Article by Nanette Wiser
Film stars, screenwriters, playwrights and painters…even St. Pete Beach and the Don CeSar star in this summer’s salute to local talent.
Creative Kudos: First featured in Paradise News, these three artists continue to make headlines. Steve Kenny, who lives in DTSP, is busy showing his work around the world. His painting, The Prince, was recently added to the permanent collection of the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland. His work is also on display in Small Works 2021 – Beinart Gallery, Brunswick, Australia through June, Animalia – Haven Gallery, Northport, NY, 10/23-11/28 and Corey Helford Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 8/14-9/18. Sharon Folta’s documentary “Little Satchmo” about her father Louie Armstrong will have its world premiere at the prestigious Thessaloniki Documentary Festival on June 29th. Little Satchmo’s debut coincides with the 50th anniversary of Louis Armstrong’s death, and reveals a side of an American icon that has long been left eclipsed by stereotype and caricature. Eugenie Bondurant’s tour-de-force as the spooky Dani McConnell in Fear of Rain and in the upcoming The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It as the occultist opening June 4 are must-see performances. An acting coach, she was a featured panelist at the recent DTSP Sunscreen Film Festival this spring.
Auteur, Auteur: Bill DeYoung, columnist for St. Pete Catalyst, friend of rock stars and book author has yet another kudo in his pocket. Studio@620 is hosting the premiere of his new play based on his non-fiction book “Skyway: The True Story of Tampa Bay’s Signature Bridge and the Man Who Brought it Down.” MAYDAY is a true story about more guilt than any one man should bear. It’s also the story of a family shattered, a career in tatters and a desperate search for absolution. Purchase your tickets in advance for the three shows: 6/25 @8pm, 6/25@2pm and 8pm.
Meet John Lerro, the ship’s pilot whose life turned upside down when the hulking freighter he was steering through Tampa Bay struck the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, sending 35 motorists plunging to their deaths 150 feet below.
Michael Horn portrays John Lerro in MAYDAY: CAPTAIN LERRO AND THE SKYWAY BRIDGE, directed by Roxanne Fay, whose “Breton And The Muse: A Midnight in Paris” is in three film festivals. (She wrote the screenplay for the Dali Museum and worked with Digital Caviar).
Cinema Paradisio: Can you list the films with Tampa Bay as a backdrop? Now two Florida tourism agencies have gotten into the movie making business with “Life’s Rewards,” shot in part at Don CeSar. Even freeFall Theater’s Matthew McGee appears in the series. This new, scripted Odyssey Original series produced on behalf of VISIT FLORIDA, Visit St. Pete/Clearwater and St. Pete/Clearwater Film Commission focuses on an ambitious young executive who finds his career and personal life in turmoil after losing both his and his client’s wealth in a series of high-risk business deals. Stranded in a tropical paradise (St. Pete Beach), he’s humbled by a hotel’s employees and guests, forcing him to reevaluate what really defines his life. Catch it now on Amazon Prime Video.
Gibsonton’s carnie history is the subject of a new film shooting this summer in Gibsonton, “The Beast Comes at Midnight,” about a sideshow attraction called The Wolf Boy. The idea for the movie came from a visit to the Showmen’s Museum in Riverview by Tampa independent film producer Ed McKeever, said his son Michael McKeever.