The Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe is lifting its voice and singing this Sunday with the arrival of its first annual Juneteenth Arts Festival. Located at the WBTT campus off North Orange, the one-day celebration includes not only a main stage full of the high-energy musical performance that the theater is known for, but also spoken word performances, film screenings, and a walking festival full of local vendors, food trucks and more. “There’s a lot to celebrate,” says Nate Jacobs, founder and artistic director of WBTT, on the creation of the Juneteenth Arts Festival, “and there’s a lot to remember and appreciate.”

Free to attend, the festival begins this Sunday at 1pm, where the WBTT campus will play host to a variety of local and regional black-owned businesses, including self-care shops like KB in Bloom and Lavender Hands Spa, health and fitness brand SWOLL Camp, and food trucks like G’s Southern Kitchen and Nunn Better BBQ & Catering. At the same time, film screenings will begin in both WBTT’s Donnelly Theatre and Howard J. Millman Blackbox Theatre.

In the Donnelly Theatre, audiences will have a chance to see feature-length films, such as Playing Through, the 2022 film about Ann Gregory, the first African American woman to compete in a national USGA championship, and Hidden Gems, a documentary by local filmmaker Marquis Dawsey, highlighting the efforts of black entrepreneurs in the community. “The film counteracts the stereotypes that say black men are not progressive or upwardly bound,” says Jacobs. “All of these guys started from nothing and built businesses in our community.” In a similar vein, there will also be a 1pm showing of This Light of Mine, the PBS documentary about Jacobs and the founding of WBTT itself. Meanwhile, in the blackbox theater, a selection of seven short films from local filmmakers will be shown on rotation, so that audiences can filter in and out on their own time.

But it wouldn’t be a WBTT event without some live performances and that’s where the main stage comes in. The show begins at 1:30pm with movement and dance by Monessa Salley + Natalie Aceves, followed by an official Juneteenth Welcome and remarks at 2pm, and then a musical performance from WBTT’s own Stage of Discovery youth artists. At 4pm, Melanie Lavender, Eric Morris and Whitney Mays take the stage for a trio of spoken word performances, followed by music from former Stage of Discovery artist Astrid McIntyre, and then the show comes to its climax with a mini-concert from the featured artist of the night: R.A.D., a local supergroup comprised of WBTT stars Raleigh Mosely II, Ariel Blue and Derric Gobourne Jr.

And for Jacobs, seeing the festival take shape on the campus and with the community he helped build over so many years only drives home what Juneteenth is all about. “For a black man like me to have a black theater institution downtown in a predominantly white community,” he says, “I stand on the shoulders of people who fought and held up the banners for freedom. There’s a lot to celebrate.” 

Pictured: Raleigh Mosely II, Ariel Blue and Derric Gobourne Jr. of R.A.D. Photo by Sorcha Augustine.

Sarasota Contemporary Dance continues to bring fresh new choreographers to the Sarasota dance floor this weekend with the June performance of its summertime In The Round series. Starting at 7pm in the company’s Rosemary District location, the performance will feature new works-in-progress by three up-and-coming choreographers—Jeanne-Marie Branche, Madeleine Wilcox, and Elizabeth Zuccaro—and give audience members the opportunity to offer their own feedback and opinions on the developing work. SRQ caught up with Branche to talk about the debut of her piece, Causal Nexus.

“I wanted to portray that everyone in this world and this life has an important role,” Branche says. And so she found inspiration for Causal Nexus in, of all things, Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is, in its way, perhaps the simplest formulation of a much grander proposition that Branche truly believes and wants to bring forward in her choreography. “Everyone impacts everyone and everything,” she says. “And everyone matters.”

It's a weighty proposition and an even weightier task to put across in dance what philosophers and theologians have struggled to argue through entire books. But that’s perhaps the benefit of dance: the ability, when done right, to cut through all the words and convey the ineffable through a bend of the leg or tilt of the head. That Branche had less than a week to finalize the choreography, work with the dancers, design the lighting and fit the costumes, certainly doesn’t make the task any easier, but that’s just what a summer intensive is. At least she wasn’t alone.

A strong believer in collaboration, an important part of Branche’s process involves allowing the dancers themselves to have a role in the choreography. After all, everyone matters. Working with six dancers, ages ranging 15-42, she wants each of their personalities to come through, to complement the piece. She’s not looking for that synchronized swimming effect, where the individual is subsumed by the whole and cast like clones, but something more organic and simply human, where variation is not the same as imperfection. “Movement is just even more beautiful when each dancer individualizes the choreography,” Branche says. “And they all created the piece with me.”

After each performance, SCD Artistic Director Leymis Bolaños Wilmott will join the choreographer onstage and lead a discussion about the new work, allowing audience members to chime in on what they felt, what they liked and what they may suggest as an improvement. But even if there is room for improvement, Branche hopes the central message of Causal Nexus shines through.

“Everyone matters,” she says. “And I hope people leave the show translating that into life.”

In The Round: June begins tonight at 7pm at Sarasota Contemporary Dance. A virtual presentation will be available June 19 at 7pm. 

Pictured: Jeanne-Marie Branche.

For ticket information click here

Hope: A Novel by Andrew Ridker impressed me. Let me count the ways:

First, the novel’s plot bloomed like an onion and kept me guessing what direction lay ahead.

Second, Ridker dissects the family of four into a granular life choice saga that even at 432 pages never felt sluggish. For anyone who has ever come to a halt in ife and questioned, ‘how did I get here?’, Ridker shows us the evolution of the characters’ decisions.

Last, while sticking the landing with open ended closures, Ridker finishes with plenty of rich experiences from questions of careers (medical and publishing specifically) and ethical decisions within, sexual preferences, open vs monogamous marriage and generational gaps. Hope: A Novel is a book to be enjoyed by any gender and any age.

Hope: A Novel by Andrew Ridker Publication Date: July 11, 2023 ISBN: 9780593493335.

FST’s next Summer Cabaret is Divas Three, a dynamic music revue featuring four decades of hits by some of music’s most influential women. With songs made famous by Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Carole King, and more, this original revue pays tribute to the artists whose musical impact has earned them the coveted title of “diva.” Created by Nancy Allen Productions, Divas Three begins playing July 11 in FST’s Court Cabaret. Tickets are now on sale at FloridaStudioTheatre.org or at 941.366.9000. 

Pictured: FST cast of Divas Three. Photo courtesy of FST.

Celebrate Father’s Day at Brick’s Smoked Meats with a special treat for Dad on June 18th. Each Dad enjoys a complimentary Draft Beer or House Margarita with their meal. Serving Brunch and Dinner. We will be featuring specially for this occasion, a “Dino Rib”-Brick’s rendition of a slow smoked beef rib sure to satisfy any appetite! Dino Ribs with one house made side for $22.00 Or choose from our extensive menu of smoked and non-smoked meats. Pair it with one of our craft cocktails for an extra special treat. Let Brick’s do the smoking and grilling and let Dad relax and enjoy.

Brick's Smoked Meats, 1528 State St., Sarasota, 941-993-1435. 

Overcoming Fear | Michael Ian Cohen's documentary tackles the issues facing humanity through the eyes of skateboarding enthusiasts across the globe, May/June 2023. 

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