Jessica Domingo Going Away Party

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Jessica Domingo joined the Orange County Regional History Center in the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub shooting.She specifically joined the staff to help in cataloguing and preserving all of the memorial items collected from the Dr Phillips Center of the Performing Arts, Lake Eola and Pulse. This was a monumental task  since there were so many memorial items left and and the constant Florida rains, humidity and bugs made preserving the collection a challenge. She spent most of her time at the museum’s offsite storage facility which is in a huge warehouse.

When Hurricane Irma hit Orlando in 2017 as a category 2 storm, the warehouse roof was damaged when a rooftop access portal the size of a manhole cover was blown free and the heavy cover ripped holes in the flat roof. Unfortunate some Pulse memorial items were on the floor as they were being triaged for conservation and cataloging. Ceiling panels from the interior ceiling soaked up water leaking from the roof and fell to the floor exploding like wet bombs. Items on the floor got soaked. Pam Schwartz the museum head curator was on the scene shortly after the storm passed and assessed the damage. The staff was quickly called in to help clean up the damage. I was on site to help by making a pile of all the ceiling panels and debris  while leaving the artifacts for the museum staff to recover.

Water caused mold to build up inside the off site facilities walls and dehumidifiers were moved in and all the interior walls had to be replaced while protecting the collection with floor to ceiling plastic tarps. All of that is to say that Jessica’s job became all the more important after hurricane Irma. Conservation of memorial items did not include trying to flatten paper documents from water damage. The everyday Florida rains had already soaked and wrinkled any papers left at memorial sites. However mold could not be allowed to spread. Which reminds me I have a small pile of paintings and sketches which were also damaged by hurricane Irma. Water blew its way in through my downtown studio apartment windows soaking a small stack of art I had left near the window. I am sill debating if that work will end up in a landfill since it is damaged with black mold.

Jessica has family out west and her grandmother needed care so she decided she had to leave Orlando. A party was held at Pam Schwartz’s home. I sketched briefly between food and games. Whitney Broadaway‘s child had a game that everyone played, it involved a maze that kept moving making it a challenge for players to collect the items needed to win. I played a round after the sketch was put a side and it was a fun game.

After Hurricane Irma Jessica allowed Pam and myself to come over her place for a shower and a bit to eat.  It is when there is an emergency when true friend step up. Since moving Jessica had had a child herself. It is a shame that really good and talented friends keep getting pulled away from Orlando.

Call Responders Audrey Davidson and Evalyn Casper

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This post discusses the shooting that took place at the Pulse
Nightclub on June 12, 2016. It contains difficult content, so please do
not read on if you feel you may be effected. 

This article and sketch have been posted with the express written
permission of the interviewees. Analog Artist Digital World takes the
privacy and wishes of individuals very seriously. 

Audrey Davidson stated that, training to become a 911 operator took five weeks followed with on the floor training for three months. Over 1000 hours of training were involved. She was a 911 operator when Pulse happened. Evalyn Casper used to watch Rescue 911 as a child religiously so growing up she thought 911 operators were pretty cool. She knew someone at the sheriffs office and they suggested she apply. Milestones in her career always seem to surrounded big events. She was hired at the sheriffs office on September 11, 2002 one year after the attack on the World Trade Center. She liked that this job allowed her to really apply herself and work her way up. All the training was offered on a platter. She was hungry for everything taking every course offered. She started training others. On June 12, 2017 she was promoted as supervisor on year after the Pulse shooting.

Being a 911operator is a stressful job. The highest stress comes when operators are inundated with a high volume of calls.  Everyone has cell phones now, so that even a back up on I-4 can generate a huge number of calls that can shut them down. An operator is supposed to systematically treat each call the same. When there are so many calls rolling it it becomes difficult. Even if you had 300 calls about the same incident you still have to process it like it is a new call. The next call might be the one that saves a life.

The day before Pulse they worked a similar overnight shift from about, 6:30pm to 6:30am. Evalyn was training a guy, it was his third day, so she was on the 911 desk. She let her trainee know that Saturday nights can get a little crazy. She advised her trainee that if things got fast paced she would move him over so she could process the calls faster. Everyone has a cell phone, and everybody is a witness so they could get flooded with calls. Most calls are verbal arguments and batteries.

Typically with a shooting there is a spurt of calls and usually the police are there within minutes. People see the lights and sirens and the calls stop. Most who call haven’t seen the incident as it happened. A 911 Operators questioning is very limited. First get the address, get the suspect description, see if the suspect is still there. The police make sure the scene is clear for fire and rescue to come in.

