Category: Artist Community

Ringling College Transfers Ownership of Englewood Art Center to the Hermitage Artist Retreat

Ringling College of Art and Design (Dr. Larry Thompson, President) and The Hermitage Artist Retreat (Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO) announced today that Ringling College has transferred ownership of the former Englewood Art Center to the Hermitage, a fellow nonprofit organization and a leading national arts incubator based in Englewood. The center is located directly across Lemon Bay and just a ten-minute drive from the Hermitage’s existing home on Manasota Key.

For more than 50 years, the nonprofit organization that became the Englewood Art Center (EAC) served as a creative hub for artists and art enthusiasts in south Sarasota County, Charlotte County, and coastal Lee County. Ringling College assumed ownership of the EAC in 2008 from the original Englewood Art Center organization. Following a strategic decision made by Ringling College to consolidate its community-facing arts programming at the College’s Museum Campus, the EAC permanently closed its doors on May 3, 2025.

The board and leadership of Ringling College are pleased to transition the EAC facility to a fellow cultural nonprofit. The Hermitage and Ringling College notably collaborated on two Hermitage alumni artist exhibitions at Sarasota Art Museum: Impact: Contemporary Artists at the Hermitage Artist Retreat and The Truth of the Night Sky.

“Ringling College has maintained a close relationship with the Hermitage over the years and thus was a natural and deserving successor of the space,” said Dr. Larry R. Thompson, President of Ringling College of Art and Design. “The Englewood Art Center played a pivotal role in the local arts offerings, and it was a difficult decision for the College to close its doors. We are pleased the Hermitage can now step in and continue enriching the community with programming for the foreseeable future.”

“We are deeply grateful to Dr. Thompson and the Board of Ringling College for entrusting the Hermitage with this vital cultural asset,” said Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat. “The college has maintained the property with the highest standard of care for seventeen years, and we look forward to preserving and activating this unique facility for many decades to come. This acquisition allows us to dream bigger and to expand our impact in both the local and global arts ecosystems.”

The Hermitage Englewood Art Center property spans two acres of land and includes two primary buildings totaling 10,000 square feet. The Hermitage intends to make use of this facility as a multidisciplinary arts center in furtherance of its mission: to inspire and foster the most influential and culturally consequential art and artists of our time. To that end, the Hermitage plans to activate the EAC as extended space for visual art installation and its celebrated public programming, spanning music, theater, visual art, literature, dance, and more.

The Hermitage anticipates that there will be some changes to the use and operations of the facility, and the long-term strategic planning for the future of the facility is still in process. Over the coming months, the Hermitage intends to engage in further dialogue with constituents in the Englewood community as plans take shape.

“We want to ensure that we are taking the time needed to thoughtfully activate this invaluable space in the way that best meets the needs of our community while also advancing our mission,” added Sandberg. “Englewood is our home, and our sincere hope is that the Hermitage’s stewardship of this unique cultural facility will allow us to more deeply engage members of the Englewood community and beyond.”

“This is incredible news for Englewood,” added Leslie Dignam, who served as President of the former Englewood Art Center for many years and is now a member of the Hermitage Board of Trustees, where she also previously served as President. The Dignam family spans four generations in Englewood and has played a meaningful role in the growth of both the Hermitage and the EAC. “When Ringling College announced its plans to discontinue operations, the Hermitage became the clear option to take the helm. Knowing that Hermitage will be stewarding this community asset under Andy Sandberg’s visionary leadership is truly a cause for celebration.”

Beyond the public-facing programs intended to enrich the community, this facility will provide meaningful studio and gallery space for the Hermitage’s renowned artist-in-residence program. Each year, generative artists, writers, and performers are invited by nomination to enjoy multi-week residencies on Englewood’s Manasota Key, where they receive the gift of time and space in an inspirational setting to develop new works of theater, music, visual art, literature, dance, and more. These artists are invited to share their work and their talents with the public, offering a rare glimpse into the creative process.

This news comes on the heels of the Hermitage receiving a $12,000,000 gift of land and property on Manasota Key, one of the largest land gifts of its kind to a nonprofit arts organization. Located less than half a mile from the Hermitage’s existing home on Manasota Key, this generous gift from the Morrison and Steans more than doubles the Hermitage’s capacity for its celebrated artist residency program. The Gulf-to-Bay property spans 6.5 acres of land and is comprised of five main structures. These buildings provide additional accommodations for the nonprofit’s renowned artist-in-residence program. The Hermitage emphasizes that the recent acquisitions of both the South Residences on Manasota Key and the Englewood Art Center are expansions, not replacements. The 501(c)(3) organization has no intention of abandoning its original Manasota Key home, where the Hermitage has a lease with Sarasota County that currently allows for extensions up through 2055. These new property acquisitions are intended to broaden the reach and impact of the nonprofit’s mission and programming.

The 850 artists the Hermitage has served includes 18 Pulitzer Prize winners, Poets Laureate, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellows, and multiple Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar winners and nominees.

“As an artist forever grateful to and fully committed to the mission of the Hermitage, I am very excited about the Englewood Art Center coming under its auspices,” notes acclaimed visual and installation artist Anne Patterson. Patterson’s work developed at the Hermitage has been exhibited in Sarasota at The Ringling Museum of Art and most recently in a Hermitage collaboration at Ringling College’s Sarasota Art Museum with The Truth of the Night Sky. “It is thrilling to imagine all the engaging and exquisite artistry and inspired creativity that will fill this center. While this will obviously enhance the artistic impact for the local community in Englewood and Sarasota, the works of art and performance created here will also influence the wider artistic world.”

“The Hermitage is a visionary leader in the arts world and invaluable player in our cultural landscape,” added internationally acclaimed artist and Hermitage Curatorial Council member Sanford Biggers, an early recipient of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize whose work was recently exhibited in Sarasota Art Museum’s Impact: Contemporary Artists at the Hermitage Artist Retreat. “This generous gift from Ringling College will allow the Hermitage and its cohort of extraordinary artists to achieve their greatest potential while giving back to the community in a deeply meaningful way.”

Ringling College of Art and Design is a global thought leader in educating emerging artists and designers across multiple disciplines, including the business of art and design, computer animation, creative writing, film, fine arts, graphic and motion design, virtual reality, and more. Alumni of Ringling College have gone on to work with industry giants including Disney, DreamWorks, NASA, Pixar, Netflix, Nickelodeon, and the NFL. Students and graduates have been hugely successful, receiving multiple Student Academy Awards, Oscars, Emmys, Annies, ADDY and Telly Awards, and showing in exhibitions across the country. The College is also the home of the Sarasota Art Museum (SAM), the city’s only museum dedicated exclusively to modern and contemporary art. Ringling College’s Museum Campus features three state-of-the-art studios where SAM hosts classes in ceramics, drawing, painting, and mixed media; several of the courses provided were transferred from previous offerings at the EAC.

