Category: Hermitage Major Theater Award

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. 

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.

Hermitage Announces First Wave of Fall Programming

The Hermitage Artist Retreat today announced the first wave of new programs for its upcoming fall season. Continuing its commitment to innovative year-round arts programming, these events will be presented throughout Sarasota County, from the Hermitage’s beautiful beachfront campus on Manasota Key to the heart of Sarasota’s vibrant downtown arts scene. Hermitage programs introduce world-renowned artists to Florida’s Gulf Coast community for musical performances, candid and engaging conversations, theatrical presentations, literary readings, dance performances, and more.

“This year’s dynamic fall lineup is bringing some truly incredible performers, writers, composers, and artists to our community, delivering more breadth and variety than ever before,” notes Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “With even more artists and events to be announced in the weeks ahead, this season speaks to the extraordinary diversity and expansive creative talents of our renowned Hermitage Fellows. I’ve known and followed the work of some of these brilliant artists for over twenty years, and others are emerging voices in their respective fields whom we’re excited to introduce to the Sarasota community.” 

Each of these hour-long Hermitage programs offers a completely different experience, providing the Gulf Coast community a rare glimpse into innovative works and the creative process behind them. In recent years, the Hermitage has continued to expand the geographic reach and impact of these unique programs. “We look forward to introducing the work of these visionary and celebrated artists from all across the United States to the Gulf Coast region,” added Sandberg. 

On Friday, October 4th at 6pm, 2022 Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA) winner Imani Uzuri will introduce an audience on the Hermitage Beach to an early exploration of her original commission-in-process with “Lighthouse of the Singing Birds: A Sound Meditation.” Hear more about this new commission from 2022 Hermitage Major Theater Award winner Imani Uzuri, the creator of this magical realist musical, and join her in a communal sound meditation, like the ones that permeate the world of Lighthouse of the Singing Birds, as the sun sets on our own Manasota Key Beach. The Hermitage Major Theater Award is made possible with generous support from Flora Major and the Kutya Major Foundation. 

Later in October, Pulitzer Prize, two-time Tony Award, two-time Emmy Award, and Grammy Award-winning Broadway composer Tom Kitt (pictured here; Next to Normal, If/Then) and Emmy Award-nominated writer Daniel Goldfarb (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and HBO Max’s “Julia”) join forces to create theatrical gold as the Hermitage presents “Tom and Daniel Make a Musical.” These multi award-winning artists work across stage and screen to tell some of the most lauded stories of our time. Hear from both of these extraordinary artists as they speak about their process and share some of their original work on Friday, October 25th at 5:30pm on the Hermitage Beach.

As we head into November, the Hermitage is partnering once again with Sarasota County Libraries and Ringling College of Art and Design for the second annual Off the Page Festival, featuring two Hermitage literary programs. Hermitage Fellow Angie Cruz‘s work has been described as “lovely and compelling” (The New York Times Book Review), as well as “poignant” with “nimble prose” (The New Yorker). The author of four novels, her most recent work How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water was chosen for The New York Times’ “100 Notable Books of 2022” and The Washington Post’s “50 Notable Works of Fiction.” Audiences are invited to put their toes in the sand on the Hermitage Beach and hear from this gifted writer as she reads from her work and offers insight into what is next with “How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water: The Works of Angie Cruz” on Friday, November 1st at 5:30pm. Then on Monday, November 4th at 2pm, Hermitage Fellow Elaine Romero will present “Walking the World Within: A Hermitage Playwriting Workshop” at the Elsie Quirk Library Reading Garden. Romero will invite participants to dive deeper into their own self through a series of exercises designed to circumvent writing expectations and lead to finding their own stories within. Writers of all levels are welcome and encouraged to participate; no experience is required. 

Hermitage programs continue into December with Hermitage Major Theater Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Madeleine George (Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building”) at Venice Theatre on Monday, December 9th at 7:30pm. Following a successful presentation in New York, the Hermitage is excited to invite Gulf Coast audiences to experience “The Sore Loser: An Original Comedy,” written by Madeleine George and directed by Mack Brown. A Faustian comedy set in a bowling alley, this story promises to bring the competitor (and the laughs) out of us all. The Sore Loser is a comedy about power, domination, and the death of the patriarchy… as told through a small-town bowling tournament. 

The Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative is an annual residency program focused on supporting the incredibly talented artists frequently featured on Sarasota stages. Now in its third year, this program specifically created for artists representing our community partners is made possible with generous support from the Koski Family Foundation. On Friday, December 13th at 5pm, Anthony Barrese (Sarasota Opera) and Raleigh Mosely II (Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe) will present “Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative: Opera and Theater” at the Sarasota Opera House. Barrese is a celebrated conductor who has worked at concert halls around the world. While in residence at the Hermitage, he is pursuing his passion to meticulously transcribe lost operas so they can be performed by today’s leading companies with new life. He is joined by a frequent performer with WBTT, Raleigh Mosely II, a gifted singer and actor who is making a name for himself as a recording artist, writing and performing his own work. From very different angles, each of these unique and creative forces will share how they make music.

On Tuesday, December 17th at 4pm, Hermitage Fellow and 2024 Guggenheim Fellow Kirstin Valdez Quade will present “An Author Here and Now” at the Johann Fust Community Library in Boca Grande. With her novel The Five Wounds, Quade has created a “propulsive, immersive story that recons wisely with the real cost of redemption.” (The Guardian) This debut novel, which won the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize amongst a host of other honors, follows this author’s story collection Night at the Fiestas, an equally praised work that spans decades without losing a very real sense of place. Also published in The Best American Short Stories, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, hear what is next from this rising star of the literary world whose work “marks a new and exciting chapter in Latinx literature — one that will redefine the term for readers, scholars, and writers.” (The Georgia Review) 

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.

2024 Hermitage Major Theater Award Winner Chris Bush to Present Program on June 7 

The Hermitage Artist Retreat is pleased to announce “Standing at the Beach’s Edge: London to Sarasota” on Friday, June 7th at 6:30pm, presented on the Hermitage Beach. This newly added program features 2024 Hermitage Major Theater Award winner Chris Bush, an Olivier Award-winning playwright, lyricist, and theater maker based in the United Kingdom, in conversation with Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. 

Bush’s impressive body of work includes the hit musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge, which recently 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 earlier this year and has been heralded as “the most exciting new British musical in years” (WhatsOnStage) and “a moving and resonant piece of popular entertainment — magnificent and meaningful.” (The Times) Bush has also received UK Theatre Awards for her shows Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World and The Assassination of Katie Hopkins, celebrated by The Guardian as “an intelligent, thoughtful, and often wryly enjoyable look at the polarization of public debate in the age of social media.” Raised in Sheffield, England, Chris Bush currently lives in London, and this will be her first trip to Sarasota.

Earlier this year, Chris Bush was announced as the winner of the 2024 Hermitage Major Theater Award; she is the fourth recipient of this distinguished international honor. Bush will receive a cash prize of $35,000 USD, an extended residency at the Hermitage, and a workshop presentation in London in 2025. Bush was selected by an Award Committee that 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, an Olivier Award-winning director, longtime Artistic Director of the Kiln Theatre, and newly announced as the incoming Director of the National Theatre. 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 this newly announced Hermitage Beach program on June 7th, Gulf Coast residents can enjoy a candid conversation with a celebrated UK playwright, librettist, and lyricist whom London theatergoers can’t get enough of — Chris Bush. This rising star of the UK theater scene and recent winner of the Hermitage Major Theater Award will share thoughts about her career, making theater in the UK, and how she plans to reimagine Virginia Woolf’s iconic novel Orlando for the 21st century. In describing her intended Hermitage commission, currently titled Orlando (FL), Bush has shared: “This original play will be a story of transformation, translation, and self-determination. The play will follow Lana, a trans woman living in Orlando, Florida, whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of a fantastical stranger. Orlando (FL)aspires to be a queer fantasia – a gloriously funny, angry, and defiant testament to the power of literature and the resilience of LGBTQ+ communities.”

