John Davis

6 days ago | news.wgcu.org | John Davis

As April marks Autism Awareness Month, Autism Acceptance Month and World Autism Month, we explore how The Naples Players works to make theater accessible to neurodivergent audiences and performers. Such efforts include special relaxed performances of all their mainstage shows.

1 week ago | news.wgcu.org | John Davis

Players Circle Theater is mounting a production of the enduring psychological thriller “The Business of Murder,” April 15 – May 11. The play premiered in 1981 at Theatre Royal in Windsor and ran for nearly a decade in the West End. Revenge and manipulation are central themes to this murder mystery fraught with psychological tension, twists and turns. We explore the show in a conversation with Bill Taylor, who makes his Players Circle Theater directorial debut with this production.

2 weeks ago | news.wgcu.org | John Davis

For more than 20 years, James “Super Chikan” Johnson has performed with an all-female backing band, “The Fighting Cocks.” The self-taught, Clarksdale, Mississippi based musician has performed at festivals across the country and internationally. His debut album “Blues Come Home to Roost” came out in 1997, and he’s recorded nine subsequent albums, including his latest, “From Hill Country to Mississippi Delta Blues,” recorded with collaborator Terry “Harmonica” Bean.

3 weeks ago | news.wgcu.org | John Davis

Internationally-acclaimed composer, performer, inventor, educator, and author Ben Neill comes to the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery for a special concert event, March 27, through the ArtSPEAK@FSW lecture series at Florida Southwestern State College in Fort Myers. Neill is the inventor of the Mutantrumpet, which is a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument with three trumpet bells, a trombone slide, two sets of valves along with electronic elements. He began developing the instrument in the early 1980s.

1 month ago | news.wgcu.org | John Davis

The Gulf Coast Symphony’s upcoming 30th anniversary concert celebration will include the premiere performance of a new symphonic work titled, “Seas of Glass,” written by young composer and multi-instrumentalist Frazar Henry. Gulf Coast Symphony Music Director Maestro Andrew Kurtz commissioned Henry to compose the piece specifically for a premiere at the 30th anniversary concert, March 30, at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall.