Category: Featured Posts

Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-Winning Playwright Doug Wright Returns to Sarasota

The Hermitage Artist Retreat announces a new program with Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Wright as he returns to Sarasota for “The PlayWRIGHT’s the Thing.” Join the Hermitage at the Asolo’s Cook Theater in the FSU Center for Performing Arts, as Wright engages in conversation with Hermitage Artistic Director Andy Sandberg on Monday, February 10th at 6pm. In addition, program attendees will have the opportunity to hear selections from Wright’s lesser-known original works, performed by some of Sarasota’s brightest talents. Register here.

With his hit Broadway play Good Night, Oscar gearing up for its regional premiere at Asolo Repertory Theatre this spring, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and librettist Doug Wrighthas been creating celebrated works of theater and film for over two decades. Many of Wright’s worlds and characters have their basis in real life people and events, from Charlotte von Mahlsdorf in I Am My Own Wife, to Big and Little Edie in Grey Gardens, to the famous rivalry between Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden in War Paint. Hear what draws this acclaimed playwright to these stories, as well as other fascinating insights into his process. 

Wright is a proud Hermitage alumnus and trustee, and he served as a juror for the inaugural Hermitage Major Theater Award in 2021. He has remained an engaged and active member of the Hermitage alumni community. His Broadway credits include I Am My Own Wife (Pulitzer Prize; Tony Award), Grey Gardens,Hands on a Hardbody, War Paint, and The Little Mermaid. In film, Wright’s credits include screenplays for Fine Line Features, Fox Searchlight, and DreamWorks SKG, among others. His recent Amazon film The Burial stars Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, where he served as President for many years. He previously returned to the Gulf Coast just last year, where he presented Hermitage programs in collaboration with SILL in Sarasota and Venice, as well as a Hermitage event in Boca Grande.

His most recent play, Good Night, Oscar, originally directed by Hermitage Fellow Lisa Peterson, received critical acclaim at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre before transferring to Broadway, where it earned SeanHayes a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Lead Actor. Asolo Repertory Theatre will present the Florida premiere of Good Night, Oscar this spring, running April 2-26, 2025.

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 Announces Fourth Annual Concert in the Ruby E. Crosby Alumni Music Series:“Piano in the Key of Vijay” 

The Hermitage Artist Retreat is pleased to announce the fourth annual concert in the Ruby E. Crosby Alumni Music Series at the Hermitage, featuring Grammy-nominated composer and award-winning pianist Vijay Iyer. This event will take place on Thursday, February 20th 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. Last year’s concert, “Piano Classics Remade,” featured world-renowned pianist and Hermitage alumnus Conrad Tao performing for a sold-out crowd at Selby Gardens. 

This year, the Ruby E. Crosby Alumni Music Series at the Hermitage continues   this popular series with Grammy Award-nominated pianist, composer, and past Hermitage Greenfield Prize winner Vijay Iyer. Described by The New York Times as a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker, and multicultural gateway,” Hermitage Fellow and composer-pianist Vijay Iyerhas earned a place as one of the leading music-makers of his generation. Beyond his recognition as aHermitage Greenfield Prize winner in the discipline of music, his honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, three Grammy Award nominations, and the Alpert Award in the Arts. 

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 Vijay Iyer back to the Gulf Coast to share his talents with our growing Hermitage audience,” added Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “Vijay is one of the most innovative composers of his generation, not to mention an early recipient of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize. As we continue to reengage with and provide more opportunities for Hermitage alumni, this generous gift from Carole Crosby in her mother’s honor allows our community to celebrate and reconvene with groundbreaking musical talents who have come to know Sarasota through their time at the Hermitage.”

There isn’t much Hermitage Greenfield Prize winner Vijay Iyer hasn’t done in the world of music. A Grammy Award-nominated composer, he has performed at the world’s most iconic venues, composed works premiered by leading institutions such as the London Philharmonic, and collaborated with celebrated musicians and ensembles similarly admired for their innovative approach, such as Hermitage Fellow Claire Chase and the International Contemporary Ensemble. His newest albums are Defiant Life, his second suite of duets with visionary composer-trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith; Compassion, featuring his acclaimed trio with drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Linda May Han Oh; Trouble, a composer portrait album comprising three of his orchestral works, including the titular violin concerto performed by Jennifer Koh; and Love in Exile, his Grammy Award-nominated collaboration with Arooj Aftab and Shahzad Ismaily. He teaches at Harvard University. The original composition resulting from Vijay’s Hermitage Greenfield Prize, Bruits, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2022, performed by the critically acclaimed ensemble Imani Winds.

“Piano in the Key of Vijay” will be presented at Selby Gardens’ Event Center (Downtown Sarasota) on Thursday, February 20th at 7pm. This program is free and open to the public with a $5/person registration fee. Registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org. Capacity is 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.