A leading national arts incubator, the Hermitage is the only major arts organization in Florida exclusively committed to supporting the development and creation of new work across all artistic disciplines. The Hermitage hosts artists on its Gulf Coast Manasota Key campus for multi-week residencies, where diverse and accomplished artists from around the world and across multiple disciplines create and develop new works of theater, music, visual art, literature, dance, film, and more. As part of their residencies, Hermitage Fellows participate in free year-round community programs, offering audiences in the region a unique opportunity to engage with some of the world’s leading artists and to get an authentic “sneak peek” into extraordinary projects and artistic minds before their works go on to major galleries, concert halls, theaters, and museums around the world. These free and innovative programs include performances, conversations, readings, music concerts, interactive experiences, open studios, school programs, teacher workshops, and more, serving thousands in our regional community each year.

 

Playwright Anne Washburn is Sixth Recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award

Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat, announced today that New York-based playwright Anne Washburn has been selected as the sixth recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA). This jury-selected prize, established by the Hermitage in 2021 with generous support from Flora Major and the Kutya Major Foundation, offers one of the largest unrestricted nonprofit theater commissions in the United States. Washburn will receive a cash prize of $35,000, a residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat in Florida, and a developmental workshop in a major arts capital – which for this commission is anticipated for New York in late 2027. 

Anne Washburn is a New York-based playwright. Washburn’s plays include Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play, a New York Times Critic’s Pick and fourth on The New York Times list: “The 25 Best American Plays Since Angels in America.” Her other plays include 10 Out of 12, Antlia Pneumatica, The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire, A Devil at Noon, Apparition, The Communist Dracula Pageant, I Have Loved Strangers, The Ladies, Little Bunny Foo Foo, The Internationalist, Shipwreck, The Small, and transadaptations of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis and Orestes. Washburn’s work has been produced nationally and internationally and has premiered with 13P, Actors Theater of Louisville, the Almeida, American Repertory Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, Classic Stage, Clubbed Thumb, The Civilians, Dixon Place, Ensemble Studio Theater, The Folger, Playwrights Horizons, Soho Rep, Two River, Vineyard Theater, and Woolly Mammoth. Her honors include an Alpert Award, a Guggenheim, a PEN/Laura Pels Award, twice a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn, and a Whiting Award.

“I was delighted to receive the Hermitage Major Theater Award and residency,” said Anne Washburn. “This is a demanding project I’ve been thinking about for years, and this award with the residency time at the Hermitage (at what looks like a dreamy stretch of this good earth) makes it all possible.”

“Amidst four extraordinary and deserving finalists, Anne Washburn confirmed herself to be one of America’s most compelling playwrights as she impressed us all with her inventive and ambitious proposal,” said Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “We are honored to support Anne as she creates this epic new play, and we can’t wait to see her brilliant work come to fruition. I must thank our brilliant and dedicated Award Committee – Evan Cabinet, Snehal Desai, and Jill Rafson – for their passion, intelligence, and care throughout this process. I also want to congratulate Adam Gwon, Talene Monahon, and Aya Ogawa, each of whom are innovative and exceptional artists with thrilling, original ideas for new theatrical works.”

The Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA) was established in 2021 to recognize a playwright or theater artist with a $35,000 commission to create a new, original, and impactful piece of theater. Three distinguished finalists for the sixth Hermitage Major Theater Award include Adam Gwon, a Drama Desk and Drama League Award-nominated Hermitage Fellow whose celebrated musicals include Ordinary Days, Scotland, PA, and All the World’s a Stage; Talene Monahon, an award-winning playwright whose acclaimed works include Meet the Cartozians, The Good John Proctor, and Jane Anger; and Aya Ogawa, a Tokyo-born, Brooklyn-based, Obie Award-winning theater-maker whose works include Nosebleed, Journey to the Ocean, and the forthcoming Meat Suit. Each finalist has been awarded a Hermitage residency and Fellowship, in addition to a cash prize of $1,000.

HMTA winners and finalists are nominated and selected by a jury of visionary and forward-thinking artistic leaders. The 2026 HMTA Award Committee included Evan Cabnet, Artistic Director of New York’s Second Stage Theater and longtime Artistic Director of LCT3 at Lincoln Center; Snehal Desai, Artistic Director of Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group and previous Producing Artistic Director of East West Players; and Jill Rafson, Producing Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company in New York and previously the Associate Artistic Director at Roundabout Theatre Company.

“Anne Washburn is one of our most brilliant and fascinating playwrights, and the Hermitage one of the most important and vital arts organizations in America,” said Evan Cabnet. “To know she’ll have the support of Andy Sandberg and everyone at the Hermitage as she embarks on such an ambitious project makes me excited for the future; I cannot wait to see what she creates.”

“Anne’s work stands the test of time,” noted Snehal Desai. “Her proposal raises interesting and timely questions about the Greeks, and about society. Anne is approaching these stories in a way I haven’t considered before, and I find that refreshing and thrilling.”

“There are not a lot of Anne Washburns out there,” added Jill Rafson. “Her voice is one of a kind, and the preoccupations of her subjects are so unique. No one else would even think about writing this play in this way, or about this combination of things with this source material – and that’s very exciting.”

In addition to the $35,000 commission, the recipient of the annual HMTA will receive six weeks of residency at the Hermitage’s historic beachfront campus to develop the new theatrical work, as well as a reading or workshop in a leading arts and cultural center. Anne Washburn’s commission is expected to receive its first presentation in late 2027 in New York.

For her Hermitage Major Theater Award commission, Anne Washburn will probe what she calls the “dramaturgical flaw at the heart of Western Democracy” by reimagining Aeschylus’ The Oresteia. Her approach will be informed by the ongoing debate about the role of democracy in today’s social media, the history of jury trials as entertainment in ancient Greece, and the scholarship which says that the simultaneous birth of democracy and the Western dramatic tradition was not a coincidence. Washburn plans to complete transadaptations (close although occasionally flexible renderings) of Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers, then will turn her primary attention to The Eumenides, the final play of the trilogy in which Orestes is pursued by the Furies (Greek goddesses of vengeance) and put on trial for the murder of his mother. This trial, in the original, is somewhat cursory, tipping the scales towards the newer Athenian Gods and the brand-new political experiment which was Democracy. Washburn plans to complexify the debate surrounding Orestes’ guilt, fleshing out the arguments on both sides of the conflict to more thoroughly explore the contest between our darkness and our light – and the necessities of both. Washburn also plans to structure the ‘Greek chorus’ so that audience members are invited to sing along during certain sections, a reaction to the phenomenon of Broadway mega-musicals where superfans who sing along are clashing with audience members who just want to hear the professionals. In Washburn’s world, harmony is possible.

In the spirit of the Hermitage’s commitment to the arts across multiple disciplines, recipients of the Hermitage Major Theater Award are encouraged to create a commission that directly or indirectly represents the role and impact of art – musical, literary, theatrical, visual, dance, or otherwise – in our culture and society. As to how this will infuse Washburn’s Hermitage commission, she explains, “The Oresteia was an act of art which was simultaneously an act of deep cultural and social significance. We don’t come together like the ancient Greeks did – one city gathered into one stadium to watch the same stories at the same moment – but that instinct still resounds in us, and the fabric of our culture and our society is woven throughout with the art we remember and the art we no longer remember; it’s a toss-up which is the more powerful driver of individuals and of nations.”