Audrey said that on June 12, 2016, the phones were ringing off the hook.  The fist call she got was from a guy that said, “There was a shooting at Pulse.” Pulse is not in Orange County Sheriff‘s jurisdiction, it is in Orlando Police Department‘s jurisdiction. So she transferred him over to Orlando Police. While she was waiting for Orlando Police to pick up, she thought to herself, “Pulse is a really weird place for a shooting. Pulse is just not the kind of place where a shooting would happen.” The call rang back into their com center. When OPDs phones get overwhelmed their calls all roll over to the Sheriffs call center. Their lines were overwhelmed so calls sent to them just bounced back with other another Sheriff’s operator picking up. The first time she realized it was an active shooter was when a supervisor stood up and told everyone, “There is an active shooter at Pulse.” Information needed to be picked up for every call, then move on to the next call. All the calls blurred together, “Do you have any information you can tell us? Can you tell where he is? Can you tell me what he looks like? If they said, no, the caller would be told that Sheriffs were on the way and the operator had to move on to the next call.

One call stood out for Audrey.  A woman was calling from a 7-11 in the heart of OPD jurisdiction. She was calling about a man who was drunk outside of her store. Obviously the operators had bigger problems at the time. Her information was gathered, what he looked like what he was doing. Audrey had to inform her that they were responding to a very large scale incident at the time. She told the woman to lock the door if he was outside. The very next call was from someone inside the bathroom at Pulse. Operators were informed to collect information and then hang up the phone, but she couldn’t hang up the phone on someone who was dying in a bathroom. He was someone she could have known. That could have been her, she had been to that nightclub. While talking to him, she started crying. She told him, “I’m sorry this happened to you.” She just wanted him to know that someone cared about what happened to him. She couldn’t get his name because he was whispering and the shooter was in the bathroom. It was hard. She stayed on the phone until it went silent. The call was maybe a couple off minutes but it felt like an eternity.

911 operators talk to people all the time who are very hysterical and have been in horrible situations, who have been shot, but the reality is they never speak to someone who is dying. Usually it is other people calling in. That call from the Pulse bathroom was difficult. She is glad she got a chance to let him know she cared. But it was the worst day of her life. It was the worst day for many people. It was hard.  Many family members were calling in wanting to know about their loved ones. A list was started of family names and phone numbers so families could be contacted if needed.  But they still didn’t know how many people were in the nightclub. About 4am the calls started dying off. On a short break, Evelyn called some friends to make sure they were OK. On the beak it all seemed surreal. It was so big, it was hard to process what had just happened. They were still in this limbo of not knowing the official count. They had to go back to their desks and start taking other calls until the shift was over at 6am.

Evalyn remembered that for two solid hours, no one took a break. There are 15 lines. Nobody got off the phones, no one broke down and left. It was upsetting, but everyone kept processing the calls. Usually when an operator takes a difficult call they can walk off the floor for a bit and regain their composure, but there just wasn’t time. All the calls were coming from a particular cell tower on Esther Street. So they all knew that all the calls were related. Evalyn took over for her trainee. The first call was from Duncan Donuts, They claimed that a shot came through their glass or they were hearing shooting. That call was transferred to OPD. All the circuits were busy. The next call was a mom, who was hysterical, wanting to know where her son was. She could not help her. She just wanted to stay on the phone and cry, but she couldn’t. The next call was a guy hiding in a closet inside Pulse, he kept saying, “Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”  The guy Evalyn was speaking to was whispering. He was in
the upstairs closet. She told him “Just stay were you are. Don’t move,
don’t move, don’t move.” What else could she tell him? There is no
script.

Many were worried it would take some time to get inside. In reality compared to normal it took them very little time. Afterwards they found out what happened. At the time they didn’t have any information to give people. All they could say was, “We are there, we are coming, we are going to help you.” There had never been a active shooter in Orlando on that scale.  There is no protocol. Hang ups were not called back which they usually do. There were too many calls. They had to change their gears and triage things themselves. 400 hours of training stipulate that operators should stay on a call in an emergency situation until deputies arrive and are with the caller. But no call that night could be completed in that way. That left operators having to hang up the phone.

While Audrey cried, Evalyn remembered shaking uncontrollably. The adrenaline was running through her. She tried to make herself stop shaking but that made it worse. Despite this, she kept typing, and talking. She was on auto pilot. After their shift was over they had a debriefing. The critical incident stress management team came in and everyone talked about what just happened. It was quiet and surreal. Everyone felt numb. They stressed that it was alright open up to the feelings that would come. They shouldn’t mask anything or hide anything. There were people crying. Management also advised them to not watch the news.

