Mary Damiano

Mary Damiano’s Arts Scene

Amanda F. Healy

The Write Stuff
Congratulations to Amanda F. Healy, a senior at Florida International University, who has won first place in playwright competition at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for Region IV.  Healy’s short play, Firefly, was one of six finalists chosen from hundreds of plays submitted by aspiring student playwrights from all over the South-Eastern United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  The six plays were judged at staged readings held at Florida Community College Jacksonville, where Firefly took the first place honors.  Firefly is now in contention for national recognition at the prestigious Kennedy Center Theatre in Washington DC.  Healy is already working on her first full-length play, An Occasion to Kiss, which will have a staged reading on Sunday, Feb. 19, 7 p.m. in DM 150 on FIU’s University Park campus. The cast consists of FIU theatre students and will be directed by Phillip Church, an FIU theatre professor. Admission is free and open to the public. Call 305-348-2895 for more information.

	Keith Cassidy and Tara Vodihn in Day of Reckoning, which begins March 4 at New Theatre. Photo: Eileen Suarez

Footlight Parade
If you’re a theatre lover, there’s plenty of new stuff coming up to satisfy your theatrical appetite.  Next Tuesday, Feb. 21, the musical Hairspray rocks and rolls its way back into South Florida; it’ll be at the Jackie Gleason Theatre (www.GleasonTheatre.com) through Feb. 26.  Up in Broward at Plantation’s Mosaic Theatre, (www.MosaicTheatre.com) catch Big the Musical, based on the 1987 Tom Hanks movie.  Big runs Feb. 22 to March 5.  At the Caldwell Theatre (www.Caldwellheatre.com) in Boca Raton, there’s the world premiere of Susan Sandler’s Under the Bed, about seniors in South Florida.  (Talk about your target audiences.)  Under the Bed runs from Feb. 19 through April 2. The following week, Fort Lauderdale’s Sol Theatre (www.SolTheatre.com) presents The Mystery of Irma Vep, a campy tribute to gothic horror stories.  Opening night is Feb. 24 for an open-ended run.  The Women’s Theatre Project’s new production is the Southeastern premiere of the Irish play Bold Girls, about women in Belfast.  Bold Girls runs Thursday, March 2 through March 19 at the Studio Theatre in Fort Lauderdale.  Call 954-462-2334 for tickets and reservations.  And at New Theatre (www.New-Theatre.org) in Coral Gables, there’s the regional premiere of Melody Cooper’s Day of Reckoning, about an interracial couple who become involved in the Labor Movement in 1880’s Chicago.  Day of Reckoning runs March 3 through March 26.

Oscar: The guy everyone in Hollywood wants to go home with

Go Glam for the Oscars
The biggest night in Hollywood is only a few weeks away, and while millions of people will watch the Oscars on TV Sunday night, March 5, there are ways to feel like you’re a part of the action.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sanctions special Oscar Night America parties, which benefit local charities.  The official bash in Miami will be at the o-R-o restaurant at 300 Alton Rd. at the Miami Beach Marina and will benefit the Miami Beach Film Society.  Hosted by former E! Fashion Emergency critic Leon Hall, WPLG reporter Todd Tongen and local entertainer Elaine Lancaster, the party will feature red carpet arrivals, champagne, and a five-course dining experience during the show, followed by a live auction. Proceeds benefit the Miami Beach Film Society's Cinematheque, a photographic arts screening room.  For more information, visit www.mbcinema.com.

	Elizabeth Taylor in Suddenly Last Summer

La Liz
And speaking of the Oscars, the Miami Beach Film Society is featuring an exhibit of vintage film posters of Elizabeth Taylor movies, as well as a retrospective of Taylor’s films.  Check out Suddenly Last Summer on Friday. Feb. 17, Butterfield 8 on Friday, Feb. 24, A Place in the Sun, Monday, Feb. 27 and Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf on Friday, March 3.  The screening of A Place in the Sun will feature a montage of clips of Taylor movies, introduced by drag queen Shelley Novak.  All screenings take place at Miami Beach Cinematheque, 512 Espanola Way in Miami.  For more info, visit www.mbcinema.com.