This distinguished Hermitage Major Theater Award recognition is not an award for an existing work, but rather it is designed as a commission that shall serve as a catalyst and inspiration to a theater artist to create a new, original, and impactful piece of theater. Further, the prize is intended to bridge the connection between the Hermitage in Sarasota County, Florida – where the commission is born – and other leading arts and culture centers around the world, including New York, London, Chicago, and other notable arts capitals where great theater is frequently developed and presented. Previous recipients of the HMTA have included Pulitzer Prize finalist and “Only Murders in the Building” writer Madeleine George; theater-maker and director Shariffa Ali; award-winning composer and theater artist Imani Uzuri; Olivier Award-winning playwright and librettist Chris Bush; and California-based playwright Naomi Iizuka. George and Ali had their first readings at New York’s MCC Theater in November of 2023. George’s The Sore Loser is a Faustian comedy reimagining the patriarchy through a small-town bowling tournament, and Ali’s play Hero chronicles a South African village faced with an opportunity for national glory through a singling competition. Uzuri’s commission, Lighthouse of the Singing Birds, had an invitation-only presentation at New York Theatre Workshop in 2024. Chris Bush’s new HMTA commission, Orlando (FL), received a premiere workshop at London’s National Theatre in October of 2025, directed by Andy Sandberg. Naomi Iizuka’s new commission, currently titled Casa de Mañana, is expected to have its first presentation in Chicago in the fall of 2026.

“This award is designed to be transformational for its recipients, providing not only significant funds and recognition, but also invaluable time, space, and inspiration at the Hermitage, plus an opportunity for these innovative theater artists to workshop and develop their original ideas,” said Andy Sandberg. An accomplished director, writer, and Tony Award-winning producer, Sandberg took the helm as Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage in early 2020. “In addition to introducing a new work of theater to the world each year, this is a meaningful way for the Hermitage to take a further step in supporting the artistic process, offering meaningful developmental resources to these extraordinary artists and their new commissions.”  

The Hermitage Major Theater Award, presented annually, is made possible with a generous multi-year gift to the Hermitage from Flora Major and the Kutya Major Foundation. “No one does more for the arts and the creation of new work than the Hermitage,” added Flora Major, founder and trustee of the Kutya Major Foundation. “The impact and success of this commissioning program are further evidence that Andy and his team have established the Hermitage as a leading international arts incubator. I hope others who are passionate about the arts will support the important work that’s happening there. The impact and reach of the Hermitage is greater than most people realize – it’s truly unbelievable.” Flora Major was named an Honorary Member of the Hermitage Board of Trustees in 2024.

Visual Artist Charisse Pearlina Weston Receives 2026 Hermitage Greenfield Prize

The Hermitage Artist Retreat (Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO), in collaboration with the Philadelphia-based Greenfield Foundation, has announced visual artist Charisse Pearlina Weston as the winner of the 2026 Hermitage Greenfield Prize (HGP). Her recent exhibits include group and solo presentations at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MOMA PS1, SITE Santa Fe and the Queens Museum, among other venues. Weston was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation in 2025.

The Hermitage Greenfield Prize is awarded annually, rotating between the fields of visual art, music, and theater. Weston will receive a six-week Hermitage Fellowship and a $35,000 commission to create a new work or collection of art, which will have its premiere exhibition in Sarasota in 2028.

Weston was selected by a distinguished jury that included Ian Alteveer, Beal Family Chair of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Alison Gass, Founding Executive Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco; and Larry Ossei-Mensah, independent curator and co-founder of ARTNOIR, a nonprofit supporting artists, curators, cultural workers, and emerging patrons. Past winners of this distinguished honor in the discipline of visual art include Sandy Rodriguez (2023), David Burnett(2017), Coco Fusco (2016), Trenton Doyle Hancock (2013), and Sanford Biggers (2010), who is now a member of the Hermitage Curatorial Council.  

“Amidst a remarkable field of four brilliant finalists, this insightful jury faced the difficult task of selecting a single recipient. Charisse Pearlina Weston emerged as a thoughtful and original artist who impressed the jury with her inspired and ambitious proposal,” says Hermitage Artistic Director Andy Sandberg. “Her innovative work with glass offers a unique lens into life and culture. Charisse’s multifaceted and thoughtful approach to her work embodies the mission of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize: to bring into the world works of art that have a significant impact on the broad as well as the artistic culture of our society. We thank our distinguished jurors for their passion and dedication, and we congratulate all four exceptional finalists, whom we look forward to welcoming at the Hermitage. We’re excited to host Charisse in Florida for the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Dinner in April, and subsequently as a Hermitage Fellow in anticipation of the premiere of her new exhibition in Sarasota in 2028.”

Charisse Pearlina Weston, born in Houston and now based in Harlem, is a conceptual artist whose work contends with the dynamic interplay of violence and intimacy through repetition, enfoldment, and concealment. She works across sculpture, writing, installation, and photography. Weston often integrates glass into her work due to its inherent nature. Whether it be through photographs, fragments incorporated into a canvas, or an element within a sculpture, the duality of the material speaks to Weston’s understanding of Black resistance. Her recent exhibitions include group and solo presentations at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MOMA PS1, SITE Santa Fe, and the Queens Museum, among other venues. Recent fellowships and residencies include the Studio Museum, Harlem Artist in Residency, Jerome Hill Fellowship, Hodder Fellowship at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, a 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, and a 2025 Stepping Stone awardee from the Trellis Foundation. Weston received a BA from the University of North Texas, a MSc in Modern Art from the University of Edinburgh’s College of Art, and an MFA in Studio Art with Critical Theory emphasis from the University of California-Irvine.

Three finalists for the 2026 Hermitage Greenfield Prize include Melissa Joseph, whose work considers themes of memory, family history, and the politics of how we occupy space and has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Delaware Contemporary, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA Arlington, ICA San Francisco, and List Gallery at Swarthmore College; Lily Kwong, a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores plant-life as both an artistic medium and a platform for community building and collective care, with recent projects at Madison Square Park (New York), Night Gallery (Los Angeles), and ICA (San Francisco); and Patrick Martinez, a Los Angeles-based artist whose work examines language, place, memory, and the social histories embedded within the American landscape, with recent exhibitions at the Whitney Museum, The Broad, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Studio Museum in Harlem, El Museo del Barrio, and the Tucson Museum of Art. All three will receive a Hermitage residency, in addition to a finalist prize of $1,000.

“I am thrilled that the Hermitage Greenfield Prize will go to Charisse Pearlina Weston, an artist of great talent and expansive vision, who I know will benefit immensely from the residency’s call for independent thinking and exploration,” added fellow HGP juror Ian Alteveer. “Weston’s practice is fascinating in its wide-ranging references — to literature, to architecture, to social justice — and I cannot wait to see what she accomplishes next.”

“I am so proud that we are awarding this prize to Charisse Pearlina Weston, said 2026 HGP juror Alison Gass. “Charisse’s proposal was astonishing in its thoughtful depth of nuance, building on her past practice, her depth of rigorous research, and her ability to weave storytelling into sculptural form. She is poised at such an exciting moment for an opportunity like this, and I cannot wait to see what is next for her, both with the Hermitage Greenfield Prize and beyond.”