When Evalyn got home she texted her mom who was asleep. “You are going to see something on the news, we worked this call, we are OK.” Around 7am they fell asleep. When they got up the next day for the next shift, they found out that a
lot more people than they thought had been killed in the club. Evalyn woke up to about 27 missed calls. They didn’t go in to work the next day. They started seeing just how many people had been shot and the reality sank in. They were angry.

They went to the vigil at Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. It felt good to be out in the community. It was somber, but also it was good to see that everyone was together. There was a feeling of collective support. The shooting directly affected everyone in that we are all Orange County citizens, not everyone was from the LGBT community but they were still there. Muslims, Hispanics, Pastors, all gathered together. It seemed that everyone came and converged into Orlando from other parts of the country. Then the church bells rang 49 times. That was brutal. That was probably the worst feeling listening to that. They went back to work the following Thursday still feeling a bit angry.

There was a lot of pomp and circumstance. It was like a circus. Many wanted to reach out and congratulate them, thank them for their service. Politician, Rick Scott, went to their com center walking around while they were taking calls. Audrey couldn’t shake his hand, she was so mad. There was no sense of normalcy. For the longest time they were getting recognition. It felt like they were getting too much attention. While they shook Rick Scott’s hand, HR was telling them that they would have to have therapy. They were required to go to 3 sessions of therapy with a psychologist. Its not just about the trauma of the shooting but everything else bubbled to the surface. They gave different ways of coping, like grounding yourself. Mainly they said, “Don’t beat yourself up for feeling the way you do.”

At the one year remembrance at Lake Eola, they got to hug the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. They saw the Mural that was painted. They sang and then the angels came out and then they announced the names again. It was cool to see the families cheering when their loved one’s name was called. They recently stopped by the Pulse temporary memorial and walked around. They cried when they saw the breech in the wall, from the swat team, it was surreal to see how they it was showcased. It suggested that this how lives were saved but this is also how it all ended.

IMMERSE: The Art of Athleticism

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Pam Schwartz and I explored IMMERSE on Friday night. We started at the north end and walked our way down Orange Avenue towards the Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. The first stage had a monumental Red Bull truck parked behind the stage pumping out the tunes. Red Bull BC One Cypher dance performances didn’t start until 7pm so we continued on our way south. In the former entry to City Arts Factory, Ha’Ani Hogan had set up a tall wall of paper flowers which made a great photo backdrop. A mom was photographing her son as we walked by. Quite a few artists were working on free standing 6 foot tall walls creating murals.

The next block had the large Massey Stage with an exuberant dance company which I believe was the LMHS Unity Step Team.   As we walked behind the stage the dancers moved to the loud drum beats of The Mood Designers. I noticed a volcano belching flames and smoke a block further south so we kept moving forward. The volcano seemed like it should make a good sketch subject but it was fenced off on all sides, keeping any people out of the scene and possible sketch. Since I had sketched Architect of Air the day before we headed that way. An aerialist was spinning on some silks in front of City Hall but it seemed like a rehearsal not drawing any crowds as of yet.

I had sketched the inflatable structure that housed The Art of Athleticism the year before but noting was happening inside. There fore I was extra curious to see what it was all about this year. When we entered we saw a crowd of people dancing in front of a large screen. Each persons silhouette could be seen on the screen in bright colors like orange and blue. When they moved their arms, arcs of brilliant blue, orange and magenta would be drawn on the screen following their moves. If they moved fast enough blue sparks would shoot across the screen along with vibrant yellow splatters. This was a great opportunity to people watch. Most adults lost interest rather fast but the young at heart and kids could be entertained for an  extended time. As I sketched Pam watched the Dr Phillips Stage which had a Raymi Dance Company. She had never seen anything like it so I was a bit sad that I didn’t catch that performance. When I finished the sketch the Orlando Ballet was performing a lively modern dance routing along with fast paced turn of the century french tunes. Robert Hill has done an amazing job of transforming the dance company so that they appeal to a younger audience. There was sass and attitude that I loved. Vampires ball is coming up at the Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and the ballet director let the crowd know that it is a show not to be missed.

It was dark by the time my sketch was done so we explored Immerse by waling our way back north, seeing each staging area a second time but now in the romantic mysterious night. Between Jackson and Church streets, there was a black structure covered with chalk drawings done by everyone passing by. Every square inch was covered in brightly colored chalk drawing. Inside was a series of rooms that were intending to explore the senses. The first room smelled like a camp fire. We ducked under a black cloak into the next room that was filled with sounds. Another room was covered in mirrors and had bright Chinese lanterns. Then a final room had spices, fruits and various farmers market items each of which could be touched.