Two Hermitage Greenfield Prize Commissions to Premiere at The Ringling Museum of Art in Spring

The Hermitage Artist Retreat (Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO) announced today that The Ringling Museum of Art will host the first public showings of the original commissions resulting from the 2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize (HGP). Los Angeles-based visual artist Sandy Rodriguez’s exhibition Currents of Resistance will be presented in the Keith D. Monda Gallery for Contemporary Art and represents the latest in a series of exhibitions featuring Hermitage Greenfield Prize-winning visual artists at The Ringling, beginning with Sanford Biggers’ 2012 exhibition Codex. Rennie Harris, the first HGP recipient in the field of dance and choreography, will share the first public presentations of his original work Losing My Religion at the Historic Asolo Theater on April 4th and again on April 5th, with his dance company Rennie Harris Puremovement. The premieres of these original Hermitage commissions will coincide with the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Weekend, culminating in the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Dinner on Sunday, April 6th.

Sandy Rodriguez, a first-generation Chicana who grew up along the US-Mexico border, is an artist who engages with the colonial histories of the Americas, Indigenous knowledge systems, memory, and issues surrounding migration, both past and present, all grounded in the specificity of land. One of the unique aspects of her practice is her engagement with and research into the material aspects of indigenous artistic traditions for the Americas. She is using hand-processed pigments derived from earth, plants, and insects, sourced from specimens collected during her fieldwork and residency at the Hermitage for her watercolors. Her Hermitage Greenfield Prize commission, Currents of Resistance, is a further exploration of a series of exhibitions for which she has been celebrated, mapping the ongoing cycles of violence on communities of color by blending historical and recent events; this will be her first map of the Southeast United States. Rodriguez’s exhibition, curated by Christopher Jones, the Stanton & Nancy Kaplan Curator of Photography & Media, will be on view from April 5th through August 10th, 2025.

Rennie Harris’ HGP commission introduces audiences to a new dance piece titled Losing My Religion, a personal reflection on his own journey that weaves in thoughts on the world’s collective dilemmas. Harris is known for challenging what has come to be expected of street dance and hip-hop culture and the degenerative social norms and beliefs that ground the struggles of our time. As part of the work, he has incorporated a reimagining of his renowned solo piece Endangered Species, an autobiographical work recounting his experience of being chased and shot down in Kingston, Jamaica while touring as a U.S. ambassador for President Reagan’s ‘American Embassy Tour.’ The solo’s inclusion in the work completes a story of systemic racism and revolt, shifting away from what was to what is and what can be. Harris’ Hermitage Greenfield Prize premiere presentation will take place on Friday, April 4th at 7:30pm and Saturday April 5th at 7:30pm at the Historic Asolo Theater. Losing my Religion is part of the Art of Performance Series at the Ringling, curated by Elizabeth Doud, Currie-Kohlmann Curator of Performance. This event will also be presented in partnership with Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, a frequent Hermitage collaborator.

“We are excited to continue our long history with The Ringling as a presenting partner for the Hermitage Greenfield Prize,” said Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “Sandy Rodriguez and Rennie Harris first met when we celebrated this dual award in 2023 at The Ringling for the 15thanniversary of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Dinner. We’re grateful to be returning two years later to share the work of these extraordinary talents – both visionaries and pioneers in their respective fields.” 

“Since 2012, The Ringling has proudly presented Hermitage Greenfield Prize recipients in the visual arts in our galleries,” added Steven High, Executive Director at The Ringling. “We are once again thrilled to present a significant new work in visual art from HGP recipient Sandy Rodriguez, and – for the first time – a work of performance from HGP recipient Rennie Harris. Congratulations!”  

The 17th annual Hermitage Greenfield Prize Dinner will be held on Sunday, April 6th, 2025, starting at 6pm at Michael’s On East in Sarasota. This elegant annual dinner heralds the jury-selected recipient of this prestigious prize, which will be awarded this season in the discipline of music. The Hermitage Greenfield Prize (HGP) is a distinguished national commission awarded by the Hermitage Artist Retreat in partnership with the Philadelphia-based Greenfield Foundation; the $35,000 award rotates annually among music, theater, and visual art. The 2025 winner’s newly commissioned work will have its first public presentation in Sarasota in the spring of 2027. The Hermitage Greenfield Prize Celebration is presented in partnership with the Greenfield Foundation, with the Community Foundation of Sarasota County serving as Lead Community Sponsor. This year’s HGP winner, HGP Dinner co-chairs, and sponsorship details will be announced at a later date. For early sponsorship inquiries, call (941) 475-2098, Ext. 2.

