Community Calendar

Monsters of the American Cinema by Christian St. Croix.

Remy Washington, a Black man and widower, has inherited both a drive-in movie theater and the responsibility of raising Pup, his late husband’s straight, white teenage son. The two forge a strong bond around a shared love of classic American monster movies, but when Remy discovers Pup has been tormenting a gay classmate, their relationship begins to fracture, and the real horrors surface.

Beneath the flickering glow of the drive-in screen, Monsters of the American Cinema becomes a haunting, funny, and unexpectedly tender tale of fatherhood and loss that the Los Angeles Times hails as “exhilarating.”

Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
(October 31 - November 15, 2025)
Duplicity, disguises, and delightful deception in 18th century Naples.
Così fan tutte, or The School for Lovers, follows the story of two naive young soldiers who prank their brides-to-be to test their faithfulness. But the sisters to whom they are betrothed have plans of their own. Find out who ends up schooling whom in Mozart's delightful comedy with a masterful score.

Performance Dates & Times:
Friday, October 31, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 2, 2025 at 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, November 11, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, November 13, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 1:30 p.m.

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (WBTT) is pleased to announce the first show in its 2025-2026 “Soul Of A People” theatre season: “Purlie.” The production runs from October 8 through November 9, 2025 in The Donelly Theatre of WBTT (1012 N. Orange Ave., Sarasota). In this fun-loving musical, a dynamic traveling preacher, Purlie Victorious Judson, returns to his small Georgia town – still enmeshed in Jim Crow times – to shake things up and change lives. The self-taught preacher plans to open an abandoned church and ring the bell of freedom. The Tony Award-winning play made its Broadway debut in 1970 at the Broadway Theatre before transferring to the Winter Garden Theatre, completing its 688-performance run at the ANTA Playhouse. The musical is based on Ossie Davis’s 1961 play, “Purlie Victorious.“ The play explores themes of race, injustice, community, and the struggle for freedom and equality in the American South. The original Broadway show starred Cleavon Little and Melba Moore, who both won Tony and Drama Desk Awards for their portrayals of Purlie and Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, respectively. The play was revived on Broadway in 2023 to critical acclaim. Performances take place Tuesdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. with matinees Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Individual tickets are $54/adults, $24/students (25 and under) and active military, and $44/adults for preview shows (first three nights of the run). Visit westcoastblacktheatre.org or call the Box Office (941-366-1505) for tickets.

Go nose to nose with Big John, the World’s Largest Triceratops, in an immersive and playful dinosaur exhibit at the Glazer Children’s Museum in Downtown Tampa. Whether you have a child at home or not, all are welcome to visit this colossal exhibit, 66 million years in the making.

La Grande Illusion is a major exhibition of works by internationally acclaimed artist, Brian Maguire. The exhibition spans two decades of work that spotlights the artist’s lifelong quest to draw attention to global injustices, war, and human rights. One of Ireland's leading cultural figures, Maguire has turned the practice and tradition of painting into acts of visual testimony. Maguire’s paintings are global in scope and are derived from projects undertaken between 2007 and 2024 in Mexico, the Mediterranean, Syria, Sudan, the United States, and the Amazon. Maguire's artworks are painted from direct experience and involve the artist spending extensive time on the ground with the communities that welcome him. The results are, plainly put, paintings that visualize the commonality of human suffering and dramatize the plight of people in need.

New works by Selina Román blend photography, abstraction, and self-portraiture to explore themes of beauty and the politics of size in Selina Román: Abstract Corpulence. Roman’s photographs feature tightly cropped images of the artist’s own body, boldly occupying the full composition and extending past the boundaries of each frame. Pastel bodysuits and tights transform the artist’s flesh into new, gently rolling landscapes as amorphous shapes converge to create modernist-inspired compositions. At this scale, Roman’s tightly cropped portrayals of stomachs, thighs, and hips become formal studies of line, shape and color, asking viewers to consider the human form from a point of true abstraction. The softly hued palette created by the artist’s bodysuits lends itself to narratives around the aesthetics of femininity. Displayed as a colorful never-before-seen installation, Roman’s photographs transform the gallery into a space of quiet resistance, subverting traditional ideas of feminine beauty.

