Four shows will make up the third annual Performing Arts Series at FL's Caldwell Theatre Company, including a clarinet-based memoir, an improv troupe, a Van Gogh bio and an actor's struggle with polio.
The Series begins Jan. 12 with clarinetist Bess de Farber & composer Craig D. Ames' Composing A Heart, which looks at the paradox of growing up Jewish and non-Cuban Hispanic in 1960s Miami. Spoken word mixes with original music (clarinet and piano) in this piece, playing Jan. 12 & 19. "A true story with music. It's not really a concert, it's not really a play. It's kind of hard to describe in conventional terms. But it's a conversation with music that is, in the end, a tribute to parents" said Caldwell spokesperson Jim Reams.
Up next (Feb. 2 &9) come the ComedySportz improv troupe, wherein "you might see a Broadway musical about the time your car got towed, or a Shakespearean play about taking out the garbage" (says the company's self-proclaimed "marketing guy," Adam Sietz.
March 16 & 23 brings The Polio Boxer, starring Roger Freeman in his own story; that is, a man who loses the use of his right leg to polio. Jeff Whipple wrote the script for this true-life drama, which is set in a boxing ring as a metaphor for the frustrations and fears (the symptoms might return) Freeman confronts daily.
Ending the series, April 27 & May 4, is the solo Vincent, about the relationship between painter Vincent van Gogh and his brother, Theo. Dan Leonard plays both roles in this solo, as Lynette Barkley directs this drama by Leonard Nimoy (of "Star Trek" renown). An extension of the Caldwell's Outreach Program, the Performing Arts Series runs Jan. 12-May 4. For tickets call (561) 241-7432.
-- By David Lefkowitz
