Year: 2016

DCIM100MEDIADJI_0044.JPG

The Alliance for the Arts is proud to announce the selection of artist Michael Singer for a campus public art project planned for the 2.2 acres along McGregor Boulevard.

Selected from an initial field of 20 artists from across the United States, Michael Singer was ultimately chosen for his vision and approach to the Alliance campus.  The project will focus on area water quality issues, southwest Florida’s history and the unique culture of the surrounding community.  Singer will work collaboratively with the project team to transform the Alliance grounds and retention pond, integrating public art and landscaping with sidewalks, walkways, lighting and signage.  The artwork will serve as a significant landmark gateway to the City of Fort Myers.

Michael Singer has received numerous awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. His works are part of public collections in the United States and abroad, including the Australian National Gallery, Canberra; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Michael Singer’s sculptural gardens and landscapes in the public realm have been noted for their unique regenerative qualities with each project shaped to restore environmental function through the creation of the built work. Among the most recent sculptural gardens is a 40 foot tall Sculptural Biofiltration Wall and aquatic garden created for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The garden filters 100 gallons of water per minute through mechanical and biological filtration systems powered entirely by solar energy.

Singer will join the Alliance project team which includes Lydia Black, CEO/Executive Director, Alliance for the Arts; Barbara Hill, Hill Fine Art Consulting, Inc., Jeffrey Mudgett, Principle, Parker/Mudgett/Smith Architects, Inc.; Jonathan Romine, Owner,  EnSite, Inc.; Michael Sohn, retired CEO.  Funding for this project has been made possible through a matching grant by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and by the Price Foundation, L.A.T. Foundation, and through the generosity of individual donors.

15095636_1282177148470839_4203437065732339073_nTheatre Conspiracy held its New Play Contest Fundraiser on Saturday, Nov. 19 at the Alliance for the Arts. The contest, now in its 18th year, provides opportunity for audiences to get involved with the contest process itself, rather than the end result.

Unlike most new play competitions, Theatre Conspiracy’s contest welcomes works that have been produced before. The three finalists for the 2016-2017 New Play Contest included were selected from over 600 entries across the United States, Canada, Israel, Thailand and England. Finalists included NOLI TIMERE (Don’t Be Afraid) by Jared Michael Delaney, Caesar’s Blood by Rich Rubin, and Highness by Carolyn Kras.

An excerpt from each play was presented as staged readings, without costumes and props. After the conclusion of the final reading, the audience voted on which play they wanted to see, which will be given a full production in May 2017.

The winner of the New Play Contest is NOLI TIMERE (Don’t Be Afraid) by Jared Michael Delaney. NOLI TIMERE (Don’t Be Afraid) tells the story of a newly-ordained priest and his sister are made to confront something from their past that neither is expecting when a strange man knocks on the door of the rectory late one night. A confrontation occurs that leads them both into a frightening world that may, in fact, just be our own.

“The impact of a good script will be felt immediately. I think the audience would agree all three play finalists are worthy of production,” says Theatre Conspiracy Founder and Artistic Director Bill Taylor. “Unfortunately we only pick one winner and we look forward to the production of NOLI TIMERE in May. The script captivates you from the beginning and you’re left wondering what’s coming next.”

strange-arrangementThe Alliance for the Arts hosted  our annual fundraiser Order/Chaos: An Evening on Edge on Saturday, November 12, 2016 at the Alliance campus. Event proceeds provide opportunities for children to participate in the arts, expand collaborations with social service organizations to utilize art therapy, and enhance the quality of life in southwest Florida.

We are a nonprofit dedicated to infusing the southwest Florida community with arts programming through a diverse, innovative and balanced program of performances, events, community building and educational projects that reaches the widest possible audience.

“The funds raised will be an enormous help in our mission to connect people to the arts and to each other,” said Development Director Jessica Clark. “We believe access to arts and cultural experiences should not be limited by geography or economic dispositions.”

Event sponsors include: Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, Kuhn Law Firm P.A., GMA Architects Planners, Rogers Towers Attorneys, Investors’ Security Trust – Charles and Linda Idelson, Tina & Clif Parker, Higginson Tax & Account, LLC, Florida Weekly, Carter Pritchett and Gulfshore Life.

Culinary sponsors include: Prawnbroker, Kelly Greens Golf & Country Club, Mermaid Garden Café, Cristof’s on McGregor, Blu Sushi, and Adirondack Chocolatier.