We waited for a dance performance to begin at the Church street stage but there were technical difficulties that kept the dancers just stretching on the stage. Further down Church street there were several areas set up like live TV recording studios. A band was set up and playing really loud so the broadcasts must have been on hold. A narrow alley way was set up with collages by Christie McLennan that seemed to be a statement about pop culture. Butterflies spread their wings and took flight from this collage world spreading up the walls. The title of this piece was Wasteland. Despite spending several hours exploring IMMERSE, I know we only got to see and experience a fraction of what was there.

Architects of Air at Immerse

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This huge Luminaria appeared on the Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Seneff Plaza for this year’s Immerse. To me it looked like an odd space craft had landed or it looked like a spiked Madonna of Katie Perry outfit. Regardless they were colored like bright balloons. Since 1992 more than 3 million visitors in over 40 countries across 5
continents have been welcomed into Architects of Air’s monumental Luminaria, immersed in radiant color that comes simply from daylight
shining through the fabric.

Designed by company founder Alan Parkinson, the Luminaria is inspired
by natural forms, geometric solids, Islamic and Gothic architecture.
Each new creation is a maze of winding paths and inspiring domes where
the visitors may lose themselves in sensory bliss. Each section consists of opaque area and then translucent area that act like stained glass that glows bright in the strong Florida Sun. I imaging the set up must have resembled the raising of a circus tent.

I went to a media soft opening a few days before Immerse opened. I assumed that the plastic might not be conducive to the legs of my artist stool, So I sketched the domes from across the street. Media crowed into the yellow entry staging area and they each had to take off their shows and put them in racks for safe keeping while they explored inside. The various room structures seem to be zippered together like a sleeping bag. The media crowds had dispersed so I got to wander around inside with on crowds to add any sense of claustrophobia. Air conditioned air was pumped in to keep the structures full and comfortable. The round halls connected the various larger rooms in flowing lines and bright light. It was tempting to just sit and relax and read a book but I knew that the preview was drawing to a close.

I quickly found myself disoriented and decided to keep turning left figuring it would lead me back to the room I entered.  I didn’t recognize the entry room but  the attendant opened a portal to let me back out into the real world. The attendants outside wanted to see my sketch and were appreciative of my efforts. I later earned that a ticket to wander inside cost $20, so I am more grateful for the chance to experience this structure firsthand. Should Architects of Air ever return I hope to allow time to sketch inside to capture people as they are mesmerized by the light and color of this organic flowing space.

Fiddler on the Phone

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For two weeks this past spring, D.C.-based performance artist Brian Feldman was back in Orlando to celebrate 15 years of his performance based art with a series of new and returning projects. Brian did a series of performances while he was in Orlando. Brian did a series of performances while he was in Orlando. At one of the performances called Knives Out, Brian asked me if I knew of any pay phones in Central Florida where he could stage his new pay phone musical. Sounds crazy right? Pay phones are a dying breed in this digital world, but after searching for days, Brian did find one, only a few block from where he used to live in Orlando outside of the Sunco Gas station at the corner of Edgewater and Fairbanks.

Brain explained that, in the spirit of Fiddler on the Roof,  he would begin his performance right at sunset.  I was working on the Ivanhoe Brewery mural at the time. Pam Schwartz and I ordered some food from a food truck and it slowly became clear that the people inside were new to the job. My dish came out but Pam’s was held up and people who had ordered before us were still waiting. She told me to drive up to the pay phone booth since the sun was quickly setting. Luckily Brain was a few minutes late as well which is actually rather a tradition when it comes to his perfomances.

The pay phone was at a 7-11 convenience store. Brian set up a music stand and several LED light strips inside the phone booth so he could see the script from Fiddler. His idea was to sing the entire show over the pay phone to people who had signed up in advance for a call. Pam had signed up for a call, but joined me as I went to the pay phone to sketch. This  is where the real theatrical magic happened, as noisy trucks and motorcycles buzzed by on the crowded roadway. This was the third time I sketched Brian at a gas station, and knowing him, I’m sure it will not be the last. Brian is infamously known for not having a car.

Several people didn’t pick up their phones, perhaps forgetting they had signed up and thinking the call might be a telemarketer. Brian then called Pam, even though she was 10 feet away. We both could hear the performance live and she heard it from her cell phone, perhaps creating a unique stereo effect. Brian’s performance was lighthearted and fun. He would read the parts for every character leading up to each musical number.

