Lust for Love Dominates in 'Venus in Fur'

"Venus in Fur" playing at the Historic Asolo Rep Theatre, explores who has the power in love and sex.

While some relationships are built around who wears the pants, Venus in Fur asks who takes off the pants and has the whips, chains and handcuff collection. The play at the Historic Asolo Theater rips through with high energy in an hour and 45 minutes exploring the tale of a flighty actress on an audition for a play in front of the playwright. That play within this play is an adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's 1870 novel Venus in Fur, containing plenty of sexual themes. Heck, this is where masochism comes from, as the characters explain, so you know you're in for a ride.  Sarah Nealis plays Vanda, dropping more F bombs in her opening scene than a Scarface scene, as she is flustered that she is late for her audition, but the character…

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Asolo's 'Clybourne Park' As Much About Grief As Racism

"Clybourne Park" is staged at the Asolo Repertory Theatre through May 2.

Sarasota audiences may come to see Clybourne Park for the discussion on race, but do not ignore the depression of a grieving father. The play staged at Asolo Rep confronts racism and embracing differences in a real way in two very different times—the 1950s and 2009. It runs through May 2 with special programs scheduled on select dates (see below). Tickets range from $20 to $72. Clybourne Park follows the story of a family in suburban Chicago that sold their home in the 1950s. But Russ and his wife Bev catch hell from the neighbors because they ended up selling the home to a black family in an all-white neighborhood. The story continues in the same home during the second act when we're brought to 2009 with a young black couple making sure …

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Salty Language Doesn't Spoil 'Glengarry Glen Ross'

"Glengarry Glen Ross" is now playing at Asolo Reporatory Theatre.

A—Always B—Be C—Cursing Always, Be, Cursing—it's what makes Glengarry Glenn Ross bring out the old boys' club atmosphere of land sharks that eat each other alive, looking for the next sale, in for the kill. It's meant to convey the intensity in both the original play and the movie, which brings out a darkness, or sinister attitude. At Asolo Rep, the audience might brush all the repeated language off and find the comedy in the desperate situation these salesman find themselves in. It's hard to quote the play given every type of curse—creative to old standbys—are in there. For the Asolo production, the F Bombs every which way sprinkled in with some S Bombs and even the F This S and the C word, the delivery of those lines seemed more …

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Weekend Things To Do

'Glengarry Glen Ross' Opens At Asolo Rep

Weekend Events: Glengarry Glen Ross | Florida Fantastica | Art Uptown | ArtMuse | Tampa Bay Lightning Training Camp

1. Greed and capitalism takes the stage at Asolo Rep this weekend with Glengarry Glen Ross. The show opens Friday at 8 p.m. and is directed by Carl Forsman, dean of the University of North Carolina School for the Arts. The show runs through Feb. 28.  The play contains strong language and 30 minutes before each performance, Asolo staff members will host a talk on the mezzanine about the language the playwright employs and aims to put the language in perspective for audiences. The next show after Friday's opener is a 2 p.m. matinee on Jan. 20. Tickets range from $20 to $72. For more, call 941-351-8000 or visit www.asolorep.org. 2. Selby Gardens' newest exhibit Florida Fantastica opens today from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The exhibit features …

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'You Can't Take It With You' But You Sure Can Enjoy It

Timeless play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart on stage now at Asolo Rep.

If you flip on the TV to the cable news channels, it's amazing you're not on the floor crying sometimes at the doom and gloom about the economy, unemployment and war. Instead we forge on. Some of us may stress trying to make ends meet, others are in a position to just cut costs on others to make their profits in line with what they want, and then there are timeless families like the Vanderhofs and Sycamores in "You Can't Take It With You" who like to enjoy the ride and stir the pot as the country itself is going to a different kind of pot. The 1937 Pulitzer Prize-winning play is being staged now at Asolo Repertory Theatre through April 20 as part of the theater's American Character season series. It's an uplifting play that helps serve as …

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Suggested Arts Pairing: Asolo's '1776' with Spielberg's 'Lincoln'

See both "1776" and the movie "Lincoln" for a complementary look at how the debate over slavery both divided and united a nation twice.

