Thursday, September 12, 2019

Vote to help the Clara White Mission

HELP them win $20,000?  Your VOTE can raise funds to assist with feeding, training and housing homeless veterans and low-income residents.  For over 115 years, they have been a safety net to the community and with your VOTE, they can continue the legacy.

To WIN, Clara’s needs the most votes in the Jacksonville market in Aetna's Voices of Health.  This competition is designed to celebrate nonprofit organizations that bring positive change to our communities, inspire and mobilize everyone to become change agents.

Can Clara White Mission count on you to
Clara White Mission needs your support!  Please click here to VOTE for Clara White Mission and watch the video that has been submitted for the competition.

You can submit your vote four times a day (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and email) on
this link until Oct. 13, 2019.  Make your voice heard and continue to support Clara White Mission!  Feel free to pass this on to family, friends and colleagues to help Clara’s WIN!

Local playwright’s work kicks off second PBTS season

Local playwright, Olivia Gowan, will share her new work (The Memories of Ruby Mae) that will appear on The Studio Stage as a reader’s theatre presentation at Players by the Sea on Monday, September 30 and Tuesday, October 1 at 8 pm.

“We’re excited this work is the inaugural play of the Second Season”, said Suzanne Hudson-Smith, Players’ Executive Director. Great plays should be seen often and our audiences need to experience more opportunities than we can offer in our regular season of eight productions. Second Season was created to expand our theatre presentations of plays – it’s just the love of the play and passion of the creative team that makes it happen.”


Playwright Gowan and Gloria Ware, the director, have chosen to present this play as reader’s theatre.  “The actors don’t memorize their lines, they just use vocal expression to guide the audience into understanding the story,” said Ware.  This presentation is about the content of the play.

Gloria
Ware, PBTS board member 2017-2019, is still very active and supportive of Players.  She’s often been seen on stage and this time, she brings a new piece of literature to the stage, The Memories of Ruby Mae.  Ware fell in love with this story while it was being created and is thrilled to be able to tell this story written by Olivia Gowan.

Ware believes “sharing these stories is so important – Players by the Sea gets that and has opened their space to welcome new work … and to welcome a diverse cast that includes actors, directors and some who haven’t ever performed at the theatre.”

The talented cast includes: (
Narrator) Ashley Colleen Jones, (Ruby Mae) Karen Garrett, (Becky Lynn) Karen Konzen, (Mandy Sue) Kristin Walsh, (Tracy) Susan Roche, (Miriam) Gayle Featheringill, (Sarah Neil) Kayla Chouarnid, (Mrs. Smith) Peggy McGuinness, (Ellis / Ryan) Will Davis, (Nancy Collins) Rhodie Jackson & (Camile) Farah Nesargi.

The Memories of Ruby Mae
is a wickedly funny and heartfelt play that guides us through generational hurts to an unexpected healing. It is a poignant, sweet, story of a woman with whom we can all relate.  She is strong, kind, curious, honest and speaks her mind.  As she leaves this world and begins to cross over, she experiences several memories of those who have already passed on and others who are still influential in her life.

“It [the play] takes on the process of death in a graceful way, where you will be laughing and crying.  Then suddenly in the most profound and subtle way, you will be hopeful that our lives have purpose and destiny,” playwright Gowan said about her work.

Gowan is a playwright from Macon Georgia, who currently resides in Jacksonville, FL.  In January 2016 she produced her second full length, Cotton Alley at Players by the Sea, which pinned her as a southern, gothic writer compared to a female Tennessee Williams.  She is the founder of The Groundling Scribes, a group that supports playwrights and original works.

The Memories of Ruby Mae
Dates:
Mon., Sept. 30, 2019
    Tues., Oct. 1
Times: 8 p.m. in the Studio Theatre

Tickets: Donations will be taken at the door
Reservations:
website or by calling the Box Office

LOCATION:
Players By The Sea Theatre
      106 6th Street North
      Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
      (904) 249-0289

About Players By The Sea — For over fifty-three years, Players by the Sea has brought quality creative and classic theatre to the Jacksonville community.  As the Beaches community Theatre, Players is professionally run, but depends on the talents and creative energy of volunteers to perform on stage, backstage and front of house.

Beer and music festival survive hurricane

Organizers in coordination with the City of Jacksonville have rescheduled the Inaugural Bold City Beer & Music Festival to Sunday, September 22nd in Riverside.  The special event was planned to take place over the Labor Day Weekend and was postponed due to impacts by Hurricane Dorian.  "We felt it was necessary to reschedule the festival. Public safety is always our primary concern and having a special event days before a hurricane could have been dangerous" mentioned festival promoter Charles Wagoner.

Tickets purchased for the original date will be honored on September 22nd.  In lieu of the storm, The Firewater Tent Revival has been added to the entertainment lineup.  Additionally, another 25 beers have been added to the sampling line up and guests will now be able to try over 65 different kinds of local and regional craft beers as well as enjoy food from 15+ food trucks, shop 40 local vendors, and more.

Entertainment acts will include: Deputy plus performances by The Firewater Tent Revival, Ben Strok & The Full Electric, Trail Diver, Lane Pittman + more.

General admission is free, but for the full experience, a VIP pass is required. A limited number of VIP passes remain available for purchase.  Passes include unlimited sampling from noon
6pm, no-wait sampling lines, reserved concert seating, private air-conditioned restrooms, a commemorative mug, and more.  In addition, there will be activities for all ages and dogs are welcome.

The festival will be held in Riverside at the Northbank Riverwalk Artist Square from noon-8pm on September 22nd.  The Artist Square, home to the Riverside Arts Market, is located under the Fuller Warren Bridge right on the St. Johns River.  For additional details and to purchase a ticket, visit:
BoldCityBeerFest.com