“Charisse Pearlina Weston’s work confronts the complexities of Black life with material rigor and poetic force, moving with a quiet power that makes her one of the most compelling artists of her generation,” said fellow HGP juror Larry Ossei-Mensah, founder of ARTNOIR and independent curator. “The Hermitage Greenfield Prize offers her the rare gift of time, space, and support to expand that visionary practice in ways that will ripple far beyond the studio.”  

“I’m honored to receive the 2026 Hermitage Greenfield Prize,” said Weston upon learning of her recognition as this year’s HGP winner. “Through multimedia installations, my commission will address the ongoing entanglement of past and present legal regimes and engage broad audiences in reflecting on how the past continues to shape contemporary life. This Prize provides a rare combination of time, focus, and support that will allow me to fully realize this work and enrich my creative practice.”

For her Hermitage Greenfield Prize commission, Charisse Pearlina Weston will create a new body of work examining specters of desire, control, and recognition through the phenomenon of so-called “zombie laws”—legal statutes that persist beyond their supposed obsolescence. Rather than treating these laws as dormant remnants, Weston approaches them as active structures that continue to organize bodies and social life through desire, fear, punishment, and moral authority. The project draws on Zora Neale Hurston’s ethnographic writing on zombies in Haiti, where the zombie emerges not as spectacle, but as a social figure shaped by unmet desires for recognition, care, and belonging. This commission deepens Weston’s ongoing investigation into the dialectics of Black interior life and resistance, extending her exploration of how structures of power and surveillance produce constrictive intimacies, and how tactics of refusal enable Black interior life to re-inscribe intimacy despite those constraints.

Charisse Pearlina Weston will be celebrated at the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Dinner on Sunday, April 12th at 6pm at Michael’s On East in Sarasota, Florida. This year’s event Co-Chairs are Ellen & Richard Sandor. Capacity will be limited, so early reservations are strongly recommended. Tables and sponsorships are now available; additional information can be found at HermitageArtistRetreat.org/HGPDinner2026.

In addition to the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Dinner on April 12th, the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Celebration will include programs April 10-13 with current and past HGP winners, including the HGP commission debut from playwright and 2024 recipient Deepa Purohit, presented in collaboration with Asolo Repertory Theatre. Additional details around these HGP programs will be announced at a later date. The Hermitage Greenfield Prize Celebration is presented in partnership with the Greenfield Foundation, with the Community Foundation of Sarasota County serving as the Lead Community Sponsor.

Hermitage Receives $12,000,000 Gift of Land and Property on Manasota Key

The Hermitage Artist Retreat (Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO) announced today that the organization has received an unprecedented gift of land and property from the Morrison and Steans family. Located less than half a mile from the Hermitage’s existing home on Manasota Key, this property will more than double the Hermitage’s capacity for its celebrated artist residency program. The total appraised value of the gift is approximately $12,000,000, making this one of the largest land gifts of its kind to a nonprofit arts organization.

The Gulf-to-Bay property spans 6.5 acres of land and is comprised of five main structures. These buildings will provide additional accommodations for the nonprofit’s renowned artist-in-residence program. Generative artists, writers, and performers are invited by nomination to enjoy multi-week residencies on Manasota Key, where they receive the gift of time and space in an inspirational setting to develop new works of theater, music, visual art, literature, dance, and more.

The Morrison and Steans families – comprised of seven siblings and cousins – made this gift to the Hermitage in honor of their parents: Harrison I. Steans, Lois M. Steans, Harold M. Morrison, and Adeline S. Morrison. “Our parents believed in the mission and values of the Hermitage, and they understood first-hand the inspiration and importance of its Manasota Key home,” said the families in a joint statement. “We donate this property to the Hermitage Artist Retreat filled with hope that it will always remain a place of kindness and tolerance, where invited artists feel welcome; a place for fostering community, collaboration, connectivity, and conversations; a place of inspiration and creation; and a place that stewards the rich ecology and diversity of nature.” Adeline Morrison remains an engaged and enthusiastic supporter of the Hermitage, along with her four daughters, three nieces, and their respective families.

Adeline Morrison with Andy Sandberg

“Our family has a longstanding commitment to the Manasota Key community and its environmental preservation, and we share a collective belief in the power of nature and art to enrich lives,” added the Morrisons and Steans. “Under Andy’s leadership, the Hermitage has demonstrated that its mission and values enhance and enrich the community of the Key immeasurably, while also adding immeasurable value to the global artistic landscape. We have been impressed with Andy’s ambitious vision for the organization, and we are grateful for the beautiful gift that the Hermitage is to Manasota Key, seamlessly integrating its exceptional artists-in-residence program with this beachfront oasis.”  

“This transformative gift from the Morrison and Steans family is a game-changer for the future of the Hermitage,” said Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “The family’s belief in the mission and values of the organization is deeply moving, and we do not take for granted what an unbelievable gift this is. This property will allow the Hermitage to not only serve individual artists, but also to uplift and support more collaborative ventures and project residencies – developing works that will be seen across the globe in major presenting halls, Broadway stages, concert venues, leading museums and galleries, bookstores, and cinemas.”   

The Steans House, The Morrison House

The properties were originally built by the prominent Vanderbilt family, who settled on Manasota Key in the early 1950s. The Steans and Morrisons ultimately acquired the properties from Samuel and Lydia Auchincloss in 1987. For the past four decades, the Steans and Morrisons have used these homes as a retreat for their seven daughters and their respective families and guests.

The properties were officially transferred to the Hermitage in 2025 in pursuit of the organization’s mission: to foster and inspire the most influential and culturally consequential art and artists of our time. This is the largest single gift the Hermitage has ever received in its twenty-three-year history, and one of the largest land gifts of its kind to a nonprofit arts organization.

As the Hermitage has grown, physical capacity has sometimes presented a challenge for the aspirational goals of the organization. In recent years, the Morrison and Steans family invited the nonprofit to host artists-in-residence as their guests when the Hermitage needed overflow accommodations. Since the fall of 2024, following the impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton on the Hermitage’s historic buildings, the Morrison and Steans families generously invited the Hermitage to expand its use of their properties. Unlike the historic Hermitage property up the road, the newly donated properties suffered minimal damage from the storms.

“This extraordinary family’s demonstration of their belief in the mission and values of the Hermitage is the truest form of philanthropy,” added Sandberg. “This unparalleled gift gives new life to the future of the organization as we plan for the lasting legacy of the Hermitage, deepening our roots on Manasota Key as we continue to broaden the Hermitage’s reach and impact both nationally and internationally.”

This newly gifted property is also the Hermitage Artist Retreat’s first ownership of land, as the nonprofit organization has been a longstanding tenant of Sarasota County in its properties adjacent to Blind Pass Beach. Nevertheless, the nonprofit organization has no intention of abandoning its original Manasota Key home, where the Hermitage has a lease with Sarasota County that currently allows for extensions up through 2055. 

“This new property is intended as an expansion, not a replacement,” added Sandberg. “To have a property of our own where we can host additional artists in residence is deeply meaningful. This will allow us to broaden the reach and impact of our Hermitage programming, and to dream even bigger about the possibilities for project residencies, artistic collaborations, and more.”

