The Orlando Shakes is presenting Little Shop of Horrors at the Lake Eola Band Shell through May 23, 2021. The Shakes is doing a good job at making these outdoor performances as safe as possible during this pandemic. Since the last time I was at the bandshell, the CDC had updated it’ policy on the use of masks saying it is fine to not wear a mask when outside. Last time I was at a performance here everyone in the audience had to wear a mask. This time they were told they could remove the masks once seated but put it on again when they got up. Pam and I kept out masks on though more than half the audience removed their masks during the show.

I got to study the set for some time before the show started. I loved posters that were added to the skid row walls that announced Spores! The spores pictured vastly resembled the COVID virus. The opening number had a full line of people in hazmat suits singing about a threat to our very existence. That was an added layer of pure genius to make the show particularly timely.

I am very familiar with the show and loved the casting choices made. This cast really could belt out the songs as well. The true star was Audrey 2 who was performed in glorious flamboyant drag with a pink gig, metallic green dress and plenty of bling. The plant itself was circular and opened slit-wise up and down like a vagina rather than a jaw.

When Mushnick mentioned red spatter on the flower shop floor, I flung some red spatters of paint at the sketch. For this show the loud automotive noises from downtown seemed to blend nicely with the skid row squalor of the show. The music of Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman are memorable.

This piece was originally started as a demo for my virtual digital illustration students at Elite Animation Academy. As I was painting, I started thinking about the strategy of chess, where you sacrifice many pawns to win the game. To date about 336,000 have been sacrificed as the POTUS practiced a strategy of herd immunity.

By politicizing the wearing of masks the POTUS guaranteed deaths. By contradicting public health experts, he created a divide among those that practice safety precautions and those that ignore all safety guidance. The nation has never been so divided, there is only black and white with no middle ground or swaying opinion with reasoning or thought.

Rather than swim upstream, health expert are quitting because they can not face the antagonism and threats of violence. Hospitals are being overwhelmed by people who refuse to accept that they have contracted the virus. The crisis could have been avoided but it continues to get worse just as the promise of vaccinations are on the horizon. People are scrambling to try and get the vaccine before it is too late. The rich are trying to bribe their way into getting the shots and in Florida those 65 and older are being offered the vaccine before front line health workers. My doctors office just sent out a mass e-mail letting everyone know that they do NOT have the vaccine. They must be getting an overwhelming number of requests. My older sister in south Florida has been trying to find where she can get her shots but keeps running across brick walls. There is a site set up to schedule appointments for vaccine shots and it was overwhelmed and shut down from all the traffic. COVID-19 broke the internet.

When Van Gogh shot himself in the corn field, black crows rose up from the crop, their black wings cutting across the sky. Mitch McConnell put a hold on a COVID relief bill for Americans unable to decide if each person should get $600 or $2000. For many it is too little too late.

The girl walks up the aisle. She passes by a single empty seat half way up the aisle and instead walks back to to Sam who is four rows from the back. I finished animation on this scene and it worked out well. She turns towards Sam at the end and then I cut on the action to the next shot of her getting seated. The animation is getting looser and more spontaneous. I don’t have to hide the ruff nature of my drawings it remains in the final edit.

This short film will be on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) from October 3, 2020 to February 14, 2021 in the new exhibition titled, Yesterday This Was Home about the 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire for moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, we have implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. These procedures go into effect after October 3, 2020. For the run of the exhibition, we will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays after October 3, we will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets for timed entry are now available.