When art and history collide, it's spectacular, and the timing is just right with Asolo Rep's production of "1776" and Stephen Spielberg's "Lincoln" playing in movie theaters now. (Almost perfect timing, in fact, given how Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving as a national holiday.) In "1776" we're left to explore the mind of John Adams and the words of Thomas Jefferson and in Abraham Lincoln we explore the 16th president's handling of a nation in crises.  At the end of both, I'm left with the words of Frank Galati, who directs the Asolo Rep production of "1776.  "Five score years ago, a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation," Galati said. "That's how the 'I Have A Dream Speech' begins, …

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Kathryn Baker

3:21 pm on Monday, November 26, 2012

We saw Spielberg's Lincoln a few days ago. It is a magnificent movie. You feel as though you are right there back in history. All of the actors are wonderful. The quality of the movie is superb. I would recommend this movie to everyone and I think it should be required viewing in our public schools.   more ›

Asolo Rep Opens Season With '1776' (VIDEO)

Sarasota resident and Tony Award-winner Frank Galati will direct the Asolo Rep production with his longtime partner and choreographer Peter Amster.

Successful Broadway plays often have revivals, but perhaps no other Tony Award-winning musical has flew under the radar as much as 1776. Asolo Reperatory Theatre placed itself in the best position to pull off this updated production of 1776 with Sarasota resident and Tony Award-winning director Frank Galati who is teaming up with his longtime partner Peter Amster, a choreographer who was a part of the first national tour of 1776. (It's also the first time the two worked together in years.) "Forty-three years after opening on Broadway, 1776 remains a one-of-a-kind work of sophistication without irony, corn without camp and history without apology," Galati. "Today, the show reintroduces our Asolo Rep audiences to our Founding Fathers and …

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Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson Roll Through Main Street

Hear ye, hear ye, the Delegates from Asolo Rep's "1776" have arrived.

Main Street Sarasota may be more familiar with Sam Adams, but Thursday afternoon John Adams made his presence known downtown. John Adams, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson made their way through Main Street Thursday afternoon by horse-drawn carriage to promote the Asolo Repertory Theatre's production of "1776" directed by Tony Award-winning Frank Galati. The play runs from Nov. 16 to Dec. 22 with previews Nov. 13-15. Tickets cost: The musical history play follows the creation of our nation through powerful drama and comedy. The delegates, as they were called, were led by horses Beth and Jackie thanks to carriage driver Peggy Creadon of Sunshine Carriages of Sarasota. Franklin is portrayd by Andrew Boyer; Jefferson by Brandon Dahlquist and …

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Hot Lips Houlihan Visits Mote Aquarium

Emmy Award-winning actress Loretta Swit, who's starring in a Asolo Rep production of "Love, Loss and What I Wore," visited Edna the sick dolphin.

She played a nurse on TV and checked in on how the ones in real life are helping Edna the sick dolphin at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium. Loretta Swit, an Emmy Award-winning TV and theater actress — famed for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan of “M*A*S*H” — and a passionate animal advocate, toured Mote and its animal hospitals July 2, paying a special visit to the sick dolphin Edna, who remains in critical condition, but is improving. Mote’s leaders, scientists and animal care professionals said they were honored to host Swit, and to discuss their shared interests in marine conservation. “What a graceful, gracious lady,” said Mote President and CEO Dr. Kumar Mahadevan, who was thrilled to guide Ms. Swit through the Lab …

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'Love, Loss, and What I Wore' Director 'In Shock' Over Nora Ephron's Death

Karen Carpenter, who recently opened Ephron's play at Asolo Rep, calls the writer "a light in our lives."

Nora Ephron, the prolific and insightful writer, producer and director famous for romantic comedies like "When Harry Met Sally," "Sleepless in Seattle," "You've Got Mail" and many others, has died after a battle with leukemia, her family confirmed on Tuesday. She was 71. Ephron's play, "Love, Loss, and What I Wore" is currently in production at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota. Karen Carpenter, the original director who opened the first production of "Love, Loss, and What I Wore" in New York with Ephron and who directed the Sarasota cast, spoke to Patch Wednesday morning about the passing of her friend. "Her warmth and her wit and her wisdom had the power to shed the light on the darkness and help us recognize ourselves," Carpenter said…

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