A scene from A Clockwork Orange

Salacious Cinema
If your tastes in movies run more toward racy, the World Erotic Art Museum has got you covered.  The museum, which opened last fall on Washington Ave. in Miami Beach, has an enormous collection of erotic art, sculpture and other items that track the history of sexuality, including a huge phallic sculpture featured in this weekend’s film, A Clockwork Orange, starring Malcolm McDowall.  The film will be screened Friday Feb. 17 and Saturday, Feb. 18.  Next up there’s  McDowall again in Caligula, which has been called the biggest budget porn film ever.  Caligula will be screened Friday, Feb. 24 and Saturday, Feb. 25. Next up is an animated feature, Marquis de Sade, on Friday, March 3 and Saturday March 4, and then an “Evening of Erotic Cartoons” on Friday, March 10 and Saturday, March 11. All screenings start at 8 p.m., and are included in the museum’s $15 admission.  For more info, visit www.weam.com.

	Kate Clinton, the headliner for “Forces of Nature”

Forces of Nature
Comedian Kate Clinton and singer Billy Porter will join South Florida’s own Ada de Luque, the Miami Gay Men’s Chorus, the RoughRiders Dance Team and magicians Kevin and Caruso in “Forces of Nature”, an evening of entertainment that will benefit the Miami Gay and Lesbian Task Force.  The show will take place Thursday, March 2, 8 p.m. at the Manuel Artime Theatre, 900 SW 1 St., Miami.  For more information, visit www.WinterParty.com.

Perky Rachael Ray, queen of the 30-minute meal, will appear at the 5th Annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival

Calling All Foodies
The culinary Arts takes the spotlight next weekend at the 5^th Annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which takes place at various locations around Miami Beach, Feb. 24-26.  Celebrity chefs, including Rachael Ray, Emeril Legasse and Bobby Flay will join chefs from popular local eateries for an array of events for every taste.  Each day of the festival more than 75 of South Florida’s greatest restaurants and caterers, and more than 150 world-class wineries and spirits producers will offer their best under the grand tasting tents, where festival guests will be invited to partake in a series of culinary and lifestyle demonstrations, featuring top food personalities including Alton Brown, David Lieberman, Al Roker, Giada De Laurentiis, Tyler Florence, Paula Deen, Pierre Herme, Margaret Braun, Daisey Martinez, Anthony Bourdain, Nobu Matsuhisa, and Ming Tsai.  Highlights of the festival include a tribute to Spain’s most celebrated chef, Ferran Adria, who will be honored at a dinner orchestrated by some of his peers and friends, at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel on Saturday, Feb. 25.  That same night, South Florida’s top pastry chef, Hedy Goldsmith, will host the greatest dessert party seen in Miami. Guests will be invited to enjoy decadent desserts baked by local and national pastry chefs, paired with cognacs, ports, coffee and liqueur while celebrating the festival’s fifth birthday under the stars.  The kids can get into the act too, with a series of kid’s cooking demonstrations hosted by Food Network favorites Emeril Lagasse and Rachael Ray on Saturday, Feb. 25 and Sunday, Feb. 26.   For more information about the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, visit www.sobewineandfoodfest.com.

Calling all Art Lovers
The Florida Storm Soccer Team is eager to get to the Gay Games in Chicago this summer, so they’re holding an art auction to raise money for the trip and the competition.  The auction will feature a diverse selection of paintings from all over the world, including a donation from art collectors Roberto and Viviana Moreno.  The big event will take place Saturday, Feb. 25 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at ArtServe in Fort Lauderdale.  Guests will enjoy wine and light appetizers as they view the artwork before the auction.  For more information and to view the artwork, visit www.FloridaStormSoccer.com.