Prior to the premiere of these two original commissions, additional Hermitage Fellows will have their work featured at The Ringling. Two Rivers Ensemble, led by Hermitage alum and musician Amir ElSaffar, will perform on February 15 and 16, 2025. Currently, Hermitage Fellow and contemporary artist Jess T. Dugan’s exhibit I Want You to Know My Story is on view at The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art through February 22, 2025. 

“Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” Kicks Off 2025 with Emmy and Drama Desk-Nominated Writer Mark Sonnenblick

The Hermitage Artist Retreat’s popular series, “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens,” continues its fifth anniversary season and kicks off a brand-new year with “Book, Music, and Lyrics,” featuring Emmy Award and Drama Desk nominee Mark Sonnenblick. A Hermitage Fellow and recipient of a Jonathan Larson Grant, Sonnenblick will share stories and songs from his original works, and will preview some of what might be next for this rising star of the musical theater world. This Hermitage program will take place on Thursday, January 30th at 5:30pm at Selby Gardens’ downtown campus.

Fresh off the ‘heels’ of his collaboration with Elton John on the West End premiere of The Devil Wears Prada and celebrated for his talents as a lyricist, book writer, and composer, Hermitage Fellow Mark Sonnenblick’s work has been called “lushly romantic” by The New York Times, as well as “sly and unexpectedly subversive” by The New Yorker. With a career that already spans stage and screen, including songs on such hits as Apple’s Spirited, starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell, Searchlight Pictures’ Theater Camp, and Netflix’s Lyle Lyle Crocodile, Sonnenblick’s talents span multiple styles and genres. Mark Sonnenblick’s Hermitage residency is generously sponsored by the Huisking Family Fund of Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

“Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” is a celebrated collaboration between the Hermitage Artist Retreat and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, featuring performances and explorations of works-in-progress by Hermitage artists-in-residence and alumni.  Events in this series are scheduled to take place at Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus and the Historic Spanish Point campus in Osprey as a part of the Hermitage’s 2024-2025 season. Remaining dates for this fifth season of “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” (subject to change) include:

• Thursday January 30, 2025, at 5:30pm, Downtown Sarasota Campus
• Thursday February 20, 2025, at 5:30pm, Historic Spanish Point 
• Thursday, March 6, 2025, at 5:30pm, Downtown Sarasota Campus
• Thursday, May 1, 2025, at 6:30pm, Historic Spanish Point 

Admission for these events has no ticket cost, though early registration is strongly recommended as availability is subject to capacity limitations; advance registration is required ($5/person) at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

“Following a memorable lineup of programs in the final weeks of 2024, we are excited to be kicking off 2025 with Mark Sonnenblick’s program at Selby Gardens,” says Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “I’ve known Mark as a friend and collaborator for many years, and it’s a thrill to welcome him to the Hermitage. Despite the challenges faced on campus due to the hurricanes, we remain committed to delivering world-class programs at partner venues throughout our region, introducing our resilient community to extraordinary writers, artists, and performers from around the world.”  

Hermitage Presents “Lighthouse of the Singing Birds” at New York Theatre Workshop 

The Hermitage Artist Retreat (Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO), today released photos from the premiere presentation of newly commissioned work by Imani Uzuri. The third recipient of the $35,000 Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA), Uzuri shared a workshop presentation of her newly commissioned musical Lighthouse of the Singing Birds at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop, an institution noted for its long history of producing new and groundbreaking work, on November 18th. Imani Uzuri is an award-winning composer, vocalist, librettist, improviser, and lyricist. Her original commission is coming to fruition less than two years from the date the recipient learned of her recognition.

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 Majorand the Kutya Major Foundation, offers one of the largest nonprofit theater commissions in the United States. Uzuri received a cash prize of $35,000, as well as a residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat, plus developmental and financial support for this developmental reading in New York. The prize is intended to bridge the connection between the Hermitage (Sarasota County, Florida), where the commission is born, and other leading arts and culture centers around the world where great theater is frequently developed and presented, including New York, London, and Chicago. 

Lighthouse of the Singing Birds is a magical realist musical with book, music, and lyrics by Hermitage Major Theater Award winner Imani Uzuri. Monday’s presentation was introduced by Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg and NYTW Artistic Director Patricia McGregor. Told through song and immersive storytelling, Lighthouse of the Singing Birds deals with themes of mysticism, death, liminality, ecology, Black American vernacular artistic culture (music, art, foodways, folklore healing modalities, and so forth), as well as illuminating the sublimated history of Black lighthouse keepers and celebrating Black American vernacular sacred/secular song traditions. The cast the first concert reading of Lighthouse of the Singing Birds included Tony Award winner Lillias White (The Life, Hadestown, Disney’s “Hercules”), Nichelle Lewis (The Wiz on Broadway, Ragtime at Encores), plus stage and screen talents Charlie Burnham (violinist/composer), Starr Busby (Octet, The Beautiful Lady), Jared Wayne Gladly (Aladdin, Frozen), Yayoi Ikawa (jazz pianist/composer), Polanco Jones (The Wiz), Marla Louissaint(Theater Producers of Color 2023, Hadestown), Mercy Viola (cultural worker/performance artist), and dramaturgy by musicologist Matthew D. Morrison.