At the same time, the Broadway tour of Fiddler on the Roof was playing five miles away at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for June 8 and 9, 2019

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Saturday June 8, 2019

11:30am to 1pm Free. Firelei Báez Artist Talk and Book Signing.  The Mennello Museum of American Art 900 E Princeton St, Orlando, Florida 32803. Artist
Firelei Báez will present a FREE talk, on the occasion of the Mennello
Museum of American Art’s new exhibit IMMERSION INTO COMPOUNDED TIME AND
THE PAINTINGS OF FIRELEI BÁEZ.
Please RSVP at bit.ly/fireleiartisttalk
Báez
is best known through her extraordinary paintings of lush
landscaped-figures, intricately patterned tignons, and otherworldly
bodies with striking eyes. Here, she considers the reality of ones
current social and the historic construction of cultural self in
America. These complex, inter sectional bodies and symbols alongside
large-scale portraits are painted in vibrant, swirling colors, which
intermingle time and character. For Báez, “identity is malleable,
negotiated,” and given strength by the female body and mythology of her
being.
IMMERSION INTO COMPOUNDED TIME AND THE PAINTINGS OF
FIRELEI BÁEZ is curated by Katherine Navarro, Mennello Museum of
American Art. A fully illustrated bilingual catalog on the exhibition
has been published, and will be available for purchase and artist
signing.
Firelei Báez was born in Santiago de los Caballeros,
Dominican Republic. She earned her BFA at The Cooper Union School of Art
in 2004, participated in The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
in 2008, and later earned her MFA at Hunter College in 2010. Báez
currently lives and works in New York City. She has held residencies at
The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace, The Lower East Side
Print Shop and The Bronx Museum’s Artist in the Marketplace. Báez has
had solo exhibitions at Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Pérez Art
Museum Miami, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, and the Kemper Museum
of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, among others. Báez was included in the
2018 Berlin Biennial, the United States Biennial Prospect.3, New
Orleans, the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time’s LA>LA exhibition at the
Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles and at the 2017 Venice
Biennale with the Pinchuk Art Foundation’s Future Generation’s Art Prize
exhibition. Her work is in the collections of the BNY Mellon Art
Collection, Pittsburgh, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Pérez Art Museum,
Miami, Sindika Dokolo Foundation Collection, Luanda, Angola, San Jose
Museum of Art, San Jose, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, and
Tiroche DeLeon Collection, Jaffa, Isreal. She is currently represented
by Kavi Gupta, Chicago and James Cohan, New York.

6:30 Silent Auction, 7pm Show. $20 General Admission. Play in a Day. Lake Howell High School 4200 Dike Road, Winter Park, Florida 32792.

Beth Marshall Presents PIAD 2019
This year’s PIAD features all women writers, directors and stage managers.
100 artists
78 women/22 Men
All proceeds benefit the BMP Theatre Scholarship Fund & TOP TEENS!
Sponsored by Pom Pom’s Tea House and Sandwicheria and Penguin Point Productions
Cost: VIP $25 (Front Two Rows/ Advance Seating/Raffle Tickets/First Dibs on Silent Auction)
General Audience-$20
Students-$10
*This show is asterisks for everything, so if this offends you, please take the time to leave now.
Tickets on Sale Now at BethMarshallPresents.com
PIAD PRODUCTION LEADERSHIP TEAM
Producing Artistic Direction – Beth Marshall
Production Stage Manager – Blue Estrella
Assistant Producer – Clark Levi
Assistant Production Manager – Gabriel Neil Barnert
Technical Director/Light Design – Jordan Laica
Assistant Technical Director – Dylan Molitor
Program/Logo/Projection Design – Ben Lowe
Box Office Manager – Chris Foster
Front of House/Silent Auction Manager – Jacyln Thomas
Assistant Front of House/Raffle Manger – Theresa Rogers
Website Manager – Winona Wiley
HOST
PEPE’ (In Drag as a Woman)
JUDGES
Kristen Neander
Andy Haynes
George Wallace
WRITERS/DIRECTORS/STAGE MANAGERS/ACTORS
TEAM 1
Writer: Irene L. Pynn
Director: Ashley Sox
Stage Manager: Kendall Myers
Actors: Josh Lefkowitz, Robert Cuhna, Jacoline Frank, Caiti Fallon, Alexa Carroll
TEAM 2
Writer: Katie Thayer
Director: Christine Robison-Laurence
Stage Manager: Emerson Short
Actors: Sharon Barnert, Sierra Vennes, Brenna Arden, Katie Stokes, Peri Goldberg
TEAM 3
Writer: Grace Trotta
Director: Veronica Nia Kelly
Assistant Director/Stage Manager: Kaitlyn Harrington
Actors: Alicia Salgado, Avis-Marie Barnes, Jazzlyn Whiddon, Matthew Gray
TEAM 4
Writer: Tracey Jane
Director: Roberta Emerson
Stage Manager: Olivia Winslow
Actors: Bennet Preuss, Ken Preuss, Melanie Leon, Jac Ledoux
TEAM 5
VOCI DANCE
Choreographer/Director: Genevieve Bernard
Dancers: Sarah Lockard, Katrina Soricelli, David Gabriel, Katherine Fabian
TEAM 6
Writer: Chanel Gomaa
Director: Jessica Hoehn
Stage Manager: Caitlin Eriser
Actors: Joshua Huff, Laura Powalisz, Anthony Morehead, Sarah Isola
TEAM 7
Writer: Vanessa Carmona
Director: Gail Chase
Stage Manager: Madisen Mckenzie
Actors: BeeJay Aubertin-Clinton, Noel Gates, Michelle Kurtiak, Tiffany Marie Ortiz
TEAM 8
Writer: Rose Helsinger
Director: Mackenzie Borglum
Assistant Director/Mentor: Paige Gober
Actors: Jackson Chase, Hanna Swindler, Vangeli Tsompanidis, Camryn Chiriboga
TEAM 9
Writer: Ciara Hannon
Director: Tara Kromer
Assistant Director/Stage Manager: Shonda L. Thurman
Actors: Eislinn Gracen, Bella Crider, Chloe Shaw, Delaney Polk
PRODUCTION CREWS
Stage Crew:
Leah Klasing
Dana Huss
Brooke Adragna
Justin Daniels
Quinn Hoeck
Jade Pryor
Props Crew:
David Brinkley
Meg Quiroga
Costume Crew:
Abby Lamarre
Meridith Clure
Ariana De Jesus
Isis Gonzalez
Emma Johnson
Allison Smith
Lindsea Loughlin
House Crew:
Concessions Manager/SM Swing – Destiny Sam
Usher/Raffle – Emillie Scheetz
Usher/Raffle – Faith Ridgeway
Silent Auction – Stella Maria Rodriguez-Fernandez
Silent Auction – Destiny Gonzalez
House – Nikolaj Thankski
House – Lindsea Loughlin

