and when she started reading through Project 2025 was alarmed by things she found in it that she says align directly with that worldview, which she has long-since left behind. Now that President Trump has returned to the White House, and many of his initial flurry of executive actions align with what’s in Project 2025, we’ve brought her back for a follow up conversation to get her take on what's unfolded so far.

Renowned author, interviewer and photographer Victor Bockris is in Southwest Florida for an ArtSPEAK@FSW lecture and book signing in conjunction with the current exhibition at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery titled “David BRADSHAW & William S. BURROUGHS: Propagation.” Over a career spanning more than half a century Bockris has interviewed and written about icons stretching from the Beat Generation to the 1970s Punk scene. We’ll talk with Bockris about his career, his approach to interviewing and his latest book “The Burroughs-Warhol Connection.”