The Hermitage Artist Retreat on Manasota Key – Historic Campus (North) and Newly Gifted Residences (South)

The 850 artists the Hermitage has served includes 18 Pulitzer Prize winners, Poets Laureate, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellows, and multiple Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar winners and nominees. 

“The Hermitage is an organization that is deeply committed to celebrating the freedom of artistic expression, offering necessary space and time for artists to ruminate, conjure, and create,” said two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage. “I had the opportunity to visit the Hermitage as a Fellow, and I have more recently held the honor of serving on the Curatorial Council. This extraordinary gift of expansion to the Hermitage will provide wonderful new possibilities for collaboration and invention.”

“This is one of the most heavenly and inspiring places on earth, and the interdisciplinary nature of the Hermitage’s programming is deeply connected to its roots on Manasota Key,” added internationally renowned flutist Claire Chase. “It is thrilling to imagine how this gift will allow the Hermitage to expand its already visionary possibilities.”

“I have developed my plays Liberation and Camp Siegfried at the Hermitage, among other new projects, and I cannot express to you how vital this magical place is to the cultural fabric of our society,” said Tony Award-nominated playwright Bess Wohl, whose hit Broadway play Liberation shared some of its earliest excerpts on the Hermitage Beach. “I recently had the opportunity to stay at this new property as a guest of the Morrison and Steans family, and to know that this land has now been entrusted to Hermitage for its mission gives me so much joy and hope for the future of all the incredible work that will be made there for generations to come.”

“The Hermitage is one of those rare places where there’s no limit on what you can explore,” said acclaimed choreographer Lorenzo ‘Rennie’ Harris. “My dancers and I were among the first to experience the generosity of this new property, and hearing that this inspiring property will be in the hands of the Hermitage forever gives me so much hope for the future. Anything and everything are possible at the Hermitage, and I am so grateful to know there are kind and generous people who believe so passionately in the mission of this remarkable place.” 

“This is a monumental accomplishment for the Hermitage and a triumph for the countless artists and audiences who will benefit from this profoundly generous donation,” added Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Hermitage alumnus and trustee Doug Wright. “The Hermitage is championing artists at the most critical stage of their process, and the inspiration behind so many of the works created at the Hermitage has been deeply influenced by the magic of Manasota Key. This expansion is a thrilling gift to our cultural society. Now, what dreams may come!”

“Seeing this gift come to fruition is nothing short of a dream come true,” added Sandberg. “It has also been a great pleasure getting to know the extended Morrison and Steans families,” added Sandberg.  “I had the privilege of meeting Addie Morrison when I first joined the Hermitage six years ago. Since then, I have enjoyed getting to know the family as neighbors, friends, and supporters. Sitting down with the seven cousins to discuss our shared goals has been inspiring and invigorating. Collectively and individually, the Steans and Morrisons are good-hearted, passionate, and thoughtfully intelligent people. We are honored that they have entrusted us with their family’s legacy on Manasota Key.”

In addition to its commitment as an arts incubator, the Hermitage takes pride in its commitment to ecological preservation. The organization has invested significantly over the years in planting native flora and removing invasive species from its Manasota Key home. “The Hermitage is deeply committed to caring for this land and these unique coastal properties,” said Emeritus Trustee and longtime Manasota Key resident Larry Bold. “As we have demonstrated with the commitment, care, and resources we have put into the properties down the road, the Hermitage Board and team take our role as stewards of the land very seriously, and we know the Morrison and Steans families have put great trust in the Hermitage for the future of this land. We do not take the responsibility lightly, and as we have always done, the Hermitage intends to be both attentive caretakers and thoughtful neighbors.”

The Hermitage Board of Trustees recognizes this new ownership of property will mean an increase to the annual operating budget, and they are eager to embrace this next chapter. “This has been an incredible period of growth for our organization,” noted Board President Carole Crosby. “The organization is ripe for continued expansion, and we are hopeful that this extremely generous gift from the Morrison and Steans families will inspire others to recognize the value of supporting this vital arts organization.”

“We are excited about what this will mean for the future of the organization,” added Andy Sandberg. “This milestone gift is setting the Hermitage on a thrilling trajectory, with new opportunities and possibilities on the horizon.” 

Since assuming his role as Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage in January of 2020, Sandberg has guided the organization through a period of significant growth and expansion. Despite the challenges of the pandemic and three of the region’s most devastating hurricanes, Sandberg and the Hermitage team have dramatically expanded the organization’s live programming; introduced dozens of new regional, national, and international collaborations; grown the organization’s annual revenue by nearly 5X; and overseen two of the largest nonprofit theater-commissioning initiatives in America. The Hermitage is now recognized as one of the preeminent new works incubators in the United States, celebrating and elevating the voices of diverse and accomplished artists spanning theater, music, visual art, dance, film, literature, and more. Beyond his role at the Hermitage, Sandberg is a director, writer, and Tony Award-winning producer whose theatrical work has been represented in New York, London, and throughout the U.S.

 A leading national arts incubator, the Hermitage is the only major arts organization in Florida exclusively committed to supporting the development and creation of new work across all artistic disciplines. The Hermitage hosts artists on its Gulf Coast Manasota Key campus for multi-week residencies, where diverse and accomplished artists from around the world and across multiple disciplines create and develop new works of theater, music, visual art, literature, dance, film, and more. As part of their residencies, Hermitage Fellows participate in free year-round community programs, offering audiences in the region a unique opportunity to engage with some of the world’s leading artists and to get an authentic “sneak peek” into extraordinary projects and artistic minds before their works go on to major galleries, concert halls, theaters, and museums around the world. These free and innovative programs include performances, conversations, readings, music concerts, interactive experiences, open studios, school programs, teacher workshops, and more, serving thousands in our regional community each year. 

Hermitage Announces Fifth Annual Concert in the Ruby E. Crosby Alumni Music Series

The Hermitage Artist Retreat (Sarasota County, Florida) is pleased to announce the fifth annual concert in the Ruby E. Crosby Alumni Music Series at the Hermitage, featuring Juilliard-trained flutist and Hermitage alumna Emi Ferguson. This event will take place on Thursday, March 5th at 7pm at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Downtown Sarasota). This alumni music initiative was launched in 2022 to a full-capacity crowd at Selby Gardens with “Soulful Strings: An Evening of Harp Music,” featuring celebrated harpist and Hermitage alumna Ashley Jackson. The 2023 concert, “The Pop-Rock-Folk World of Zoe Sarnak,” featured award-winning New York City-based Hermitage alumna Zoe Sarnak, with Sarasota-based vocalists and musicians performing Sarnak’s original songs at Nathan Benderson Park. The 2024 concert, “Piano Classics Remade,” featured world-renowned pianist and Hermitage alumnus Conrad Taoperforming for a sold-out crowd at Selby Gardens. Last year’s concert, “Piano in the Key of Vijay,” featured Grammy Award-nominated composer and past Hermitage Greenfield Prize winner Vijay Iyer. 