HMTA winners are nominated and selected by a jury of recognized arts leaders in the field of theater. The 2022 Award Committee that selected Imani Uzuri included two-time Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori, Tony Award-nominated producer, educator, and artistic director Christopher Burney, and New York Theatre Workshop Artistic Director Patricia McGregor.

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 is currently 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 to an invitation-only audience at MCC Theatre last winter. Theater-maker and director Shariffa Ali was 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 on in November of 2023, also at MCC Theater. 

Olivier Award-winning playwright and librettist Chris Bush (Standing at the Sky’s Edge) was announced in January of 2024 as the fourth recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award, and the Hermitage will present a workshop reading of her original commission in London in the fall of 2025. California-based playwright Naomi Iizuka was announced earlier this month as the fifth recipient of the HMTA, and her work will receive its first workshop presentation in Chicago in the fall of 2026. 

Hermitage Raises Over $380,000 at 16th Annual Artful Lobster — A Record-Breaking Celebration!  

The Hermitage Artist Retreat raised over $380,000 at the 2024 Hermitage Artful Lobster luncheon on Saturday, November 9th. This annual event raises valuable funds for the Hermitage’s internationally renowned artist residency program, supporting the creative process of artists from around the world in the fields of music, theater, visual art, literature, dance, and more. Proceeds from this year’s event are also going toward hurricane recovery efforts for the Hermitage’s Manasota Key campus. Over 200 guests attended the sold-out luncheon, which was the first event to take place at the outdoor courtyard of the Ora in Sarasota. (The event was moved from the Hermitage campus due to ongoing hurricane cleanup and repairs.) Marking his fifth anniversary at the Hermitage, Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg served as the master of ceremonies. 

The event was headlined by two returning Hermitage Fellows: Tony Award-nominated actor, singer, and writer Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, and Grammy Award-nominated composer, lyricist, orchestrator, and music director Rona Siddiqui. Both of these extraordinary talents are proud Hermitage alumnae who have described our Manasota Key campus as “an artistic home.” Kritzer and Siddiqui have performed at multiple Hermitage events, including the “Hermitage Turns 20: Andy Sandberg & Broadway Friends in Concert” at the Van Wezel, the Hermitage Greenfield Prize Dinner, and several awe-inspiring performances on the Hermitage Beach.

Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer surprised the audience with an unforgettable performance of “Shy,” calling back to her memorable portrayal of Carol Burnett in the series finale of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” In addition to lending her keyboard skills to the afternoon’s performances, Rona Siddiqui also performed her song “When Pigeons Fly,” from her original musical Salaam Medina: Tales of a Halfghan. Kritzer joined Siddiqui to present another original piece entitled “Om Shanti.” Following a video presentation about the impact of the hurricanes on the Hermitage, Kritzer delivered a powerful rendition of Celine Dion’s “That’s the Way It Is.” The afternoon’s performances also showcased some of Sarasota’s greatest local talents with Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative Fellow Raleigh Mosely II and frequent Hermitage guest performer Martina Long. The duo brought down the house with “I’m Gone” from the Broadway musical Hands on a Hardbody, written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Hermitage Fellow and Trustee Doug Wright, in collaboration with Amanda Green and Phish’s Trey Anastasio. 

“This year’s Artful Lobster was an event to remember and an especially meaningful celebration of resilience,” said the Hermitage’s Andy Sandberg. “We are thankful to all who attended and supported this year’s festivities. The generous outpouring of support for the work we are doing at the Hermitage and our ongoing hurricane recovery efforts is a demonstration of our community’s extraordinary commitment to the arts and the creative process.” This year’s Artful Lobster was co-chaired by Alice & David Court and Peter Offringa & Allison Gregory. Sponsors and partners for the 2024 Artful Lobster included Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Key Agency, SarasotaHerald-Tribune, and Sarasota Magazine. 

Playwright Naomi Iizuka Fifth Recipient of Hermitage Major Theater Award  

Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat, announced today that California-based playwright Naomi Iizuka has been selected as the fifth 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. Iizuka 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 Chicago in late 2026. 