Hermitage programs like this one 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. Due to capacity limitations, registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

UK Playwright and Lyricist Chris Bush Fourth Winner of Hermitage Major Theater Award

Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat, announced today that UK-based playwright and Olivier Award-winning lyricist Chris Bush has been selected as the fourth 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 nonprofit theater commissions in the United States, and now adds the United Kingdom to its expanding international footprint. Bush will receive a cash prize of $35,000, as well as a residency at the Hermitage (Sarasota County, Florida) and a developmental workshop in a major arts capital – which for this commission will be London in late 2025. 

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 is opening this month on the West End and has been described as “the most exciting new British musical in years” by WhatsOnStage and heralded by The Times as “a moving and resonant piece of popular entertainment — magnificent and meaningful.” Bush received a UK Theatre Award for Best Show for Children & Young People for her production Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World and a UK Theatre Award for Best Musical for Assassination of Katie Hopkins, heralded by The Guardian as “an intelligent, thoughtful, and often wryly enjoyable look at the polarization of public debate in the age of social media.” Raised in Sheffield, England, Chris Bush currently lives in London.

“I’m delighted — and still a little surprised — to be the recipient of this year’s Hermitage Major Theater Award,” said 2024 HMTA winner Chris Bush upon receiving the news. “Having spent a lot of my career writing specifically about northern England, I’m excited to shift my gaze across the Atlantic and dive into a new landscape. I’m very grateful to the Hermitage and Flora Major for this opportunity. I hear the weather in Florida is a little better too.” 

“This is the first time a Hermitage commission has been presented to an artist in the United Kingdom,” added Andy Sandberg. “With a goal of bringing this initiative to London, we deliberately selected a committee of preeminent arts leaders in the U.K. who identified four outstanding playwrights among a wealth of worthy theatrical talent, broadening the international reach and impact of the Hermitage and this initiative.”

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 fourth Hermitage Major Theater Award include Natasha Gordon,an Olivier Award-nominated British playwright and actor of Jamaican descent, whose play Nine Night enjoyed a sold-out run at the National Theatre in 2018 before transferring to Trafalgar Studios in 2019; Beth Steel, an award-winning playwright whose new play Till the Stars Come Down is currently running at the National Theatre; and Sam Steiner,an accomplished playwright and screenwriter whose play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons has been performed all over the world and made its West End debut in 2023. Each finalist has been awarded a Hermitage residency and Fellowship, in addition to a cash prize of $1,500.

HMTA winners and finalists are nominated and selected by a jury of visionary and forward-thinking artistic leaders. The 2024 HMTA Award Committee 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-winningCo-CEO of House Productions; and Indhu Rubasingham,an Olivier Award-winning director, longtime Artistic Director of the Kiln Theatre, and newly announced as the incoming Director of the National Theatre.

“The Hermitage Major Theater Award is an incredible opportunity for an artist to develop their craft,” said Michael Grandage, “and Chris Bush is a hugely talented playwright who has already demonstrated that big ideas can change the world. I’m delighted this award will afford her an opportunity to continue to evolve in a fully supported environment.” 

“We were thrilled by Chris Bush’s proposal – by its ambition and articulacy and by its relevance to our world,” added Tessa Ross. “Here is an exciting, brave writer, and we feel very proud to be able to support the next stage of Chris’ journey with this wonderful award.” 

“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,” said Indhu Rubasingham. “I know that Chris will make a really powerful play that I can’t wait to see. Truly, all four finalists are talented and interesting artists worthy of this commission and great success.” 

“Amidst four extraordinary and deserving finalists, Chris Bush confirmed herself to be a passionate theater artist who impressed us all with her compelling and inspiring proposal,” said Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “We are honored to support Chris as she creates this ambitious and inventive new play. I must thank our brilliant and dedicated Award Committee – Michael Grandage, Tessa Ross, and Indhu Rubasingham – for their passion, intelligence, and care throughout this process. I also want to congratulate Natasha Gordon, Beth Steel, and Sam Steiner, each of whom are exceptional playwrights with bold voices and thrilling ideas.”

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. Chris Bush’s commission is expected to receive its first presentation in autumn of 2025 in London.

