Mary Damiano Photo by David Vance

 Mary Damiano’s Arts Scene

Me and my husband, Sam, with the man of the hour, Henry Perez, at his first photography exhibition Photo: Ethan Klein

Cloud Nine
The intimate Juice & Java on Washington Avenue in Miami Beach was overflowing with joy and love the evening of May 30.  The occasion for all this joy was Henry Perez’s first-ever exhibition of photographs, called “Heavens”.  Readers of MiamiARTzine.com know Henry’s work, which has appeared in every issue for the last year. The exhibition, which was also a Miami Beach Arts Trust Evening Bag event, showed off Henry’s talent for capturing and bringing to life the beautiful and turbulent skies of South Florida.  It was a terrific event, filled with fun and laughter and warm wishes from nearly 100 of Henry’s adoring fans.  Angie Cordoba, owner or Juice & Java, and event planner Ethan Klein did a great job of showing off Henry’s work and making everyone feel welcome.  You have to try Juice & Java, which serves delicious wrap sandwiches and some of the best hummus I’ve ever had.  Henry, who sold several pieces at the show, also made an emotional speech about what the evening meant to him that got everybody choked up.  Yeah, Henry!  To see more of the fun, visit the photo gallery page.

French Kiss for Film Lovers
The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF), Air France and Perrier presents the 7^th Annual French Film Festival, June 15 – June 24 at the FLIFF’s year-round art house, Cinema Paradiso.  This year’s festival offers an eclectic array of films spanning five decades plus some top new films, including a Florida premiere and two South Florida premieres.  The FLIFF French Film Festival opens Friday, June 15 at 8 p.m. with the South Florida Premiere of La Vie En Rose, an impressionistic portrait of legendary singer Edith Piaf starring Marion Cotillard.  After the film, attendees will enjoy a French soiree and grand opening of the newly renovated Courtyard at Cinema Paradiso, featuring a chocolate fountain, champagne, and hors d'oeuvres. Passes are available for all 16 films as well as parties.  For more info on the FLIFF French Film Festival, call 954-525-3456 or visit visit www.fliff.com.

Letty Bassart

It’s always a treat to write about the various projects of the members of the MiamiARTzine.com family. Regular MiamiARTzine.com readers will also recognize Letty Bassart from her column, ChoreoNotes, but she is also an accomplished dancer and choreographer.  Her latest work, The Flower Chronicles, will be presented at New World School of the Arts on June 15 and 16 at 8 p.m.  The Flower Chronicles is a duet that explores thirst, fragility, and endurance.  The performance will feature dancer, Ilana Reynolds.  Bassart is a Miami-based artist whose life experiences include having been a hospice nurse and chemistry teacher.  Her work is driven by a reverence for human experience and an obsession with telling details.  Through the use gesture and original text, her dances explore human relationships to objects and one another.  The process of creating this piece began during Bassart’s residency at Movement Research in January of 2006.   The Movement Research Exchange was made possible by the Miami Dade Department of Cultural Affairs Artist Access grant and Tigertail Productions.   The piece consists of artist-generated movement and text born from improvisational questions that have. Bassart explains that the process of creating The Flower Chronicles has been an arduous and magical journey.  The New World School of the Arts theatre is located at 25 NE 2nd Street on the 8^th Floor.  Tickets are $10 at the door.  For reservations, please e-mail to Bassartl@aol.com.

Jessica K. Petersen and John Felix in Smut at GableStage Photo: George Schiavone

Openings at GableStage and New Theatre
GableStage Theatre’s artistic director Joseph Adler loves provocative theatre, and his new world premiere production is no exception.  Called Smut or The Travails of a Virtuous Woman, it’s written by Alice Jay in collaboration with  Adler.  Smut takes place during the Gilded Age in old New York, where the architect of repression has outlawed abortion, contraception, and books. Three women, a reformer, an immigrant, a wife, dare to defy him. Smut is inspired by the real-life collision of sexual educator Ida Craddock and America's national censor Anthony Comstock. It runs June 16 to July 15.  www.gablestage.org. Also in Coral Gables, New Theatre begins their summer Shakespeare Project on Friday, June 8.  This year it’s officially called Shakespeare & Friends Festival, as the Bard will be joined by George Bernard Shaw.  Shakespeare’s Cymbaline kicks off the festival and runs through July1; then it’s Julius Caesar July 12-August 5, closing with Shaw’s Saint Joan August 16-September 9.  Subscriptions to the festival are available.  www.new-theatre.org.

Get Pink’d
KP Productions presents Pink: Crooners and Cruisers of the Early ’50s, a  show designed to transport audiences back in time with classic songs from the 1950s and a tribute to those early years of TV dinners, slumber parties, and hanging out in the All American Diner in their the poodle skirts. Performances will be held Saturday, June 16 at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday June 17 at noon and 4:30 p.m. at the Crest Theatre, 51 N. Swinton Ave Delray Beach.  The following weekend, June 23 and 24, Pink moves to Broward Auditorium at the Main Library, 100 South Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale.  For information, call 954-426-3525.

Rachel York, Michael York and James Barbour in Lerner & Lowe’s Camelot Photo: Craig Schwartz

Long Live the King
The venerable musical Camelot is winging its way through Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale June 12-24. Michael York stars as King Arthur, with Rachael York as Guinevere.  Camelot tells the story of the love triangle between King Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.   For tickets, visits www.browardcenter.org.  While I’ll be there opening night, I can’t help but recall the first time I saw Camelot, which starred Richard Burton at the Jackie Gleason Theatre. It was great to see such a star, but Burton looked tired, happy to let his leading lady have the spotlight and do the work.  The other thing that stands out about that night is that it was election night, 1980.  These were pre-cell phone days, mind you, and at the intermission men in suits made a beeline for the public telephones to find out how the results were going.  Others clamored behind them, and when the men on the phone got the news that Ronald Reagan was winning, they shouted it out to the rest of the lobby.  People applauded.

David Leddick

Capturing the Spirit of Miami Beach
Miami Beach author and entertainer David Leddick will be doing a book signing of his latest book, In the Spirit of Miami Beach, Wednesday, June 20, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce Visitor’s Center, 1920 Meridian Avenue.  The book takes a look at Miami Beach through the years, with lots of vintage photos showing the evolution of our little piece of paradise.

No Chimps Were Harmed
I have a friend who, as a child, thought that “guerilla warfare” meant that actual gorillas were used in battle.  In that vein, only humans need attend Miami Light Project’s Filmmaker’s Workshop discussion on Guerilla Filmmaking. “No Excuses: Guerilla Filmmaking in South Florida: 4 Case Studies” will be moderated by Kevin Sharpley, president and CEO of Kijik Multimedia Inc., and chairman of the Committee for Community Building for the Dade County Film and Entertainment Advisory Board.  The workshop will feature several South Florida-based filmmakers who will discuss their experiences making an independent feature film in Miami as well as screen a short trailer from each of their films before opening up the floor for questions from the audience.   Speakers include Clifton Childree (The Flew) David Fisher (Bro & Liberation of the Spirit: The Journey of Magda Watts) Mark Moormann (Tom Dowd & the Language of Music, Once Upon A Time On South Beach , Hidden Rivers of the Maya and Moonlighting In Haiti) and Joycelyn Bejar (Cuba: Beyond the Pearl of the Antilles).  “No Excuses: Guerilla Filmmaking in South Florida: 4 Case Studies” takes place Saturday, June 16, noon-1:30 p.m. at The Light Box, 3000 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.  The workshop is free.  Please RSVP to 305.576.4350.