Naomi Iizuka is an award-winning playwright, educator, and theater maker based in California. Her body of work includes Anon(ymous), 36 Views, Polaroid Stories, At the Vanishing Point, Language of Angels, Skin, Tattoo Girl, and more. Her plays have been produced at theaters across the country, including BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Berkeley Rep, the Goodman, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, the Guthrie, Cornerstone, Children’s Theater Company, the Public Theater, and Campo Santo. lizuka is an alumna of New Dramatists and the recipient of a PEN/Laura Pels Award, an Alpert Award, a Whiting Award, a Stavis Award from the National Theatre Conference, a Joyce Foundation Award, and a Hodder Fellowship. She was a Berlind Playwright-in-Residence at Princeton University. Iizuka has written for “The Terror: Infamy” (AMC), “Tokyo Vice” (HBO Max), “Bosch: Legacy” (Amazon), and “The Sympathizer” (HBO Max). She is the head of the MFA Playwriting program at University of California, San Diego.

“I was thrilled and genuinely honored to find out that I had received the Hermitage Major Theater Award,” said 2024-2025 HMTA winner Naomi Iizuka upon receiving the news. “To be chosen by one’s peers is so meaningful. It felt like this unexpected and incredibly generous gift in what I guess you could call the vast expanse of my mid-career.” 

“Amidst four extraordinary and deserving finalists, Naomi Iizuka confirmed herself to be a passionate and insightful playwright who impressed us all with her timely and compelling proposal,” said Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “We are honored to support Naomi as she creates this ambitious new play at this exciting stage of her career. I must thank our brilliant and dedicated Award Committee – Susan Booth, Glenn Davis, and Chay Yew – for their passion, intelligence, and care throughout this process. I also want to congratulate Luis Alfaro, Zora Howard, and José Rivera, each of whom are innovative and exceptional playwrights 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 fifth Hermitage Major Theater Award include celebrated playwright Luis Alfaro,the 2024 TCG World Theater Artist and the recipient of a 2024 recognition in literature from the American Academy of Arts & Letters; Zora Howard, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, writer, performer, and Hermitage alumna whose plays include Stew, Hang Time, The Master’s Tools, Bust, and Good Faith; and José Rivera, an accomplished playwright and screenwriter who has won two Obie Awards for his plays Marisol andReferences to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay to The Motorcycle Diaries. 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 2024-2025 HMTA Award Committee included Susan V. Booth, Artistic Director of Chicago’s Goodman Theatre and longtime director of the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta; Glenn Davis, an accomplished actor, producer, and Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company; and Chay Yew, an Obie Award-winning director and playwright who served as longtime Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theater. 

“Naomi Iizuka has been charting new territory in our practice for years and is still so untapped in terms of what’s yet to come,” said Susan Booth. “It’s hugely exciting to anticipate a new work from her, and I’m so grateful to the Hermitage for making this kind of investment in this transformational artist.”

“Naomi Izuka is an exceptional artist with a vastly disparate collection of plays that speak to her multicultural background,” noted Glenn Davis. “I am thrilled that the Hermitage will allow her to create her next ambitious work.” 

“If theater is the live cultivation of civic discourse, expansion of conversation, and evocation of empathy in public spaces, Naomi Iizuka moves our field forward with her plays unlike any other writer,” added Chay Yew. “She fearlessly uncovers the stories we need now, in a voice that is uniquely hers, which clarifies and amplifies the urgent issues of our time. Always the passionate artist who reflects the myriad lives of our nation and world politically and socially, she chronicles and gives voice to the voiceless, and visibility to the invisible.”

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. Naomi Iizuka’s commission is expected to receive its first presentation in late 2026 in Chicago, which will be the first Chicago presentation of an HMTA commission.

In describing her intended HMTA commission, currently titled Casa de Mañana Iizuka shares: “Casa de Mañana is a dark comedy that explores what it means to make art when your life and the world around you are imploding. Set in an assisted living and memory care facility, the play tells the story of an underemployed theater artist who’s trying to make a play based on stories that the residents tell her about their lives – except the residents don’t want to talk to her. And who can blame them? They have their own problems to deal with and their own secret agendas. Why should they tell stories to a stranger? Casa de Mañana asks what it means to tell the story of your life. How do you make sense of the craziness and mystery of the people around you? How do you tell the truth? And what choices do you make in the time you have left?”

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 Iizuka’s commission, she explains that “the arts are a place where we can both step back and dive deep; where we can have difficult conversations about what’s going on in the world in a way that allows us to listen to one another and really hear one another.”

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, director, and the New Group’s Director of Artistic Projects Shariffa Ali; award-winning composer and theater artist Imani Uzuri; and Olivier Award-winning playwright and librettist Chris Bush. 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, will have an invitation-only presentation at New York Theatre Workshop on November 18th. Chris Bush’s new HMTA commission, Orlando (FL), is expected to have its first presentation in London in the fall of 2025.

“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 who recently directed the U.K. premiere of Operation Epsilon, 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 developmental resources to these extraordinary artists and their new commissions.”  

