There has always been something special about a night at the ballpark. It’s not just the smells wafting from the concession stands, the energy from the crowd, or even the game being played on the field - but rather all of those things, put together at once that make the night feel significant. They make you feel as if you’re a part of something larger than yourself, an energy, a movement signaling the start of summertime.

This Friday night, be a part of that energy by taking a trip to Ed Smith Stadium, where the Florida Complex League (FCL) Orioles are playing their first night game of the season, starting at 6 pm. Admission is free of charge and fans can stroll through the Left Field Gate thirty minutes before the first pitch. Just as a night at the ballpark signifies the start of summertime, so too does this game mark the beginning of a new chapter for many on the roster. The FCL Orioles are named after their league - the Florida Complex League - which is the rookie-level, or lowest level, of the Minor Leagues. Many on the roster are just beginning their journeys in professional baseball - as no team can have three players with four or more years of minor league experience - and will play out the shortened season in hopes of being called up to the Orioles Low-A affiliate, the Delmarva Shorebirds of the Carolina league. 

This Friday night, Sarasota Contemporary Dance will premiere its final In-Studio Performance of the summer featuring a new work in process titled Los Recuerdos de Mi Casa from Miami-based dancer and choreographer Melissa Cobblah Gutierrez. The company’s In-Studio performance series serves as an incubation platform for artists at various stages of their careers and allows the public to peek inside the artistic process.

Los Recuerdos de Mi Casa is really about exploring the memories I associate with home. For me, much of it revolves around Cuba, where I’m originally from, and all of the different ways my upbringing impacts what I call home - home can have so many different meanings to people, whether it be a place, a person, a memory, or a metaphysical realm,” says Cobblah Gutierrez.

Joining Cobblah Gutierrez in the performance are fellow Miami-based dancers Alina Speaks and Erika Loyola, both of whom Cobblah Gutierrez has worked with in the past. What’s so intriguing about Los Recuerdos de Mi Casa, however, is the fact that the performance is far from a finished product. “Friday night’s performance is the first ever iteration of this work. It’s an opportunity for people to see our artistic process and what we’ve gathered so far,” says Cobblah Gutierrez.

The work draws on themes that Cobblah Gutierrez has explored in her past performances. Born in Cuba, but raised in Ghana and Cape Verde before moving to the United States at age 14, Cobblah Gutierrez has explored her Afro-Cuban identity throughout her career. “Los Recuerdos de Mi Casa is still very much an evolving work, and one that’s been developing for a long time inside of other works that I’ve done,” says Cobblah Gutierrez. “Its purpose, to me, was to continue to excavate my roots - it’s critical for all of us to look back so we can understand who we are and continue to find healing and transformation going forward,” she adds.

Sarasota Contemporary Dance, 1400 Blvd. of the Arts Suite 300, Sarasota. 

Pictured: Miami-based dancer and choreographer Melissa Cobblah Gutierrez. Photo by Nicholas Philips.

For ticket information click here

Avalon will be my go to selection for customers who come into BookStore1 and don’t want anything too dark, but still want higher level vocabulary and ideas.

Zink is an intellectual’s delight, part of the uber smart brat pack made up of Jonathan Franzen and the late great genius David Foster Wallace. To read her, you must be sponge ready, having google to look up obscure phrases, quotes and historical references. As a retired English teacher who misses school, this novel was a joy.

In Avalon, she tackles the life of an abandoned teen living on a sketchy landscaping farm in Southern California. While being emotionally abused by her ‘caretakers’/employer, she fortunately falls in with high schoolers in higher socio-economic status who watch over her and eventually bring her into a more normal fold. But normal is relative, especially in Southern California.

Also well told is a long distance romance that Brandy falls into with Peter, the most Mensa character of all. Zink employs an interesting technique of showing what Brandy does not understand of Peter’s constant references, a rare glimpse at an experience we’ve all had of trying to follow a brilliant person’s lightning fast references.

While the pandemic is never mentioned, the discussions about fascist society, free will, etc. loom large in the subject matter. Zink also writes paradisically descriptive stretches of California State Route 1 including Big Sur, Moss Landing and Point Lobos.

