“Red Speedo” is Unforgiving in its Style, and Honest in its Characters

This past weekend was the opening for RED SPEEDO by Lucas Hnath, presented by Ronnie Larson at The Foundry, and directed by Stuart Meltzer. It is a quick 90 minute ride that Hnath has crafted, a morality play set in the world of swimming as Ray, played by Gabriell Salgado, has dedicated his life to the sport and is preparing for the upcoming Olympic qualifier, but it all comes to a possible halt when a cooler full of drugs are found in the swim club refrigerator. Ray tells his coach(Jerry Seeger) they aren’t his, and his brother Peter(Chris Anthony Ferrer) – who has also taken on the role of his manager – voraciously defends him right at the top of the play. That’s how the play starts, with a monologue that doesn’t give you time to sit back as it “drags” on, because it doesn’t. Neither Hnath nor Ferrer give it the chance to. This leads to the rest of the play as to what it means to do good, bad, and if even such a thing exists if we can at least come out happy on the other side.

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Wick Theatre in Boca Raton Casts a Magical Spell with Production of Rodgers & Hammerstein Musical, “Cinderella”

Cinderella, the timeless tale of a raggedy young woman who uses her beauty, brains and magical intervention from a fairy godmother to help snag a handsome prince, is being retold in sophisticated, elegant and high-tech style through Christmas Eve at the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton.

“This is the most complicated and technical show” performed at the Wick since it opened nine years ago, said Marilynn Wick, executive managing producer. She has pulled together a skilled production team and lots of singers, actors and dancers to make the performance move and shine.

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RIVERDANCE 25TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW AT THE BROWARD CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS JANUARY 13 – 15

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – The Bank of America Broadway in Fort Lauderdale series, presenting sponsor Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and Abhann Productions is thrilled to announce that tickets for RIVERDANCE 25TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW go on sale to the public on Friday, December 2 at 10:00 AM. Tickets are available at BrowardCenter.org and Ticketmaster.com, by phone at 954.468.0222 or at the Broward Center’s AutoNation Box Office located at 201 SW Fifth Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL. 33312. Orders for groups of ten (10) or more can be purchased by calling 954.660.6307. Ticket prices start at $30.00*. Tickets will be available for performances January 13 – January 15, 2023.

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Wait, What The Heck Is A Dramaturg

Given that I’m now in the midst of the second production on which I formally occupied the position of “dramaturg,” I couldn’t help but laugh with recognition at a particular exchange I heard during a recent reading of satirical masterwork The Thanksgiving Play, which I attended at Thinking Cap Theatre. 

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NSAL of Florida Announces 2023 Scholarships and Competitions Drama Takes Stage as NSAL National Competition

National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL) of Florida, based in Boca Raton, recently announced their 2023 scholarships and competitions. Applications are now available for outstanding young artists in Florida in the disciplines of music, voice, drama, and visual arts. Every year, the national NSAL organization selects one discipline as the key competition. In 2023, drama will take centerstage, and the local winner will advance to compete in Kentucky for a $15,000 top prize. For applications and deadlines please visit www.nsalflorida.org.

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City Theatre Invites Americans To Take A Lesson From Its Production, “What the Constitution Means to Me,” Opening Dec. 1 At Arsht Center In Miami

As a teenager, Washington state native Heidi Schreck set her sights on learning all she could about the U.S. Constitution. In fact, around age 15, the inquisitive youngster launched a journey to earn her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the U.S. 

Now 51, the woman from Wenatchee who went to the University of Oregon using debate-raised cash and grew up to become a teacher, actress and playwright turned her enthusiastic political learning experience into a humorous, thought-provoking play called What the Constitution Means to Me that has played on and off Broadway. It was nominated for Best Play, and she for Best Actress, in the 73rd Tony Awards, and the show earned a finalist spot for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

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A Rockin’ Trip To Christmas Past In “Million Dollar Quartet Christmas”

Actor’s Playhouse is offering a seasonal twist on the winning formula responsible for the theatre’s two past successful runs of the play Million Dollar Quartet with a production of its spinoff, Million Dollar Quartet Christmas. To those unfamiliar, both the original musical and this holiday variant are fictionalizations of a real-life incident in which four rock and roll music legendsJerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and the one and only Elvis Presley— end up, mostly by happenstance, holding an impromptu jam session that was then recorded by their entrepreneurial manager Sam Phillips.  