The Hermitage Major Theater Award is made possible with a generous multi-year gift to the Hermitage from Flora Major and the Kutya Major Foundation. In the aftermath of the pandemic and recognizing the difficult challenges facing theater artists, the Hermitage and Major awarded three HMTA commissions in the inaugural twelve months of this initiative. Moving forward, the recipient will be selected annually and will have two years to complete their commission. 

“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 earlier this year.

Hermitage Presents a New Musical Commission from Imani Uzuri, 2022 Recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award 

Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat, announced today that Imani Uzuri, the 2022 recipient of the $35,000 Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA), will have a workshop presentation of her newly commissioned musical this month at New York Theatre Workshop on Monday, November 18th. Imani Uzuri is an award-winning composer, vocalist, librettist, improviser, and lyricist, and the Hermitage is collaborating with NYTW to present this concert reading of Uzuri’s new musical Lighthouse of the Singing Birds 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. 

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. Uzuri receives a cash prize of $35,000, as well as a residency at the Hermitage (Sarasota County, Florida), plus developmental and financial support for these upcoming developmental readings in New York. The prize is intended to bridge the connection between the Hermitage (Sarasota County, Florida), where the commission is born, and other leading arts and culture centers around the world, including New York, London, 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 2022 Award Committee that selected Imani Uzuri includes two-time Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori, Tony Award-nominated producer, educator, and artistic director Christopher Burney, and New York Theatre Workshop Artistic Director Patricia McGregor.

“It has been thrilling to see the work that’s come to life from past HMTA recipients Madeleine George and Shariffa Ali, and it is incredibly exciting to be seeing Imani Uzuri’s original musical now coming to fruition,” said Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “Imani is an extraordinary talent who engages fellow artists with light and innovation, and we’re honored to play a role in supporting her artistic journey. Bringing original works to life through this commissioning program is a true honor and a gift to the theater, made possible by the generosity of Flora Major, who has entrusted the Hermitage with this invaluable opportunity.”

Lighthouse of the Singing Birds is a magical realist musical with book, music, and lyrics by Hermitage Major Theater Award winner Imani Uzuri. Told through ephemeral puppetry, song and immersive storytelling Lighthouse of the Singing Birds deals with themes of mysticism, death, liminality, ecology, Black American vernacular artistic culture (music, art, foodways, folklore healing modalities and so forth) as well as illuminating the sublimated history of Black lighthouse keepers and celebrating Black American vernacular sacred/secular song traditions. Somewhere in the Outer Banks of North Carolina on a Sound whose beach has purple sand (from coral), a bird sanctuary, a lighthouse, and elusive wild horses, Jasmine Songbird is on the precipice. Surrounded by her quirky intergenerational family who are singers, healers, quilters, foragers, instrument makers, moonshiners and more, along with their eclectic community, Jasmine lives where the mundane and mystical merge every day. The spiritual and ancestral realm are ever present. The veil is thin. The family’s healing work is to lovingly sing people in hospice across the threshold. Their family song is “Every day is H O L Y.” 

Casting for the first full-length reading of Lighthouse of the Singing Birds includes Tony Award winner Lillias White (The Life, Hadestown, Disney’s “Hercules”), Nichelle Lewis (The Wiz on Broadway, Ragtime at Encores), plus stage and screen talents Charlie Burnham (violinist/composer), Starr Busby(Octet, The Beautiful Lady), Jared Wayne Gladly (Aladdin, Frozen), Yayoi Ikawa (jazz pianist/composer), Polanco Jones (The Wiz), Marla Lou (Theater Producers of Color 2023, Hadestown), Matthew D. Morrison (musicologist), and Mercy Viola (cultural worker/performance artist).

Upon announcing Uzuri as the third recipient of the HMTA, 2022 Award Committee member and NYTW Artistic Director Patricia McGregor noted, “When I think of the great orchestration of life, we might miss a note – but when that note reveals itself, when it is given the space to be a part of the orchestration, we are all richer. I’m excited for Imani and what this award can do for her and for this intimate, magical, liberatory, intergenerational piece. I’m also excited for us, and I’m very grateful to the Hermitage because this award is going to allow for this ‘note’ in the great orchestration of life, to sing, live, and breathe in a way that it legitimately might not have without this moment, this opportunity – and we will all benefit so greatly from that.”

Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright, Hermitage Fellow, trustee, and HTMA Juror Doug Wright said of the Hermitage Major Theater Award: “In a challenged theatrical landscape, the Hermitage has done something heroic; they have instituted a brand new, financially generous commission for a playwright of demonstrable achievement to draft a new work. It is one of the premier commissions of its kind, and it could not come at a more auspicious time.”