7:30pm to 11:30pm Welcome Potluck for Deirdre Coyle. Kerouac House 1418 Clouser Ave, Orlando, Florida 32804.

You
are invited to join us in welcoming Kerouac House Summer resident
Deirdre Coyle. This event is a potluck dinner, so please bring something
to eat and/or drink and share.
Deirdre Coyle is a writer living
in Brooklyn. Her fiction and essays have appeared in The New Republic,
Electric Literature, Literary Hub, Hobart, Joyland, and elsewhere. She
is a columnist at Unwinnable Monthly. Her website is DeirdreCoyle.com.

Sunday June 9, 2019

12:30pm to 2:30pm Free. Love and Kindness on the Lawn.  Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts 445 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, Florida 32801.

Join the
One Orlando Alliance at the Seneff Plaza in downtown Orlando as we gather in gratitude
to celebrate community and the spirit of #OrlandoUnited!
This
free event is a time to enjoy local music, food trucks, share some hugs
and create happy memories while remembering those who continue to need
our love and support.
At 1:30 p.m., we will host our special
giant “human heart” photo opportunity, and at the close of the event,
attendees can participate in a group Loving Kindness Meditation, led by
Puja Madan of The Mindfulness Map.
Additionally, we will have
plenty of #ActLoveGive signs to fill out and take with you to help
continue spreading the message of love and kindness.
Love and
Kindness on the Lawn is part of the Orlando United: Acts of Love and
Kindness movement. Visit ActLoveGive.org for more information.

1pm to 4pm $5. Dog Day Afternoon Pup Crawl. Ten 10 Brewing 1010 Virginia Drive Orlando FL.

Pups
are welcome at the Dog Day Afternoon Pup Crawl! Adults purchase a
wristband for $5 at Ten 10 Brewing Company and receive drink specials at
11 participating bars and businesses – Conrad’s Shanty, GB’s Bottle
Shop and Tasting Bar, Green House Realty, Gotkarma, Grape and The
Grain, Nora’s Sugar Shack, Ten 10 Brewing Company, The Brass Tap – Mills
50, The Guesthouse, The Thirsty Topher and Will’s Pub! The first 100
pups accompanied by an adult will receive a complimentary bandana! All
pups will receive a few treats! 50% of the wristband sales will be
donated to Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando! Pet Alliance will be at Ten
10 Brewing Company and The Brass Tap – Mills 50 with adoptable pups!
Many thanks to our sponsor Tito’s Handmade Vodka!

1pm to 4:30pm Free. Free Family Day on the Second Sunday. The Mennello Museum of American Art, 900 East Princeton Street, Orlando, FL 32803. The
make-and-take craft table is open from noon-2:30 p.m., and docents are
available to give mini-tours of the museum. Then it’s open house in the
galleries until 4:30 p.m.

