Arts Bonita

In November, there are 35 shows at art centers from Sarasota to Marco Island.

From Sarasota to Marco Island and Venice and Sanibel to Arcadia and LaBelle, Southwest Florida is home to more than a dozen art centers. Most host visual art exhibitions showcasing member, regional and nationally renowned artists that change every month. In October, there are 30 shows at these venues.

On a fall night in 1958, Nancy Wilson joined friends at a jazz emporium in Columbus, Ohio, to hear an up-and-coming saxophone player by the name of Cannonball Adderley. The willowy singer performed some unrehearsed off-the-cuff tunes with the band. Impressed, three years later Adderley invited her to collaborate with him on an album. It’s the focus of Resident Artist Zach Bartholomew’s jazz concert at Arts Bonita on Oct. 15.

Resident artists Zach Bartholomew and Mark Sanders return with a variety of jazz and cabaret performances. Joining Hotel California, Bee Gees Now and Chicago Transit are new tribute acts Sabbath: Long Live Ozzy, The Brit Pack and Given to Fly. The theatre company brings “Dear Evan Hansen,” “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Oklahoma!” to the stage, along with a staged reading of an original new musical, “Velvet Curtain.” The Bonita Improv Group returns for a third season. And laughs abound with a host of new and returning stand-up comedy acts.

Stuyvesant High School is located three blocks from the World Trade Center. Students and faculty watched the terrorist attacks from the school’s windows, until the smoke cloud from the first tower’s collapse forced their hasty evacuation. On Sept. 11, Elevate Acting Studio will perform monologues students wrote about what they saw and experienced.

In September, there are 26 shows at area art centers.

Among the 28 art exhibits on view in August at area art centers is “Shaping Sarasota: A Century of Art” at Art Center Sarasota – which showcases the artists, volunteers and visionaries who have helped establish Sarasota as one of the leading arts communities in Florida. Also on view is “The Art of Healing: Prescriptions for the Soul” – which will turn the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center’s Grand Atrium into an immersive wellness emporium on August 7 – and “Currents” at BIG ARTS – which will convert the Dunham Family Gallery into a 125-foot-long underwater mural over the next eight weeks.

“It's always fun to see stage magic happening in front of you,” Arts Bonita Producing Artistic Director Joseph Brauer declared. In a musical such as “Frozen,” tech plays an important role in creating a fantastical realm of ice, snow, bitter cold and foggy white-out conditions.

This week, three shows open, three shows close, seven continue their runs and there are two limited engagements at Southwest Florida equity and community theaters.

This week, two shows open, eight continue their runs and there are four limited engagements at Southwest Florida equity and community theaters.