In describing her intended HMTA commission, currently titled Orlando (FL), Bush shares: “This original play will be a story of transformation, translation, and self-determination. The play follows Lana, a trans woman living in Orlando, Florida, whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of a fantastical stranger. Lana is stuck in a rut; her friendship circle is dwindling, her acting career is going nowhere fast, and she’s ejected from her Doomsday cult for being too unreliable. The world outside is too terrifying for her to deal with, so she opts to self-medicate and disassociate. Then crashing into her life headfirst comes Orlando, the freewheeling, gender-switching protagonist of Virginia Woolf’s iconic novel. Orlando is sexy, confident, unguarded — when Lana is with them, anything seems possible. Together, maybe they could take on the world. Orlando (FL) aspires to be a queer fantasia set against a backdrop of rising hate; a gloriously funny, angry, and defiant testament to the power of literature and the resilience of LGBTQ+ communities.”

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 Bush’s commission, she explains that “Orlando (FL) takes Virginia Woolf’s classic novel as a jumping off point to explore contemporary queer identities. This piece is all about the power of fiction,” notes Bush. “Art can offer us a means of escape, but also become a tool for our own liberation.”

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 acclaimed playwright and “Only Murders in the Building” writer Madeleine George; The New Group’s Director of Artistic Projects, theater-maker, and director Shariffa Ali; and award-winning composer and theater artist Imani Uzuri. 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.

“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 acclaimed 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 commissions. 

Hermitage Presented Two New Commissions from  Madeleine George and Shariffa Ali in NYC  

The Hermitage Artist Retreat (Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO), today released photos from the premiere presentations of newly commissioned works by Madeleine George and Shariffa Ali. George and Ali, the first two recipients of the $35,000 Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA), had readings of their newly commissioned plays in New York at Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater just before Thanksgiving. Developed while in residence at the Hermitage in Sarasota County, Florida, these two new works are wholly original and coming to fruition less than two years after Madeleine George and Shariffa Ali learned of their selection for this distinguished national prize.

The Hermitage Major Theater Award, presented by the Hermitage Artist Retreat and made possible with generous support from the Kutya Major Foundation, recognizes a playwright or theater artist with a commission of $35,000 to create an original full-length work for the stage, as well as providing an extended residency at the Hermitage’s beachfront campus Sarasota County, Florida, plus the chance to present the inaugural workshop presentation of the newly created play in a major arts capital such as New York, London, or Chicago.

Pulitzer Prize finalist and playwright Madeleine George,currently a writer on the hit Hulu series “Only Murders in the Building,” was selected as the first winner of the HMTA by an Award Committee comprised ofLeigh Silverman, Liesl Tommy, and Doug Wright. George presented the first full-length reading of her new play The Sore Loser to an invitation-only audience on Friday, November 17. 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. Casting for The Sore Loser included stage and screen talentsAdam Chanler-Berat (Next to Normal, “Gossip Girl”), Lynda Gravatt (The Bounty Hunter, Delivery Man), Allison Guinn (On the Town, “Only Murders in the Building”), Greg Hildreth (Frozen, Maestro), James Jackson Jr. (A Strange Loop, White Girl in Danger), Matthew Maher (Gone Baby Gone, Captain Marvel), T Mitsock (“Becoming Eve”), Shannon Tyo (The Compeuppance, “30 Rock”), and Joel Van Liew (“FBI”, Limitless). The reading was directed by Mack Brown.

Theater-maker and director Shariffa Ali was selected as the second recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award by Lynn Nottage, David Henry Hwang, and Regina Taylor. Ali shared an in-process presentation of her newly devised work Hero for an invitation-only audience on Monday, November 20, also at MCC Theater. Ali and two of her collaborators, Joanna Evans and Jason Maina, 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. 

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 unrestricted nonprofit theater commissions in the country. George and Ali have each received a cash prize of $35,000, as well as a residency at the Hermitage, plus developmental and financial support for these 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. 