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 she currently is 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 to an invitation-only audience at MCC Theatre last winter. The Sore Loser is a Faustian comedy set in a bowling alley. It’s a play about power, domination, and the death of the patriarchy – as told through a small-town bowling tournament. Theater-maker and director Shariffa Ali was 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 on in November of 2023, also at MCC Theater. Ali provided an overview and excerpts from this heartwarming and inspiring new play with music, set in a small South African town and inspired by the true story of Shariffa’s longtime friend and collaborator Vuyo Sotashe. 

Olivier Award-winning playwright and librettist Chris Bush (Standing at the Sky’s Edge) was announced in January as the fourth recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award, and the Hermitage will present a workshop reading of her original commission in London in the fall of 2025. The fifth recipient of the HMTA will be announced soon.

Three New Fall Programs Announced

The Hermitage Artist Retreat today announced three additional programs as part of its robust fall season. Newly announced events include a beach program featuring Grammy Award nominee Allison Loggins-Hull and award-winning author Jamila Minnicks on Friday, October 4th on the Hermitage Beach; a special look inside the creative process with Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg with the Royal Palm Players in Boca Grande on November 11th; plus Hermitage-Roundabout Fellow Alex Lin and Hermitage Major Theater Award finalist and UK playwright Sam Steiner at New College of Florida’s Theater Department on November 21st. 

On Friday, October 4th at 5:30pm, Grammy Award-nominated flutist and returning Hermitage alumna Allison Loggins-Hull will split the bill with celebrated author Jamila Minnicks in “Redefining the Instrument” on the Hermitage Beach. Whether the flute or the pen, these two Hermitage Fellows have forged innovative paths in their fields by defying expectation and creating with unique voices. Allison Loggins-Hull is noted for her original compositions and nuanced flute performances, having worked with such luminaries as Hans Zimmer, Lizzo, and her award-winning flute collaboration with Hermitage Fellow Nathalie Joachim – Flutronix. New Hermitage Fellow Jamila Minnicks is writing highly-praised original works of fiction. Her debut novel Moonrise over New Jessup won the 2021 PEN / Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and was a finalist for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Please Note: Previously announced program participant Imani Uzuri had to reschedule and will not be able to join for this event.

On Monday, November 11th at 5pm, Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg will offer insight into his career as a playwright and director with “Craving for Travel: Andy Sandberg @ RPP.” An arts leader, director, performer, and writer, Sandberg has worked across all aspects of the arts and entertainment industry. In this newly announced program, Sandberg brings all his expertise to bear in a conversation focused on the upcoming production of his play Craving for Travel, which is having its Florida premiere produced by the Royal Palm Players. Audiences will hear the inside take on the play’s origins, stories about the original New York production, and how wearing so many different ‘hats’ has informed Sandberg’s current artistic practice. This special event will be presented at the Boca Grande Community Center.

Rounding out November programing, the Hermitage presents “The Structure of Things: Making Theater on Both Sides of the Atlantic,” featuring 2024 Hermitage Major Theater Award finalist Sam Steinerand Hermitage-Roundabout Fellow Alex Lin. This newly announced event will be at New College of Florida on Thursday, November 21st at 1pm, presented in partnership with the College’s Theater Department. From songs to space journalism, Alex Lin is one of the most vibrant voices coming up in the American theater today. The same can be said in the United Kingdom for playwright Steiner, whose acclaimed works like Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons have been performed all over the world, including London’s West End. Meeting for the first time at the Hermitage, these two incredible artists explore the craft of playwriting, their unique journeys to date, and what’s next on their agendas. Audience members are invited to join this cross-continental workshop and masterclass on the art of telling stories. 

Additional highlights of the Hermitage fall season include live events featuring Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), Emmy Award-nominated writer Daniel Goldfarb (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), Pulitzer Prize finalist and Hermitage Major Theater Award winnerMadeleine George (“Only Murders in the Building”), the inaugural McNally Fellow at the Hermitage Zeniba Now, Guggenheim Fellow Kirstin Valdez Quade, Tony-winning Broadway activist and performer Britton Smith, and internationally renowned flutist and composer Claire Chase. These events are presented in partnership with many arts, cultural, and educational institutions throughout the Gulf Coast region, including Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Sarasota Opera, Royal Palm Players, Venice Theatre, New College of Florida’s Theater Department, Johann Fust Library Foundation in Boca Grande, and more.           

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. 

Hermitage and Terrence McNally Foundation Launch the McNally Residency at the Hermitage 

Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat, today announced the launch of the McNally Fellowship at the Hermitage, made possible with generous support from the Terrence McNally Foundation. This new grant is intended to support the residency of an early-career playwright. In collaboration with the McNally Foundation, the Hermitage has selected Zeniba Now as the inaugural honoree.