This year, the Ruby E. Crosby Alumni Music Series at the Hermitage continues this popular series with Julliard-trained flutist and Hermitage Fellow Emi Ferguson.  Ferguson is on a mission to shake up classical music. Whether playing modern or historical flutes, singing, composing, or speaking about music, she brings centuries of music to life with an adventurous spirit and a fresh perspective. Her performances, ranging from Baroque masterpieces to brand-new commissions are anything but predictable, blending historical performance with a fearless, modern edge. Hailed by critics for her “tonal bloom” and “hauntingly beautiful performances,” English-American flutist and composer Ferguson stretches the boundaries of what is expected of modern-day musicians. Her unique approach to the flute can be heard in performances that alternate between silver flute, auxiliary flutes, and historical flutes, playing repertoire that stretches from the Renaissance to today. Ferguson is a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant awardee and can be heard live in concerts and festivals around the world as a soloist and with groups including AMOC*, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Handel and Haydn Society, and the Manhattan Chamber Players. Emi was a featured performer alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Paul Simon, and James Taylor at the 10th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony of 9/11 at Ground Zero, where her performance of “Amazing Grace” was televised worldwide. Ferguson returns to the Hermitage after a previous “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” program in 2024, and a performance at the 2023 Artful Lobster.

The Ruby E. Crosby Alumni Music Series at the Hermitage offers the opportunity for a distinguished Hermitage alum to return for additional residency time and a special community concert. This initiative is made possible by a generous multi-year gift from the Ruby E. and Carole Crosby Family Foundation. Current Hermitage Board President Carole Crosby initiated this gift as a special tribute to her mother Ruby, who helped to inspire her own deep love of music. A musician herself, Carole Crosby graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and played the harp in both the Atlanta Symphony and Detroit Symphony.

“The Hermitage brings some of the most talented artists and performers in the world to our community,” said Crosby. “Music was always incredibly important to me and to my mother, so it’s an honor to celebrate her memory with this initiative spotlighting and supporting some truly extraordinary composers and musicians. I am deeply inspired by the Hermitage’s commitment to these artists and the impact these magnificent talents are having in our region.”

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Emi Ferguson back to the Gulf Coast to share her talents with our growing Hermitage audience,” added Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “Emi is one of the most captivating and enchanting flutists of our time. As we continue to reengage with and provide more opportunities for the Hermitage alumni community, this generous gift from Carole Crosby in her mother’s honor allows our audiences to celebrate and reconnect with groundbreaking musical talents who have come to know Sarasota through their time at the Hermitage.”

“Flute Through the Ages” will be presented at Selby Gardens’ Event Center (Downtown Sarasota) on Thursday, March 5th at 7pm. This program is free and open to the public with a $5/person registration fee. Registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org. Capacity will be limited, and registration is available on a first-come, first-served basis, at which time registration will shift to a waitlist. Previous events in this series have reached capacity, so early registration is strongly encouraged.

Hermitage Announces New February Programs

The Hermitage Artist Retreat today announced new programs in February of 2026. Newly announced events include Tony Award nominee Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer and the most recent winner of the Hermitage Prize in Composition at the Aspen Music Festival, Harriet Steinke, sharing a sneak peek into their works-in-process at Nathan Benderson Park on Thursday, February 5th; a return to the Hermitage Great Lawn with world-renowned flutist Claire Chase and celebrated author Kirstin Valdez Quade for an unforgettable evening of flute music and literature on Friday, February 13th; and the latest installment of Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens with comedian, musician, and writer Morgan Bassichis and Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Doug Wright sharing work and speaking about the unique art of solo performance in theater on Thursday, February 19th at Historic Spanish Point. 

On Thursday, February 5th at 5pm, the Hermitage will present the latest installment of Hermitage Sunsets @ Benderson Park, “Chamber Flights & Broadway Nights.” Returning Hermitage Fellow Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, a Tony Award-nominated Broadway performer known for her star turns as ‘Lady of the Lake’ in the Broadway revival of Spamalot and Delia in Beetlejuice, is also a brilliant storyteller and back at the Hermitage as a writer. She will offer Hermitage audiences a first look at her latest theatrical writing and stories in development. The evening will also feature original music from Harriet Steinke, winner of the 2025 Hermitage Prize in Composition at the prestigious Aspen Music Festival. Steinke will share her original compositions, performed by a classical ensemble outdoors by Nathan Benderson Park Lake.

On Friday, February 13th at 5pm, audiences will have an opportunity to return to the Hermitage’s historic beachfront campus for “A Decade of Density / A Lifetime of Story – An Evening of Flute and Literature.” Returning Hermitage Fellow and world-renowned flutist Clarie Chase has delighted Sarasota audiences time and time again with her incredible talent. Chase and widely celebrated author Kirstin Valdez Quade will bring audiences back to the iconic Hermitage grounds for the first Manasota Key program in the new year. An internationally acclaimed composer and performer, Chase has been described by The New York Times as “the most important flutist of our time.” She is a pioneer in the world of contemporary music with projects such as “Density 2036,” a 24-year commissioning project that aims to reimagine the literature of the modern flute. A MacArthur Fellow and the first ever flutist to receive the Avery Fisher Award from Lincoln Center, Chase has also served on the Hermitage’s Curatorial Council. Returning Hermitage Fellow Kirstin Valdez Quade, winner of the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and praised as “masterful” by USA Today, has been widely celebrated for her writing. With a Guggenheim Fellowship and a “5 Under 35” award from the National Book Foundation under her belt, Valdez Quade’s work “marks a new and exciting chapter in Latinx literature — one that will redefine the term for readers, scholars, and writers.” (The Georgia Review)

On Thursday, February 19th at 5:30pm, the Hermitage will present the latest installment of Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens: “The Highs and Lows of Going Solo.” Hermitage Fellow Morgan Bassichis is a comedian, musician, and writer who has been called “fiercely hilarious” (The New Yorker)and “a tall child or, well… a big bird” (The Nation). Their show Can I Be Frank? is a solo piece about the late performer Frank Maya that recently completed an acclaimed Off-Broadway run. Returning Hermitage Fellow Doug Wright knows something about solo shows as well, having won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for his iconic Broadway play I Am My Own Wife, based on the story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. Bassichis and Wright will be in conversation about the challenges and opportunities of the form and will treat Hermitage audiences to excerpts of their work in the beautiful sunken gardens at Selby Gardens’ Historic Spanish Point as the sun sets into the bay.

These Hermitage programs are free and open to the public (with a $5/person registration fee), offering Gulf Coast audiences a rare chance to engage and interact with some of the world’s leading talent. Running time for most Hermitage programs is 60-70 minutes with no intermission. Due to capacity limitations, registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

New Program on December 18 at Bookstore1 Features Joseph Earl Thomas

The Hermitage Artist Retreat announces a new December program. This newly announced event, “The Fantasy of Reality,” is scheduled for Thursday, December 18th at 6pm, at Bookstore1 in downtown Sarasota. “The Fantasy of Reality” features award-winning Hermitage Fellow Joseph Earl Thomas, who straddles form, from memoir and nonfiction to fiction and poetry. Thomas is celebrated for his distinctive style that often pushes expectations, and his work often plays with the boundaries between fantasy and reality. His memoir Sink was hailed as “extraordinary” by The New York Times. Past Hermitage Fellow and National Book Award winner Justin Torres said Thomas’ novel God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer “reads like direct communication from the soul.” Thomas’ Hermitage Residency is generously sponsored by Georgia Court. 