Hermitage Presents New Play Commissions in New York City in November

Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat, announced today that Madeleine George and Shariffa Ali, the first two recipients of the $35,000 Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA), will have presentations of their newly commissioned plays this month in New York at MCC Theater on November 17 and 20. Developed while in residence at the Hermitage in Sarasota County, Florida, these two accomplished theater makers will present workshop readings of their works in New York as part of the commission includes the first presentations in a recognized ‘arts capital.’  

Pulitzer Prize finalist and playwright Madeleine George,currently a writer on the hit Hulu series “Only Murders in the Building,” will be presenting her new comedy The Sore Loser to an invitation-only audience on Friday, November 17th at 4pm. Theater-maker and director Shariffa Ali will share an in-process presentation of her newly devised work, Hero, for invitation-only audiences on Monday, November 20th at 4pm. Both readings will take place at MCC Theater in New York. Each of these original commissions are coming to fruition in less than two years of the recipients learning of their award. 

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. George and Ali have each received 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 nationally recognized arts leaders in the field of theater. The 2021 Award Committee that selected Madeleine George includes Tony Award-nominated director Leigh Silverman, award-winning director of stage and film Liesl Tommy,and Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Doug Wright. The 2022 Award Committee that selected Shariffa Ali includes two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, Tony, Grammy, and Obie Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang, and Golden Globe Award-winning actor and playwright Regina Taylor. 

“It feels like just yesterday we were announcing Madeleine and Shariffa as the recipients of this distinguished honor, and it is incredibly exciting to be seeing their original works already coming to life,” said Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “Madeleine George and Shariffa Ali are two of the theater industry’s most gracious and gifted talents, and we’re honored to play a role in supporting their artistic journeys. The heart and humor in Madeleine’s writing is enhanced by her generous spirit and her deep passion for the theater, and Shariffa Ali is a brilliant force of nature whose inventiveness as a theater maker is enriched by her kindness and her ultra-collaborative process. Bringing these original works to life is a true honor and a gift to the American theater, made possible by the generosity of Flora Major, who has entrusted the Hermitage with invaluable opportunity.”

Written by Hermitage Major Theater Award winner Madeleine George and directed by Mack Brown, 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. The play aims to delight and disarm, even as it draws us into an encounter with our own darkest impulses: the will to dominate that lives inside all of us, out of which the annihilating hierarchies of our world arise. Casting for the first full-length reading of The Sore Loser includes stage and screen talents Adam Chanler-Berat (Next to Normal, “Gossip Girl”), Lynda Gravatt (The Bounty Hunter, Delivery Man), Allison Guinn (On the Town, “Only Murders in the Building”), Greg Hildreth (Frozen, Maestro), James Jackson Jr. (A Strange Loop, White Girl in Danger), Matthew Maher (Gone Baby Gone, Captain Marvel), T Mitsock (“Becoming Eve”), Shannon Tyo (The Compeuppance, “30 Rock”), Joel Van Liew (“FBI”, Limitless).

Devised and directed by Hermitage Major Theater Award winner Shariffa Ali, Hero is a heartwarming and suspenseful play that unfolds during a single, enchanting chapter in the life of a spirited middle school student. In a small South African town, Vuyo and his choir-mates find themselves at the center of an unspoken pact. When the opportunity arises for Vuyo to break from traditional gender norms to showcase his exceptional singing prowess in a national choir competition, the entire community embarks on a remarkable journey of transformation. Surrounded by love and unexpected support, Vuyo discovers a world where acceptance transcends the boundaries of gender and prejudice. Inspired by true events, Hero is a tale of courage, unity, and the extraordinary power of music to challenge societal norms. 

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 could not come at a more auspicious, even urgent time.”

In addition to this newly created commission, the Hermitage Artist Retreat annually awards the prestigious jury-selected Hermitage Greenfield Prize (HGP), comparable commission that rotates each year between the disciplines of theater, music, and visual art. Past recipients in theater have included Aleshea Harris (2021), Martyna Majok (2018), Nilo Cruz (2015), John Guare (2012), and Craig Lucas (2009).

