The Hermitage Artist Retreat Announces Upcoming Programs: February Through Early March

January 27, 2021 – Sarasota

The Hermitage Artist Retreat’s 2021 winter season includes a variety of community programs featuring Hermitage artists-in-residence and Fellows who present performances and conversations about their works-in-progress and offering insight into their creative process. Registration is required for each event—and is now available on the Hermitage website at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

Here’s a quick preview of upcoming events, including new and previously announced programs:

• Friday, January 29, 5 p.m.: “In Conversation with Emily Kaczmarek” Kaczmarek is a Hermitage Fellow and a rising star in film, theater, and television. Her play, Sam & Lizzie, will be presented live on the Hermitage Beach on Saturday, February 13, with two presentations at 5 and 7:30 p.m., in collaboration with Urbanite Theatre Company. In anticipation of these readings, Kaczmarek will be giving a virtual talk on her work and her career. To register for this Zoom presentation, visit HermitageArtistRetreat.org.
  
• NEW! Wednesday, February 3, 4 p.m.: “Writing Under The Banyan Tree with Alex Marzano-Lesnevich.” When we write memoir or autobiographical fiction, our characters are drawn from the people we love – the people we know the best. So why is it that sometimes those characters appear the most ambiguous to our readers? Is it possible that our closeness to these individuals might be the very thing that complicates turning them into effective characters? This workshop will offer techniques for helping render the people you love on the page. Alex Marzano-Lesnevich is the author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir, which received a Lambda Literary Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the Grand Prix des Lectrices ELLE, the Prix des libraires du Quebec, and the Prix France Inter-JDD, an award for one book of any genre in the world. They are a recipient of fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, Yaddo, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and the Maine Arts Commission, as well as a Rona Jaffe Award, Marzano-Lesnevich has written for The New York Times, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Boston Globe, Oxford American, Harper’s, and many other publications. Hermitage campus; 6660 Manasota Key Road, Englewood. Registration required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

• Friday, February 5, 5 p.m.: “An Evening with Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-Winning Playwright David Auburn.” Hermitage Fellow David Auburn will speak about his work and his creative process and may even share from his new work-in-progress. Moderated by Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. This program, which is a collaboration with Florida Studio Theatre, is offered both in-person on the Hermitage beach and via live-stream. Auburn is a playwright, screenwriter, and director. His most recent play, The Adventures of Augie March, based on the Saul Bellow novel, premiered in Chicago in 2019. A new play, Summer, 1976, will premiere in 2021-2. Other plays include Lost Lake, The Columnist and Proof, the latter of which was awarded the 2001 Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award, and New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Hermitage beach; 6660 Manasota Key Road, Englewood; also available via live stream. Registration required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

• Saturday, February 13, 5 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.: “Sam & Lizzie,” by Hermitage Fellow Emily Kaczmarek – Two readings of Sam & Lizzie,” a play by Hermitage Fellow Emily Kaczmarek, will be presented live on the Hermitage beach on Saturday, February 13, with two presentations at 5 and 7:30 p.m., in collaboration with Urbanite Theatre Company. For tickets ($25 for adults; $5 for students), visit HermitageArtistRetreat.org or UrbaniteTheatre.com.

• NEW!!! Friday, February 19, 5 p.m.: “Blank Slate: Pushing Boundaries” featuring Morgan Bassichis and Richard Kennedy. Two Hermitage artists-in-residence—performer, musician, and comedian Morgan Bassichis and multidisciplinary artist, choreographer, and performer Richard Kennedy—will share space on the Hermitage Beach and offer insight into their unique worlds of creative, avant-garde, and unfiltered performance. Morgan Bassichis is a performer who has been called “a tall child or, well, a Big Bird” by The Nation and “fiercely hilarious” by The New Yorker. Recent shows include Nibbling the Hand that Feeds Me (Whitney Museum, NYC, 2019), Klezmer for Beginners (co-created with Ethan Philbrick, Abrons Arts Center, NYC, 2019), Damned If You Duet (The Kitchen, NYC, 2018), More Protest Songs! (Danspace Project, NYC, 2018), and The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions: The Musical (New Museum, NYC, 2017). 

Richard Kennedy is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working between Berlin and Brooklyn. He has choreographed for SSION & Chino Amobi and has collaborated on projects with NOWNESS, Nicopanda, and Hercules & Love Affair. Hermitage beach, 6660 Manasota Key Road, Englewood. Registration required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

Wednesday, February 24, evening: “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” continues with cellist Dorothy Lawson (in collaboration with Selby Gardens’ “Lichtenstein Nights”). Acclaimed cellist, member of ETHEL, and Hermitage Fellow Dorothy Lawson will share her music as part of this special “Lichtenstein Nights” evening. Lawson is a founding member and artistic director, of ETHEL, one of America’s most adventurous string quartets. She has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the White Oak Dance Project, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and numerous new music ensembles. Selby Gardens, 1534 Mound St, Sarasota. Tickets (prices varied) are available at https://selby.org/dsc/dsc-special-events/lichtenstein-nights/. Additional information is available at HermitageArtistRetreat.org. Dorothy Lawson’s Hermitage artist residency is sponsored by Dr. Susan M. Brainerd & Alan R. Quinby

• Wednesday, March 3, Evening: “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” continues with cellist Dorothy Lawson (in collaboration with Selby Gardens “Performances at the Point”). Acclaimed cellist, member of ETHEL, and Hermitage Fellow Dorothy Lawson will share her music as part of this special “Performances at the Point” evening. Lawson is a founding member and artistic director, of ETHEL, one of America’s most adventurous string quartets. Lawson has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the White Oak Dance Project, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and numerous new music ensembles. Tickets (prices varied) are available at https://selby.org/dsc/dsc-special-events/performances-at-the-point/. Historic Spanish Point, 337 North Tamiami Trail, Osprey. Additional information is available at HermitageArtistRetreat.org. Dorothy Lawson’s Hermitage artist residency is sponsored by Dr. Susan M. Brainerd & Alan R. Quinby

Registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org. All live events will be held outdoors, and capacity will be limited to accommodate safe social distancing. Early reservations are recommended. Masks are requested and strongly encouraged for all live programs. To accommodate capacity restrictions, social-distancing measures, and virtual licensing costs, a $5 per person registration fee will be added for most events (except where other pricing is indicated above as part of collaborative partnerships).

About the Hermitage Artist Retreat: 
The Hermitage is a nonprofit artist retreat located in Manasota Key, Florida, inviting accomplished artists across multiple disciplines for residencies on its beachfront campus, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Hermitage artists are invited to interact with the local community, reaching thousands of Gulf Coast residents and visitors each year with unique and inspiring programs. Hermitage Fellows have included twelve Pulitzer Prize winners, along with multiple Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and MacArthur Fellowship award winners. Works created at this beachside retreat by a diverse group of Hermitage alumni have gone on to renowned theaters, concert halls, and galleries throughout the world. Each year, the Hermitage awards the $30,000 Hermitage Greenfield Prize for a new work of art, and the Aspen Music Festival awards the annual Hermitage Prize in Composition. For more information about The Hermitage Artist Retreat, visit HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

The Hermitage is supported by:
Hermitage programs are supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts; by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Revenues; and by the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council of Arts and Culture and the State of Florida (Section 286.25 Florida Statutes), as well as the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.