Gulf Coast Life

The Bridging the Gap Center for the Arts will host a murder mystery dinner theater event, April 25th featuring the first public performance of the comedic play “Devil Ain’t Got No Tail in Grandma’s House,” written by Veronica Barber, who is the mother of Bridging the Gap founder and Executive Director Sonya McCarter.

Three women who were all married to murderers become friends and band together to solve a local murder.

Then President Trump recently posted “Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters." Some people believe there is evidence that can be produced that proves the existence of non-human life or intelligence present on planet Earth. Others believe this whole idea is either delusion or misinformation designed to distract.

Patrick Mork has spent more than two decades working in the tech world, building and leading marketing teams at tech startups and helping to launch numerous products and brands across 3 different continents. In 2011, he joined Google and led the team there that created the Google Play brand. But, in 2017, he had a major life crisis that led him to pivot toward coaching and developing leaders in startups across Latin America. He moved to Chile and launched LEAP, it’s a leadership development company. All of that inspired his first book, “Step Back and Leap: 9 Keys to Unlock Your Life and Make Change Happen.” He was on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus last week to give the final talk for the university's Provost's Seminar Series. The title of his talk was “Becoming Unstoppable: 5 Pillars to Build Resilience in the Age of AI.”

Players Circle Theater is putting on a production of the one-woman play “I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti,” based on the bestselling book of the same title by Giulia Melucci. In the show, Giulia regales audiences with tales of her dating life all while actually cooking a three-course meal on stage. We’ll explore the play in conversation with actor Amanda Ladd and director Bob Cacioppo.

Since 1970, the bird populations of North America have experienced a net loss of nearly 3 billion birds, and biologists say we are approaching "tipping points" that could fundamentally alter our ecosystems. More than one-fifth of native North American pollinators are at risk of extinction due to climate change, habitat loss, and pesticide use, including key species like monarch butterflies and various bumble bees that are declining even faster. While these large-scale problems might seem beyond the scope of what an individual can do in their own lives to help, a new campaign from Audubon Western Everglades called “Nature Where We Live” seeks to help people understand that the kinds of plants we use around our homes can make a real difference.

In January of 2023 Governor Ron DeSantis appointed six new trustees at New College of Florida in Sarasota, and they immediately set about to change the state’s public honors college. As this was playing out, a team of filmmakers which included New College alumni were documenting events on campus, from the Board of Trustee meetings to just students spending time on campus. Now, the new documentary film “First They Came for My College” is making the rounds at film festivals. We talk with the film's director and one of its producers.

Laboratory Theater of Florida is performing a provocative reimagining of Shakespeare’s “Julius Ceasar,” set not in ancient Rome, but in the dark parking lot of a derelict apartment building. The show maintains the original Elizabethan language but condenses the play to about 90 minutes. It maintains the iconic monologues and soliloquies in a way that places heavy emphasis on the timeless themes of power, ambition, and betrayal. We’ll take a deeper dive into the production in a conversation with co-directors Alex Dragg and Nykkie Rizley.

We discuss the new novel Ensoulment, the winner of the 2025 Thomas E. Kennedy Novel Award.

Research into the science of kindness in recent decades has moved the conversation from kindness being a "feel-good" sentiment into a rigorous field of study that shows significant physiological and psychological benefits for people who practice it. At the same time, there is a growing global kindness movement comprised of a network of organizations dedicated to highlighting these kinds of benefits, and encouraging ways to embed the practice of kindness into our everyday lives. FGCU's Roots of Compassion & Kindness Center is hosting the first K20 Kindness Summit to kick off the "Kindness Without Borders" initiative.