The Black Inflatable Monolith of Seneff Plaza

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I am sketching as many events from UCF Celebrates the Arts as possible. The events happen between April 5-14, 2019. Each event  is ticketed. I was issued a ticket to see the Creative City Project’s Immersive Projection Installation happening Sunday April 7 between 4pm and 7pm. The projections were to happen in a large black inflatable room set up on the Seneff Plaza in front of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

As Pam and I approached the black monolith we got the definite impression that the area was deserted. We got to the entrance and looked inside to find there was nothing inside but one screen. We double checked our ticket and we were in the right place at the right time. I had sketched Creative City Projections in the past, so I knew what was to be expecting. It was also insanely hot inside what was essentially a black bounce house, minus the bouncing. Had  it been a bonce house it would have been more fun. A guard approached and let us know that the monolith would be deflated in a couple of hours. He was nice enough to let us walk around inside to assure us that there was nothing happening. He confided that they don’t let him know anything about scheduling. Being kept out of the loop made his job a bit harder. Clearly the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing with these event organizers.

Rather than claim complete defeat, I decided to sketch the black monolith sitting in the plaza. It was fairly cool under one of the many sun umbrellas. Construction cranes loomed overhead since construction had stopped for the weekend on the northern theater being added to the Dr. Phillips.  As I sketched Pam worked on some editing. A few families started to arrive for what seemed to be a children’s play area to the right of the monolith. One performer waved some colorful silks and another tapped his tambourine. The monolith remained a bust.

Six foot tall panels were being assembled for Creative Clash which was scheduled to happen later that day. One panel had a UCF Knight riding in one of the Lake Eola swan boats. Teams of artists were going to compete against each other armed with black markers racing against a clock. The theme would be announced right before competition began. Having just sketched at a No Borders Art Competition which is essentially the same thing, we decided to head home satisfied too have sketched the empty black monolith which remained as a testament to the strange inefficiency of the Orlando visual arts scene.

El Wiz

Posted on by Thor

UCF Celebrates the Arts presented El Wiz as a staged reading at The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Based on a book by Paul Castañeda, the show was  originally conceived by Juan Cantu and Paul Castañeda. Paul sat house right reading stage directions for the staged reading.

The show was based on the Wizard of Oz but set in Puerto Rico just before Hurricane Maria hit the island. The Narrator, (Josh Ceballos) introduced the familiar cast of characters on the island. Chico, the scarecrow (Emile Doles) was a quiet and socially awkward man who had an eye for details no one else would notice.  Juanito, the tin man (Eric Parafan) had loved a man but had his heart broken. He felt he could never love again. Eddie, the lion, (Joe Llorens) just wanted some cajones. Dorothy (Crystal Lizardo) fell into a deep sleep before the hurricane hit. She woke or so she thought in a strange new place.

In this new world she was given a very blingy pair of Nike sneakers with red white and blue sequins. Her dog Toto was a puppet who came alive when she held him in her arms. From the start she wanted to return home to her Mami and Papi but she was instructed to go to the Emerald city for advice on how to get back home. The journey was fraught with dangers.

For me the most powerful number in the show was Vas A Ver, or You’ll See in  English. Sung by Esperanza, (Paul Padilla) the song was about how the strength of family can overcome any hardship. He performed with just the right amount of resolve and throaty growl. His face grew so red as he sang that I was concerned he might burst a blood vessel. It was an amazing performance.

The joy of this show is that it takes itself lightly. There were many references to  Lin Manuel Miranda since the playwrights clearly were inspired by his musicals. The plot moved effortlessly and the actors playfully joked and teased one another. I have only studied Spanish in a cursory fashion on Duolingo, but I was able to follow every bit of the show.

When Dorothy finally got back to her home island it has been destroyed. She took the lessons learned in her dreams to gain strength in the belief that family can endure any difficulty. The cast and creative team deserved a standing ovation.

Titanic the Musical

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Titanic the Musical based on the story and book by Peter Stone, and music a lyrics by Maury Yeston, was staged at the Walt Disney Theater in the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts as part of UCF Celebrates the Arts. I entered the theater under the impression  that i would be seeing a quaint college production with excited parents in the audience shooting shaky iPhone footage of their child on stage. The stage itself quickly dismissed that false notion. The set was huge consisting of three tiers with stairways and gang planks. An orchestra was under the second tier providing live musical accompaniment. Silky banners were suspended from the rafters, and at the overture, photos were projected of the people who would  play a part in the tragedy to follow. As the projection glowed bright a spotlight wold illuminate the tiny actor on stage playing the part.