Order/Chaos also featured installations by Rose Young and Mariapia Malerba.

Thank you ALL! Together we are working hard to make a beautiful arts community.

Theatre Conspiracy presents The Country Wife by William Wycherley, directed by Karen Goldberg. The play opens December 3rd and will run until December 17.

One of the greatest and funniest comedies of the Restoration, The Country Wife tells the story of Horner, a notorious and lascivious man-about-town and his ingenious scheme for the rampant and mass seduction of the women of London society. By spreading the false rumour of his own impotence, he gains the sympathy of the husbands of the town and, more importantly, free access to their wives. Meanwhile the newly-married Pinchwife desperately attempts to keep his naïve country bride from the clutches of predatory London bachelors. When she and Horner meet, events spiral out of his control.

Written and first performed in 1675 by the King’s Company, William Wycherley’s The Country Wife was deemed too controversial for its time and as a consequence was considered too outrageous to be performed. It was kept off the stage and out of print until 1766 when David Garrick’s ‘cleaned-up’ adaptation, The Country Girl, was produced.

“The Country Wife is a classic comedy among the newer plays we have set for the season,” says Taylor. “This bawdy, hilarious, subversive and wickedly satirical comedy features incredible costumes and a talented cast.”

Cast:

  • Stephen Hooper as Doctor Quack
  • Mitch Haley as Harry Horner
  • Elvis Mortley as Sir Jasper Fidget
  • Jim Yarnes as Pinchwife
  • Tom Marsh as Sparkish
  • Juan Alejandro as Harcourt
  • Dena Galyean as Alithea
  • Shelley Sanders as Margery, the Country Wife
  • Cantrella Canady as Lady Fidget
  • Tera Nicole Miller as Squeamish

PURCHASE TICKETS

soco-dec-10-theatre-conspiracyThe SoCo Cultural District and Second Saturday event continues on Saturday, December 10th from 5 pm – 10 pm. This new art district block runs from Colonial Boulevard, down McGregor Boulevard to Royal Palm Square Boulevard, over to Summerlin Road, up to Colonial Boulevard and returning to McGregor Boulevard.  SoCo Second Saturday event features local artists in a night filled with fun, family and artful entertainment.

To date, the December 2016 participating cultural stops are:

  • Alliance for the Arts
  • Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre
  • Catch 22 Sports Bar
  • DAAS CO-OP Art Gallery & Gifts
  • The Union Artist Studios at the Art Loft
  • Ocasiocasa at the Art Loft
  • Luciano Deandrade’s Studio Os Urbanos
  • David Gittleman Studios
  • Yoga Bird

The Alliance for the Arts is one of the headliners in the event. The Alliance Off the Wall: 200 Under $200 exhibit will be on display from 5 PM – 7:30 PM. Coinciding with the onset of the holiday shopping season, this non-traditional art show features works of all mediums priced at $200 or less. All sales are “cash and carry,” meaning purchasers will get to take the piece with them when they buy it, instead of waiting until the end of the exhibit. This exhibit is kindly sponsored by Clif & Tina Parker.

Theatre Conspiracy will present The Country Wife at 8 PM, a classic comedy by William Wycherley. ‘He’s a fool that marries, but he’s a greater fool that does not marry a fool.’ This bawdy, hilarious, subversive and wickedly satirical comedy pokes fun at the humorless, the jealous, and the adulterous alike. It features a country wife, Margery, whose husband believes she is too naive to cuckold him; and Horner, who pretends to be impotent in order to have unrestrained access to the women keen on ‘the sport’. Tickets to this production are $24 for adults, $22 for Alliance for the Arts members, or $11 for students.

Prior to The Country Wife, Theatre Conspiracy will be performing the short one-act play Revenge of the Magi by Jeff Goode at 5:30 PM and 7 PM. These performances are free to attend.

Artists Marilyn Hedlund and Shawn Holiday will demo onsite. Marilyn Hedlund’s impressionist style with acrylics began in Gale Bennett’s classes in Southwest Florida and grew in France at his 2001 Art Study Giverny summer session. Shawn Holiday has been teaching area residents, students and visitors how to make baskets using the spade of the royal palm frond for 10 years.

For a full list of programs and cultural stops, visit www.SoCoSWFL.com.