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The Season Of Thanks 🤍🍂

It’s that time of year again…

The time of thanks, baking, fall-scented candles, family traditions and dare I say… The start of the Holiday Season! Every November I like to remind myself of all the things I’m thankful for. From things as simple as having food on my plate everyday to the more complex things, like how valuable good health or just being alive is. Whenever I find myself recounting all I have to be thankful for, the list becomes innumerable. Increasing in length from year to year as I grow up and realize just how blessed I truly am. From every lesson learned and all the loss that forced me to take a step forward, to understanding the importance of life with every breathe I take and every. single. thing. in between those big moments is included in my ever-growing list of thankfulness.

A lot has changed since last November. I moved, I became a pet mom, I traveled to new places, tried new foods, increased my responsibilities at work, coped with the death of loved ones and people dying too young, celebrated a new life born being born, and a million other little things.

 

I spent this November as most do… counting down the days until Thanksgiving (kidding, but not really). The month started off pretty calm, considering I was just getting back from my October vacation to Connecticut. The fun quickly picked back up during the first weekend in November when THE Florida State Seminoles destroyed the Miami Hurricanes (rightfully s0) on Miami‘s home field! I didn’t attend the game like I did last year, but watching it with my friends at a bar on TV, decked out in Garnet and Gold, surrounded by die-hard fans was JUST as fulfilling. The next week was followed by some more fun as I attended my first Cole Swindell concert at the Pompano Beach Culture Center, where we had awesome seats and a few too many frozen drinks. The sold-out crowd provided the perfect atmosphere for a Country music concert, whether you know all the words or not!

Cole Swindell Concert

 

Feeling the need to compete with myself on how many activities I can fit into one month, I threw my first Friendsgiving! I have always wanted to host a Thanksgiving, partly due to the fact that my mom has always been the Thanksgiving Host and to create new traditions in my own place. In order to impress the three friends I had over for Friendsgiving, I took a trip to my parents house to steal all of their nice Thanksgiving decor, plates, tablecloths, platters and silverware and then snuck over to my grandmas and stole four chairs from her garage! I have to admit that I am super blessed with the friends I have because everyone who attended Friendsgiving brought more than enough food and drinks, leaving me with one simple task: The Turkey. Making a turkey is not for the faint of heart! Never would I have thought that at 6AM on a Thursday morning I would have to stick my hand inside of a turkey and pull out what they called “gizzards”. Now, I can’t take the credit for this because after one attempt at the aforementioned resulted in me gagging, I had a better idea.  I decided to wake up my boyfriend who was sleeping soundly and had him stick his hand in the turkey and pull out those so-called “gizzards”! Definitely including this on my Thankful list this year. After the hard part was done I baked a really good turkey and we ate less than half of it! The night was full of fun, laughter, drinks, games, delicious food and plenty of gossip!

Friendsgiving!

Fast-forward through a short 2-day work week and we land on Thanksgiving Eve! If you’re part of my generation, Thanksgiving Eve means you’re going out to your hometown bars for the night to be haunted by your middle school and high school past. It’s the most torturous activity but it’s a tradition not to be missed. We know how I spent the night before Thanksgiving, but before the evening fell, I spent all day preparing for Thursday;s meal/ Thursday’s meal. My mom and I attempted new recipes while watching predictable Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel,  reading a new tradition for us! In every year past, my grandma is the one who helps my mom prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve always assisted with a dish or two, but never an entire meal. unfortunately, my Grandma celebrated Thanksgiving in Indiana this year, so I replaced her as my mom’s second hand in the kitchen. Holy crap! Thanksgiving is so much work, but so worth it in the end. As we sat around the table and talked all about memories and what we’re thankful for I couldn’t help but feel so grateful that my parents hard work every year to put on a Holiday, just so others can enjoy.

Only 1/2 table of food…

November ended how it always does for The Callinan family, with my dads birthday! He turned 64 this year, although you wouldn’t know it if I didn’t tell you. Then, because it cant go unmentioned, the FSU football team did what they do best and destroyed yet another enemy, THE FLORIDA GATORS! A great start to a fun month with an even better end…that’s the type of month to be Thankful for.