Joseph Earl Thomas is the author of several published books, including Sink, a memoir, longlisted for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and shortlisted for the Patrick Saroyan International Writing Prize; the novel God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer, longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Literary Excellence, finalist for the LA Times Art Seidenbaum Award, and winner of the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize; and the forthcoming story collection Leviathan Beach. Thomas’ prose and poetry have been published or are forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, The Paris Review, The Verge, Harper’s, Virginia Quarterly Review, Vanity Fair, The Yale Review, TheMassachusetts Review, and Dilettante Army. A graduate of Notre Dame’s MFA program in prose, he earned his PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the writing faculty at Sarah Lawrence College as well as low residency MFA programs at Holy Family and Randolph Colleges, Thomas teaches courses in Black Studies, Poetics, Video Games, Queer Theory and more at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.

All Hermitage programs are free and open to the public (with a $5/person registration fee), offering Gulf Coast audiences a rare chance to engage and interact with some of the world’s leading talent. Due to capacity limitations, registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org. 

Nov. 20 Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens Features Migdalia Cruz and Lauren Marcus

The Hermitage Artist Retreat announces the newest program in its “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” series, an ongoing partnership with Marie Selby Botanical Gardens that was established six years ago. This new program, “An Evening of Scenes & Songs,” is scheduled for Thursday, November 20th at 5:30pm, at Historic Spanish Point in Osprey. “An Evening of Scenes & Songs” features two stand-out theater dynamos – Migdalia Cruz, honored as a “legacy” by the DGF Legacy Playwrights Initiative, and Lauren Marcus, hailed as a “rock star” by BroadwayWorld. Join us as these artists share excerpts from their original work in this memorable sunset program.

This newly announced event features original work from the latest Hermitage-Roundabout Fellow, Migdalia Cruz. Tony Award-winning Roundabout Theatre Company is the nation’s largest not-for-profit theater with a celebrated history of producing iconic works for nearly 60 years. The Hermitage-Roundabout partnership is designed to further the Hermitage’s mission to inspire and foster the most influential and culturally consequential art and artists of our time. This collaboration provides an opportunity for some of the theater world’s most exciting new voices to explore their work at the Hermitage before a potential production at one of the country’s most prestigious theatrical institutions.

In addition to being a Hermitage-Roundabout Fellow and a DGF Legacy Playwright, Migdalia Cruz is a Bronx-born writer, lyricist, translator, and librettist with over 60 works performed in 150 venues in 12 countries. Her awards include the NEA, McKnight, NYSCA, TCG/Pew, and the 2013 Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwright. Cruz’s voice was nurtured by her mentor María Irene Fornés at INTAR and her eight-year residency at Latino Chicago Theater Company. She co-chairs the DGF Playwriting Fellows, mentors the Latinx Playwrights’ Circle, and has taught at Princeton, NYU, IU and as founding member of the Fornés Institute’s Playwriting Workshop. Migdalia is an alumna of New Dramatists, a member of the Tent Theater for “Vintage” playwrights, and she is recognized in Analola Santana’s book as one of the Fifty Key Figures in Latinx and Latin American Theater.

Hermitage Fellow Lauren Marcus is a multihyphenate actor-singer-writer whose work has been seen on stage, screen, and across acclaimed music venues throughout New York City. She is known for her Broadway run in the original cast of Be More Chill and recently brought the house down every night in the Off-Broadway premiere of The Jonathan Larson Project. Lauren is currently co-writing the book for a new musical adaptation of the 1985 film Girls Just Want to Have Fun (based on the 1985 Sarah Jessica Parker film) for Lively McCabe Entertainment. She is a recipient of the Penn State New Musical Theatre Initiative Commission, a two-time finalist for the Jonathan Larson Grant, and developed her original television pilot at New York Stage & Film. Lauren’s original musical, Lauren and The Case of The Missing Hair(book/music/lyrics), is a Relentless Award semifinalist and has received readings from Two River Theater and NYC’s legendary Power Station. As a singer-songwriter, Lauren released her debut EP, Never Really Done With You, in 2016. She recently held two sold-out residencies at Rockwood Music Hall, and is currently finishing her first full-length album. Lauren is an alumnus of the Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project. She holds a Bachelor of Music from New York University and a Master of Arts from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

All Hermitage programs are free and open to the public (with a $5/person registration fee), offering Gulf Coast audiences a rare chance to engage and interact with some of the world’s leading talent. Due to capacity limitations, registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org. 

Hermitage Presents Orlando (FL) by HMTA winner Chris Bush in London

The Hermitage Artist Retreat today released photos from the workshop presentation of newly commissioned work by Chris Bush, the fourth recipient of the $35,000 Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA).

Photo Link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ohl8b98skxybvqwuq69t5/AApNMOJHjaljJuu7A2bZvwc?rlkey=cpy7wdd4yjj4hlj5307fr8ofb&st=t55517r0&dl=0

On October 10th, Bush shared a London workshop presentation of her newly commissioned play Orlando (FL), with support from the National Theatre New Work Department. Chris Bush is an award-winning playwright, lyricist, and theater-maker based in the United Kingdom. Her comprehensive body of work includes Standing at the Sky’s Edge, which won her an Olivier Award and a UK Theatre Award for Best Musical. 

The Hermitage Major Theater Award was established in 2021 to recognize a playwright or theater artist with a substantial commission to create a new, original, and impactful piece of theater. This international, jury-selected award, established by the Hermitage with generous support from Flora Major and the Kutya Major Foundation, offers one of the largest unrestricted nonprofit theater commissions. Bush received a cash prize of $35,000, as well as a residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat (Sarasota County, Florida), plus a developmental workshop and reading in London. The prize is intended to bridge the connection between the Hermitage, where the commission is born, and other leading arts and culture centers around the world, including London, New York, Chicago, and notable arts capitals where great theater is frequently developed and presented. 

Chris Bush’s Orlando (FL) is a story of transformation, translation, and resistance. This London workshop reading was directed by Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg (Operation Epsilon, Shida). The cast included Fisayo Akinade (The Crucible, Heartstopper); Olivier Award winner Matthew Kelly (Stars in Their Eyes, Game for a Laugh); Lesley Lemon (Rare Earth Mettle); Serena Manteghi (The Diplomat, The Hound of the Baskervilles); Fizz Sinclair (Chris Bush’s Other Land, The Simple Life & Death, Modest), Cherrelle Skeete (Alterations, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child);  Eleanor Sutton (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Jane Eyre, Amadeus), Olivier Award nominee Laura Pitt–Pulford (Chris Bush’s Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Sunset Boulevard), and EM Williams (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin).

HMTA winners are nominated and selected by a jury of recognized arts leaders in the field of theater. The 2024 Award Committee that selected Chris Bush included Michael Grandage, Tony and Olivier-Award winning director of stage and screen, former Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, and current Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company; Tessa Ross, CBE and BAFTA Award-winning Co-CEO of House Productions; and Indhu Rubasingham, Director of the National Theatre, Olivier Award-winning director, and former Artistic Director of the Kiln Theatre.

Previous recipients of the Hermitage Major Theater Award include Madeleine George, Shariffa Ali, and Imani Uzuri. California-based playwright Naomi Iizuka was announced in January as the fifth recipient of the HMTA. The Hermitage will present a workshop reading of her original commission in Chicago in the fall of 2026.

