Arts & Culture

The Fort Myers Symphonic Mastersingers will premiere an extraordinary choral work titled “The Witness: Incidents of the War of the Rebellion.” The work was conceived by the choral group’s artistic director, Matthew Koller, and inspired by the memoir of his great-great, grandfather, James Waxler, about his time serving in the Union army during the American Civil War. The memoir’s message is as cogent today as it was when he wrote it in 1888.

Players Circle Theater is mounting a production of playwright Amy Herzog’s Pulitzer-nominated family drama “4,000 Miles,” about a grieving young man and the bond he develops with his 91-year-old grandmother during an extended stay in her West Village apartment. We’ll delve into the show in a conversation with Players Circle Theater Artistic Director Bob Cacioppo and the stars of the show, actors Carrie Lund Cacioppo and Jameson Stobbe.

Actor, playwright, director and educator Frank Blocker is performing a run of his one-man show “STABILIZED NOT CONTROLLED” this month in the Norris Center Auditorium in Naples. We talk with Blocker about this tour-de-force performance in which he plays all 17 characters.

In a pivotal scene in Cypress Lake High’s production of Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice,” Gabe Cruz and Ella Maas submerge themselves in a black plastic-lined trough of water that represents the Acheron or River of Woe. Then they sprawl, soaking wet, on the stage floor as the story progresses to its conclusion. By the time the play ends, Cruz and Maas are chilled to the bone, proving the adage that artists truly must suffer for their art.

Florida Repertory Theatre in downtown Fort Myers recently announced the line up of shows for their 2026-2027 performance season, including both adult and family-friendly comedies, a psychological thriller, a documentary, and plenty of music. We’ll get a preview of the upcoming 20th season and explore their production of “Little Shop of Horrors” that opens later this month in a conversation with the company’s producing artistic director Greg Longenhagen.

Local residents and tourists have something new to see when visiting Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve: 28 photos that won awards in the 2026 Friends Photo Contest are now on display in the Slough’s Interpretive Center.

The Cape Arts Network (CAN) officially launched on Feb. 13, 2026, as an independent community-based organization with a mission to uplift, support, and foster long-term growth of the arts and culture sector in Cape Coral. We hear from founding President Amy Ginsburg and founding Treasurer David Acevedo.

Players Circle Theater is adding additional performances of “Over the Taven” due to overwhelming demand. At the same time, the theater company is preparing for the next production of its seventh season: Amy Herzog’s contemporary family drama “4,000 Miles.” We’ll explore both shows, plus more on the horizon from Players Circle Theater.

Three outdoor art fairs take place in Southwest Florida over Valentine’s Day weekend: the 20th Annual Coconut Point Art Festival in Estero, the 43rd Annual Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club Arts & Crafts Festival on the grounds of the Sanibel Community House and the inaugural Wellen Park Fine Arts Festival in Venice.

In collaboration with Theatre Conspiracy, the Laboratory Theater of Florida’s 17th season continues with performances beginning next week of August Wilson’s realist drama “Two Trains Running.” We’ll explore the production and the play’s broader themes of racial and economic injustice, memory, history and reckoning in a conversation with director Sonya McCarter and assistant director Shontae White.