This wasn’t based on the James Cameron movie in which Kate Winslet let her artist lover, Jack, slip off the floating door which she needed to survive, and watched him sink into the cold ocean depths. The play introduced a whole new cast of characters, many immigrants hoping for a better life in America and others rich and famous. Three women from Ireland discovered they all had the same first name of Kate as they entered the floating palace destined for a new life. Below deck third class passengers ate at humble wooden tables excited for what might come while the rich smoked cigars and drank brandy as they played cards up in the Grand Salon. The excited songs below deck were tinged with an underlying sadness since we all knew their true destiny to come.

Captain Smith was on his final voyage before he retired and he allowed himself to be pressured into accelerating the speeds ship beyond his usual safety precautions. Titanic after all was unsinkable. At the end of the first act a spotlight illuminated Fleet, who was high above the audience on a an upper balcony in the theater. He was the look out and he sang a song lamenting no moon and no wind as he shivered on his post. Then he spotted an iceberg. The sound of ice ripping through metal was followed by the blackness of the curtain falling.

Another particularly powerful scene came when perhaps 20 of the cast appeared above the audience on the lower balcony. Watery reflections shimmered around them as they sang. Perhaps they were ghosts. As the first and second class passengers gathered in the grand salon they were told to put on their life jackets. Vanity kept the rich from covering their expensive robes. As they argued a coffee cart began rolling across the stage. All the bickering stopped and suddenly everyone was in a rush to get the jackets on.

I had never heard the music before but by the second act I would myself predicting what word would follow on the next line to rhyme. With so many intertwining human stories, some stronger lyrics might have added a finer polish to the show.

The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats, enough for 1178 people. That was only a third of the passengers and crew. Women and children entered boats leaving the men behind to die. As one surviving woman described it, “It was as if a while football stadium entered the sea and the screaming was overwhelming. A half hour later, all the screaming stopped.”

This was a stellar production, far exceeding my expectations. The theater was packed. It is a shame there were only two chances to catch this amazing show. There were over 50 performers in the cast and all of them were UCF students with a few guest artists and faculty in the mix.

Hamilton at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

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 On November 15, 2018 tickets went on sale for Hamilton. With ticket prices upwards of $175 to $385, I really didn’t think I would be sketching this show. When tickets went on sale the Dr. Phillips Center was plagued by technology
failures. People called in and had to wait for hours only to wind up empty-handed. Social media lit up with frustration and annoyance from people who could not get ticket. Unknown to me, Pam and another member of her staff were among the first to call in for the tickets. On Christmas day she let me know that we would be going to the show. It is my understanding that the shows are all sold out but, there is still a lottery for the trickle of tickets that become available.

Tony-winning Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, tells the story of
founding father Alexander Hamilton with a multi-racial cast and
energetic music. Since opening on Broadway in 2015, it has become
cultural phenomenon.chaos and frustration of the original sales date.

I stripped down my sketch kit and left the cell phone at home knowing that security would be tight at the Performing Arts Center. We put my kit in Pam’s purse thinking it might slip through more easily there. My pencil sharpener was still in my pocket as it always is. It raised suspicions since the guard wasn’t sure of why someone might need that analog technology. She let me through the metal detectors but then asked to look at the sharpener one more time as I waited for Pam to get through security.

In the theater I quickly blocked in the stage as people filed in to take their seats. When the play started the house lights went black. I needed Pam’s cell phone set to a very dim setting to see my sketch page. Painting would be impossible, so once the sketch was complete in ink I waited for an intermission.

All the hype for this show is well deserved. Joseph Morales plays the title character in the touring production of Hamilton. The show’s score blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, RandB, and Broadway. The lyrics are fired off at a break neck pace, so it would be a good idea to listen to the show soundtrack before seeing the show in person. I caught the emotional broad strokes however of everything going on.

Besides being prolific in writing, and aggressive in politics, Hamilton was always striving for more. He worked as if running out of time, a candle burning bright. Aaron Burr (Nik Walker) acted as a lifelong political foil, being jealous of of Hamilton’s quick rise to power.  He married Eliza Schuyler (Shoba Narayan) as her sister Angelica (Ta’Rea Campbell) suppressed her feelings for the sake of their happiness. However his always restless heart gets him in trouble and he breaks Eliza’s heart. Amazingly she finds forgiveness in the second act and she is the one who keeps Hamilton’s name alive after he is gone. The final song of the show, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” is a reflection on legacy and what we leave behind. It is why we create art. Can we ever do enough in this lifetime? Though the emotions might bring tears, it was the beast Christmas gift in years.