Hermitage Presents New Play Commission from Hermitage Major Theater Award Winner Chris Bush

The Hermitage Artist Retreat announced today that the Hermitage, with support from the National Theatre New Work Department, will present a London workshop of the newly commissioned play Orlando (FL), written by Olivier Award winner Chris Bush (Standing at the Sky’s Edge), the 2024 recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA). This will be the first London workshop presented by the Hermitage, and the invitation-only presentation will be directed by Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg (Operation Epsilon).

Chris Bush is an award-winning playwright, lyricist, and theater maker based in the United Kingdom. Her comprehensive body of work includes Standing at the Sky’s Edge, which won her an Olivier Award and a UK Theatre Award for Best Musical. Following sold-out runs at the National Theatre and Sheffield Theatres, the acclaimed production transferred to the West End, where it was described as “the most exciting new British musical in years” (WhatsOnStage) and heralded as “a moving and resonant piece of popular entertainment — magnificent and meaningful” (The Times). This was followed by the premiere of Chris Bush’s play Other Land at the Almeida Theatre. Raised in Sheffield, England, Chris Bush currently lives in London. The Hermitage present this reading of Bush’s new play Orlando (FL) to an invitation-only audience. Her original commission is coming to fruition less than two years from the date the recipient learned of her recognition. 

In addition to serving as Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage, Andy Sandberg is a director, writer, and Tony Award-winning producer whose theatrical work has been represented in New York, London, and throughout the U.S. He has directed the U.K. premieres of Alan Brody’s Operation Epsilon (Southwark Playhouse) and Jeannette Bayardelle’s Shida (The Vaults), earning multiple Off West End Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Musical. Additional world premieres as director in New York include Straight (Off-Broadway, NY Times Critics’ Pick); Application Pending (also co-author; BroadwayWorld Award: Best Off-Broadway Play, Drama Desk nom., Book Pipeline Prize); Operation Epsilon (four IRNE Awards, including Best Play, Best Director); Shida (Ars Nova and A.R.T., four AUDELCO noms., including Best Director, Best Musical); Craving for Travel (also co-author); and The Last Smoker in America, among others.

Chris Bush’s Orlando (FL) is a story of transformation, translation, and resistance – a queer fantasia set against a backdrop of rising hate, and a funny, furious, and defiant testament to the power of literature and the importance of community. The play commences on November 5th, 2024. It’s Lana’s 29th birthday. There’s some other ‘stuff’ going on tonight as well, but she’s trying her best to ignore it. Lana is a young trans woman in Orlando, Florida, dreaming of stardom and living in denial. Then crashing into her life headfirst comes Orlando, the freewheeling, gender-switching protagonist of Woolf’s iconic novel. Orlando is sexy, confident, unguarded – when Lana is with her, another world seems possible.

The Hermitage Major Theater Award was established in 2021 to recognize a playwright or theater artist with a substantial commission to create a new, original, and impactful piece of theater. This national, jury-selected award, established by the Hermitage with generous support from Flora Major and the Kutya Major Foundation, offers one of the largest nonprofit theater commissions in the country. Bush receives a cash prize of $35,000, as well as a residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat (Sarasota County, Florida), plus a developmental workshop and reading in London. The prize is intended to bridge the connection between the Hermitage, where the commission is born, and other leading arts and culture centers around the world, including London, New York, Chicago, and notable arts capitals where great theater is frequently developed and presented. 

HMTA winners are nominated and selected by a jury of recognized arts leaders in the field of theater. The 2024 Award Committee that selected Chris Bush included Michael Grandage, Tony and Olivier-Award winning director of stage and screen, former Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, and current Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company; Tessa Ross, CBE and BAFTA Award-winning Co-CEO of House Productions; and Indhu Rubasingham, Director of the National Theatre, Olivier Award-winning director, and former Artistic Director of the Kiln Theatre.

“It is truly an honor to be working with Chris Bush and the National Theatre to present the first workshop of Chris’ extraordinary play Orlando (FL),” said Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “It has been thrilling to see the work that’s come to life from past HMTA recipients Madeleine George, Shariffa Ali, and Imani Uzuri and it is incredibly exciting to be seeing Chris Bush’s original play now coming to fruition. Chris is an extraordinary talent, and it’s a privilege to play a role in supporting her artistic journey. We must also thank Flora Major for making this opportunity possible, and our brilliant jury for introducing Chris to the Hermitage.”

Casting for the first workshop of Orlando (FL) includes actors of stage and screen, including FisayoAkinade (The Crucible, Heartstopper); Olivier Award winner Matthew Kelly (Stars in Their Eyes, Game for a Laugh); Lesley Lemon (Rare Earth Mettle); Serena Manteghi (The Diplomat, The Hound of the Baskervilles); Fizz Sinclair (Chris Bush’s Other Land, The Simple Life & Death Modest), Cherrelle Skeete (Alterations, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child); Eleanor Sutton (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Jane Eyre, Amadeus), Olivier Award nominee Laura Pitt–Pulford (Chris Bush’s Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Sunset Boulevard), and EM Williams (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin).

Upon announcing Bush as the fourth recipient of the HMTA, 2024 Award Committee member Michael Grandage said, “The Hermitage Major Theater Award is an incredible opportunity for an artist to develop their craft “and Chris Bush is a hugely talented playwright who has already demonstrated that big ideas can change the world.” National Theater Director Indhu Rubasingham added, “Chris Bush is an artist the theater world cannot ignore, and this award from the Hermitage offers her the opportunity to make a work that is deeply personal… a powerful play that I can’t wait to see.” HMTA juror Tessa Ross shared, “Chris is an exciting, brave writer, and we feel very proud to be able to support the next stage of her journey with this wonderful award.” 

Three distinguished finalists for the fourth Hermitage Major Theater Award included Natasha Gordon,an Olivier Award-nominated British playwright and actor of Jamaican descent, whose play Nine Nightenjoyed a sold-out run at the National Theatre before transferring to Trafalgar Studios; Beth Steel, an award-winning playwright whose new play Till the Stars Come Down recently transferred from the National Theatre to the West End; and Sam Steiner, an accomplished playwright and screenwriter whose West End play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons has been performed all over the world. Each finalist has been awarded a Hermitage residency and Fellowship, in addition to a cash prize of $1,500.

Past recipients of the Hermitage Major Theater Award include Madeleine George (2021), who is a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence, and served as a writer and producer for Hulu’s hit series “Only Murders in the Building.” George presented the first full-length reading of her new play The Sore Loser New York’s MCC Theater in 2023. Theater-maker and director Shariffa Aliwas selected as the second recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award. Ali shared an in-process presentation of her newly devised work Hero for an invitation-only audience in late 2023, also at MCC Theater. Imani Uzuri, the third HMTA recipient, is a composer, vocalist, librettist, improviser, and lyricist. The Hermitage collaborated with New York Theatre Workshop in 2024 to present this concert reading of Uzuri’s new musical Lighthouse of the Singing Birds. California-based playwright Naomi Iizuka was announced in January as the fifth recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award. The Hermitage will present a workshop reading of her original commission in Chicago in the fall of 2026.