Selina Román: Abstract Corpulence is organized by Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design and curated by Rangsook Yoon, senior curator at Sarasota Art Museum.

Image credit: Selina Román (American, 1978). Blockhead 1, 2025. Dye sublimation on aluminum, 40 x 50 in. Courtesy of the artist.

Sarasota Art Museum shines a spotlight on Art Deco as the artform celebrates its centennial anniversary. Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration showcases 100 rare posters from the Crouse Collection created by some of the world’s earliest master graphic designers during the 1920s and 1930s.

During the 1920s, a bold new artistic style roared to life: Art Deco. This exciting, dramatic, and glamorous new genre bid farewell to the soft, organic forms of Art Nouveau and soon took the world by storm. One of Art Deco’s most significant contributions was the art of printed graphics, giving birth to the disciplines of illustration and typography that permeate our world today.

Featuring subjects ranging from automobiles, airlines, and ocean liners to drinks and tobacco, the works represented in Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration celebrate modernity, dynamism, and luxury—the dreams and desires of the turbulent early twentieth century.

In addition to the iconic posters, Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration conjures the era’s design aesthetic with selected sculptural works and cocktail shakers from the Crouse Collection, and Art Deco furniture pieces on loan from the Wolfsonian Museum at Florida International University in Miami.

Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration is organized by Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design and curated by Rangsook Yoon, senior curator at Sarasota Art Museum.

Image credit: Installation view of Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration at Sarasota Art Museum, Sarasota, Florida, 2025. Photo: Ryan Gamma.

USF’s world-renowned print atelier proudly presents a temporary exhibition in its main gallery celebrating the rich legacy of women artists who have collaborated with Graphicstudio over the decades. Showcasing the work of ten influential artists from the studio’s history—Diana Al-Hadid, Trisha Brown, Elisabeth Condon, Lesley Dill, Nancy Graves, Iva Gueorguieva, Graciela Iturbide, Mernet Larsen, Andrea Modica, and Janina Tschäpe—the exhibition highlights the remarkable diversity and innovation these women bring to the field of contemporary art.

Spanning a wide range of artistic practices, the featured works explore the boundaries of printmaking through experimental techniques that merge photography, sculpture, and mixed media assemblage. Together, they reflect the dynamic and evolving role of women in the printmaking tradition and the enduring creative impact of Graphicstudio’s collaborative model.

Graphicstudio is open to the public Monday through Friday, 10 am to 4 pm. Free parking is easily available for visitors. Closed on the weekends and USF holidays: November 11, 27 and 28, December 22 through January 2, and January 19.

Pangarap: Espero Reimagined transforms The Maitland Art Center gallery into a canvas of speculative storytelling under Filipino artist Isobel Francisco. Inspired by Jules André Smith’s decision to establish an artist colony in Florida, Francisco envisions an alternate reality where this decision leads to 1937 Philippines. The exhibition features fictional artifacts and artworks to encourage viewers to explore the parallels and contrasts between this imagined scenario and the museum’s history. 'Pangarap,' meaning dream or vision in Filipino, invites audiences to reflect on the cultural impact of one artist’s decision in 1937 and beyond.

Learn, Tour & Share

Bring your senior group for a tour of 1890s rural Florida history! This program offers a unique opportunity for adults ages 60+ to enjoy an interactive tour of the museum and grounds. Visit historic homes and structures authentic to turn-of-the-20th-century Florida, including the Okahumpka Train Depot, Terry General Store, Castalia School House and more.

Advanced ticket purchase required.

https://www.crackercountry.org/events/grandminds-nov142025