Imani Uzuri announced as third winner of Hermitage Major Theater Award

Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat, announced today that composer and theater artist Imani Uzuri has been selected as the third recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award(HMTA). This national jury-selected prize, established by the Hermitage in 2021 with generous support from the Kutya Major Foundation, offers one of the largest non-profit theater commissions in the country. Uzuri will receive a cash prize of $35,000, as well as a residency at the Hermitage (Sarasota County, Florida) and a developmental workshop in a major arts capital such as New York, Chicago, or London in the fall of 2024. Uzuri, raised in rural North Carolina, is an award-winning composer, vocalist, experimental librettist, improviser, and lyricist.

“I am ebullient, in awe, and overwhelmed with joy and gratitude!” said Imani Uzuri on receiving the news.“I am in reverence and beyond grateful to the Award Committee, to the Hermitage, and to Flora Major and the generous Kutya Major Foundation. I am also thrilled that the Hermitage is committed to ecology, preservation, and community,” Uzuri added. “These are values that are significantly important to me as an artist. Receiving this phenomenal award and residency will enhance my artistic life immeasurably and transform the landscape of my theater career.”

Imani Uzuri, raised in rural North Carolina, is an award-winning composer, vocalist, experimental librettist, improviser, and lyricist. She composes, performs, and creates interdisciplinary works including concerts, ritual performances, albums, sound art installations, and compositions for chamber ensembles, film, voice, and theater (including experimental and musical theater), often dealing with themes of ancestral memory, magical realism, liminality, haunting, Black American vernacular culture, spirituality, and landscape. 

In describing her intended HMTA commission, for which she will be writing original music, lyrics, and book, Uzuri shares: “Lighthouse of the Singing Birds will be an immersive magical realist work of musical theater centering a young Black girl on the precipice of her thirteenth birthday – a special one,” shared Uzuri of her plans for the commission. “She lives in an enchanted lighthouse and bird sanctuary on a small island (populated with elusive wild horses) surrounded by a Sound with a purple beach (made so by coral) off the coast of the Outerbanks in rural North Carolina with her beloved grandmother (matriarch and head lighthouse keeper) and her intergenerational quirky extended family of artists including quilters, singers, moonshiners and instrument makers.”

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 third Hermitage Major Theater Award include Nissy Aya, a playwright, educator, and cultural worker; AnnMarie Milazzo, a Tony and Grammy Award-nominated vocal designer, orchestrator, and composer; and Daniel J. Watts, a Tony Award-nominated actor and theater artist. Each 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 nationally recognized arts leaders in the field of theater. The 2022 HMTA Award Committee included Christopher Burney, a member of the Hermitage Curatorial Council and the outgoing Artistic Director of New York Stage and Film; Patricia McGregor, an acclaimed director and the new Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop; and Jeanine Tesori, a Hermitage alumna and the Tony Award-winning composer of Kimberly Akimbo, Caroline or Change, and more.

February and March Programs Announced

The Hermitage Artist Retreat (Sarasota County, Florida) today announced new programs for February and March of 2023. These events will be presented on the Hermitage’s historic beachfront campus on Manasota Key and throughout Sarasota County. Hermitage programs introduce world-renowned artists to Florida’s Gulf Coast community for candid and engaging conversations, musical performances, play readings, work-in-process showings, and educational opportunities for students and adults.   

Newly announced February and March programs include continuing partnerships with ASALH (Association for the Study of African-American Life and History), Asolo Repertory Theatre, and the Town of Longboat Key, among others. New partnerships include a collaboration with Venice Symphony and the Pops Orchestra, as well as Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center. Featured artists and performers include Hermitage Major Theater Award winner Madeleine George, Tony and Olivier Award-winning producer Tom Kirdahy, Hermitage Prize in Composition at the Aspen Music Festival and School recipient Sofía Rocha, multidisciplinary artist Shannon Finnegan, acclaimed pianist and composer Conrad Tao, acclaimed author Daniel Gumbiner, award-winning theater maker Don Nguyen, groundbreaking jazz vocalist Fay Victor, playwright and screenwriter Stacey Rose, percussionist Lesley Mok, performer and teaching artist Tamara Anderson, and internationally exhibited visual artist B. Ingrid Olson. 