So if you’d like some meat in your reading without angst, check out Nell Zink’s Avalon, available now at BookStore1 or at their online store www.sarasotabooks.com.

Avalon by Nell Zink Publication Date:  May 24, 2022 ISBN #: 9780593534892. 

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Amanda Schlacter, Sandra Musicante, and Lee Gundersheimer, coordinators of the 21st annual Players Centre New Play Festival are pleased to announce the winning play for 2022: Lateral Moves by Cece Dwyer. Lateral Moves is a seductive romantic comedy where artful gamesmanship comes into play as an engaged millennial couple find their respective unattached boomer parents have the upper hand. It is a beach farce mostly set on Nantucket Island, and it will be perfect as a refreshing evening of theatre next summer when it will receive its world premiere production along with our 2021 winner, The Mantle by Jalex Scott.

About the playwright: Originally from Louisville, KY., as a teen, Cece Dwyer danced three seasons with the Louisville Ballet Company. She performed in community theatre, industrial shows, dinner theatre, TV and as lead dancer and featured performer in The Stephen Foster Story. Dwyer went on to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and HB Studio in New York City. There, serendipity stepped in when she met and married Denis and began her role as a mom to daughter Amanda, who is now an awarding-winning TV producer in New York City. Moving to the New Jersey suburbs, Dwyer again performed in community theatre, learning the art of costume and set design along the way. She served on the board of directors and subsequently as president of the board of trustees at The Barn Theatre in Montville, N.J., spanning 25-plus years. After husband Denis retired as a vice president for Metropolitan Life, they moved to Sarasota, Fla., in 2002. As a breast cancer survivor, Dwyer was performing in a one-minute play competition to raise money for breast cancer research when, on a whim, she entered a few plays, and they were winners. In five years, this event raised more than $100,000. Dwyer went on to write much longer plays.  

First 1,000 Days Suncoast is helping baby brains across the region grow and bloom by planting tiny seeds of education through their first and best teacher—their parents. More than 80% of the human brain develops in the first three years of a child’s life. Research shows that children who spend their early years in a language-rich environment with positive, loving interaction with adults have a better chance of being ready for school. How prepared they are for school is increasingly viewed by experts in education and economics as a sign of how prosperous a community will be. Designated as the backbone organization of the First 1,000 Days Suncoast initiative, Sarasota Memorial Hospital Women & Children’s Services piloted a brain development education program at its Sarasota and Venice campuses through generous donations from Sarasota County Libraries and philanthropists. This campaign was inspired by the innovative work done by the Studer Community Institute (SCI) in Pensacola, FL, which has educated more than 18,000 new parents on the benefits of talking, reading, singing, and playing with a baby to boost brain development. Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Sarasota and Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Venice now provide this critical information to parents through a brief video and Baby Steps Book developed by SCI. Since launching the pilot in October 2021, more than 2,700 new parents were educated and sent home with a brain development bag, which includes tools to track development and activities to do with their children.Parent knowledge of the importance of talking to their children, on average, increased from 7.5 to 9.3 on a 10-point scale by watching the brief video before going home with their newborn. After watching the video, parents are encouraged to sign up for The Basics text messaging service, which sends two free age-appropriate developmental tips to parents each week. It also includes a children’s book donated by Sarasota County Libraries. 

To learn more, visit

On Saturday, September 17, 2022 from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. the Sarasota Opera Food and Wine Festival (formerly Taste of Downtown) will take place at Sarasota Opera House after a two-year break. Local restaurants will gather to serve tasty bites, wine, and other treats as a benefit for Sarasota Youth Opera. Throughout the event, there will be performances from the Youth Opera chorus and Sarasota Opera artists, as well as raffles and other activities. Tickets are now available for $75 per person, and can be purchased at www.sarasotaopera.org/foodandwinefest, at the Box Office located at 61 N. Pineapple Avenue, Sarasota, FL 34236, or at (941) 328-1300. All proceeds go to support the Youth Opera program. This season, Sarasota Opera’s signature events are produced by Mary Kenealy Events. Restaurants interested in participating in this event can find registration information at www.sarasotaopera.org/foodandwinefest-registration.