Zeniba Now, an award-winning writer, musical storyteller, performer, and vocalist from Los Angeles, was selected for the Hermitage’s acclaimed residency program by the organization’s National Curatorial Council, a fourteen-member body that includes two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, Doris Duke Award-winning artistic director Nataki Garrett, and acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Rajiv Joseph, among other luminaries in their respective fields. She was recently named a “Woman to Watch” by the Broadway Women’s Fund.

As part of Zeniba’s residency, the Hermitage will present “Zeniba Now: The Heartsong and Other Experiments” on the Hermitage Beach – Friday, October 18 at 5:30pm. The program will feature original works performed by this singularly talented artist and performer. Crossing mediums and weaving genres, Zeniba Now is introducing audiences to her unique approach to musical storytelling. Along with her work, Zeniba will offer insight into her creative process. The program will also feature remarks from Tony and Olivier Award-winning Broadway producer Tom Kirdahy (Hadestown, Gypsy, Little Shop of Horrors) and Tony Award-winning Hermitage Artistic Director Andy Sandberg.

“The Hermitage is deeply grateful to the Terrence McNally Foundation for their generous support and passionate belief in the work we are doing,” says Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “It has been a joy to collaborate with our friend Tom Kirdahy on a number of special programs, and he’s been such a champion of the Hermitage and its mission. We are honored to celebrate Terrence’s remarkable legacy by providing the gift of space and time to inspiring new voices in the theater, and we’re excited to name Zeniba Now as the first recipient of this honor.”

Tom Kirdahy, a Tony and Olivier Award-winning Broadway producer and the late Terrence McNally’s husband, is the president of Tom Kirdahy Productions and a principal trustee of the McNally Foundation. Among his recent producing credits are the forthcoming revival of Gypsy starring Audra McDonald, the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown, the hit Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors, and Stephen Sondheim’s posthumous musical Here We Are, which starred Tony Award winner and recent Hermitage Fellow Rachel Bay Jones. Kirdahy has also participated in a number of Hermitage programs himself over the past four seasons. 

“We are incredibly proud to support the work the Hermitage is doing,” added Kirdahy. “The Hermitage is a world-class arts incubator – not only for playwrights and theater artists, but for so many extraordinary talents of all different backgrounds and disciplines. The gift they are giving to these innovative and imaginative writers, performers, and artists is invaluable. We are excited for Zeniba Now to continue her creative journey with this Hermitage residency in Terrence’s name.” 

The Terrence McNally Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to supporting bold new voices in the American theater by providing support to early-career playwrights and the institutions that support them. The McNally Foundation’s mission to champion new playwrights aligns with the mission of the Hermitage Artist Retreat: to inspire and foster the most influential and consequential art and artists of our time. Created by legendary playwright/librettist Terrence McNally and supported through the ongoing royalties of his work, the Foundation is also committed to supporting LGBTQ+ causes, as McNally did throughout his life. Following Terrence’s passing, Tom Kirdahy stated that the Foundation would continue the legendary playwright’s “singular legacy of mentorship and activism.”

Zeniba Now is a creator of commercial and independent art and performance. As a writer of musicals, her work includes the musical shorts “Beloved” and “To Be on Hold Forever / Stay on the Line.” Full-length musicals include The Loophole, Take the Lead, and a new musical in development with Disney Theatrical Productions. Audiences can see Zeniba Now in her shows “iQuit: Millennial Retirement Gala” and “Sincerely, Z” on TikTok and YouTube. Her music can be heard on several streaming services, including her new meditative release, “Wholly Chill.” Zeniba Now is the winner of The Jonathan Larson Grant, The Richard Rodgers Award, The Vivace Award, The Thom Thomas Award, and now the inaugural Fellow of the McNally Residency at the Hermitage.

Terrence McNally was an American playwright, librettist, and LGBTQ+ trailblazer, described by TheNew York Times as “the bard of the American Theater.” One of the few playwrights of his generation to successfully pass from the avant-garde to mainstream acclaim, McNally redefined American playwriting for six decades and was the recipient of five Tony Awards (two for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class, two for the books to his musicals Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime, and the 2019 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement). He received the 2011 Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award (he was Vice President of the Guild from 1981 to 2001), the 2015 Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award, a 1996 induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame, and, in 2018, an induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His other accolades include an Emmy Award (Andre’s Mother), two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, four Drama Desk Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, two Obie Awards, and three Hull-Warriner Awards. Terrence was an alumnus of Columbia University and received numerous honorary degrees, including from NYU and Juilliard, where he helped create the playwriting program in 1993. His legacy lives on in his plays, musicals, and operas that continue to be performed all over the world, as well as in his papers, which are kept and open to the public at the Harry Ransom Center in the University of Texas at Austin.