The newly announced programs in February and March begin with “The Art of Producing,” part of the Hermitage “Artists and Thinkers” series and the third in a cycle of popular conversations with Tony and Olivier Award-winning producer Tom Kirdahy. Kirdahy is great champion of new work and a friend to the Hermitage. This event is presented in collaboration with the Town of Longboat Key, where Mr. Kirdahy resides part of the year, as well as Asolo Repertory Theater where his work was recently seen on stage with Hood: A Robinhood Musical. This candid conversation between Kirdahy and fellow Tony Award winner Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage, will offer insight into the often-hidden role a producer plays in bringing shows to life on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and London’s West End, as well as the touring and regional market. Presented at Longboat Key’s Bayfront Park as the sun sets over Sarasota Bay on Friday, February 3 at 5pm. 

“Mastering the Monologue,” with theater maker Don Nguyen, is a masterclass on the often-tricky task of writing and performing a monologue. Presented in collaboration with New College of Florida on Friday, February 17 at 5pm, this intimate engagement at the New College campus in Sarasota provides a rare opportunity to observe both the performance of theatrical text and a dissection of its inner workings. A recipient of the New York Stage and Film Founder’s Award, Don Nguyenis a multifaceted artist whose plays are “intriguing and empathetic” (Seattle Times) with “a genuine sweetness” (The New York Times).

“Jazz and Theater: Keeping the Beat” reunites the Hermitage with the Manasota chapter of ASALH at the Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center to present Jazz vocalist Fay Victor and playwright Stacey Rose. Presented at Fogartyville’s hybrid indoor-outdoor space on Thursday February 23 at 5pm, this program combines the unparalleled stylings of Fay Victor with the biting wit of Stacey Rose. With her scat stylings recognized by The New York Times as “her own hybrid of song and spoken word,” Fay Victor will share improvisatory work and speak about her career as a musical artist breaking boundaries. With a focus on “life as the other,” playwright and screenwriter Stacey Rose’s work has been seen on stages and screens across the United States including Barrington Stage, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in New York, and Fox’s 9-1-1.  

On Thursday, March 2 at 5:30pm, Tamara Anderson, Lesley Mok, and B. Ingrid Olson put the Hermitage’s multidisciplinary mission on display with “Tell and Show: Art and Performance Expressing Identity.” Working across different mediums but all using material from their own lives to inform the substance of their craft, each will share work and discuss their artistic process. Tamara Anderson has been seen on stage and screen and celebrated for her charm, humor, and impressive vocals. Lesley Mok’s innovative and dynamic compositions have been performed by such leading ensembles as the International Contemporary Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble, and JACK Quartet. Visual artist B. Ingrid Olson’s works have been exhibited around the world including the MoMa in New York, Harvard’s Carpenter Center, the Aspen Art Museum, and i8 Gallery in Reykjavík.

Hermitage Major Theater Award Winner Madeleine George has a gift for delivering a powerful message in a joyous package, which she will speak about with Hermitage audiences in “Comedy and Community” on Friday, March 10 at 5:30pm. Like her work on Hulu’s hit television series “Only Murders in the Building,” or her plays Hurricane Diane and the Pulitzer Prize finalist The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence, her commission-in-process promises to tackle cultural and systemic mores all in the high stakes world of amateur bowling. With her unique blend of comedy and heart, George will share prior work and discuss her goals for the new HMTA commission, as well as how she hopes it will help to build and enhance a sense of community.

Sofía Rocha, the 2022 recipient of the Hermitage Prize in Composition presented at the Aspen Music Festival and School, shares her original musical compositions as part of the Hermitage “Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” series in “Making Musical Waves.” Rocha, no stranger to Florida having grown up in Naples, has studied and presented work across the United States with noted ensembles such as JACK Quartet, DeCoda, loadbang, and Brentano String Quartet, among others. For this musical program on Thursday, March 16 at 6:30pm, the Hermitage is partnering with the Venice Symphony and the Pops Orchestra to offer live performances of this next-generation composer’s nuanced and evocative work, all with unique insights from the creator, set against the backdrop of the botanical gardens. This season of “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” is sponsored in part by Scene Magazine.     

Nearly 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 and social distancing, registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.