Tom Hall

The 12th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival is currently under way at the historic Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in downtown Fort Myers. If you missed the opening night gala with a rock-the-house performance by the Calendar Girls, don’t worry! Film Festival Executive Director Eric Raddatz promises that there are still plenty of entertaining fresh indie films to see over the next three days.

Something exciting is happening in Sarasota. Public artworks are cropping everywhere you look and residents and tourists aren’t just taking notice. They’re stopping, engaging, and basking in the ambiance. It's all part of the Sarasota Office of Public Art’s master plan.

Paper Grotto is an art happening that combines sculpture, drawing, video, and live performance this Friday at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center.

Every father's nightmare isn't his daughter's engagement to someone he's never met. It's being asked by his daughter to run interference with his wife about her impending nuptials. That's Gomez Addams predicament in the Addams Family Musical, which Fort Myers Theatre is bringing to Southwest Florida May 6th through the 15th. WGCU's Tom Hall has the story.

According to recent Census data, 34% of Southwest Florida’s population or some 463,000 of our residents are 60 years of age or older. Well, there’s a group of volunteer senior dancers who want you to know that age is just a number. The Calendar Girls are the subject of a new documentary that will be featured in May by the Fort Myers Film Festival, with a sneak preview April 22 at the Edison Ford Winter Estates.

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.”

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.