- October 8, 2024
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As the waves leisurely lapped the shore of Manasota Beach on a late Friday in August, Daniel and Patrick Lazour sang songs from "We Live in Cairo," their show opening this week Off Broadway in New York City.
Members of the audience at the Hermitage Artist Retreat watched the Massachusetts-bred brothers play guitar and sing songs inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings as they lounged in beach chairs and sipped wine. Stage right, the last rays of the day's sun danced off the clouds over the water.
Just an hour earlier, it seemed as if a storm was heading toward the area. Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg had to decide whether to cancel the evening's performance. But at the last minute, the band of showers moved elsewhere and Sandberg gave the show the green light.
The Hermitage was lucky on Aug. 23. It was not as fortunate on Sept. 26, when Hurricane Helene's coastal surge thrashed the area's barrier islands, dumping tons of sand onto the Hermitage's grounds and parking lot.
It was the second time in as many years that the Hermitage was hit by a devastating storm. In 2022, high winds from Hurricane Ian pummeled its roof, creating damage that cost nearly $1 million to repair.
As this article is being written, Hurricane Milton has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and is heading for Tampa Bay. Batten down the hatches, folks.
Speaking by telephone on Oct. 4, Sandberg said it was impossible to estimate the cost of removing the sand that has engulfed the Hermitage's buildings because it cannot simply be dumped back on the beach. Having said that, he expects the price tag will be higher than it was for the Hurricane Ian cleanup.
As in other places in the Sarasota area, the sand first must be remediated because it may be filled with contaminants that could endanger beaches and water.
"We have to figure out what to do with the sand," Sandberg said. "We have piles of sand 20 feet high. Our contractors have described it as 'biblical.' We're waiting on guidance from Sarasota County and the state of Florida."
Wearing his development hat, Sandberg wants everybody to know the Hermitage's annual Artful Lobster fundraiser will take place Nov. 9 at a location that will soon be revealed. Mark your calendars.
Sitting on the Hermitage beach in August, participating in an audience singalong led by the Lazour brothers, the word that came to mind was "magical."
But "magical thinking" can be dangerous. Joan Didion popularized the term when she wrote "The Year of Magical Thinking," a memoir that was turned into a Broadway show.
In the medical trade, "magical thinking" is defined as: "when a person believes that specific words, thoughts, emotions, or rituals can influence the external world."
Is it magical thinking to believe that the Hermitage Artist Retreat can withstand the storms that buffet its Manasota Key campus with seemingly greater frequency?
According to Sandberg, the answer is no. "The Hermitage needs to exist. It is a magic, unique, inspirational location that we are committed to rebuilding," he says.
He adds: "Weather is impacting the entire world. Look what happened to the arts district in Asheville. This campus and buildings have withstood a century."
Sandberg and the Hermitage's board of trustees are hoping it will be around on its current premises for at least another 30 years. In July, the Hermitage announced that the Sarasota Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved an extension to its lease through 2045.
The agreement also included an option to extend the lease through 2055 upon the completion of planned improvements to the Hermitage's facilities. The amendment also "confirmed" the Hermitage providing greater access to parking for the retreat's community programs, according to a statement at the time.
The Hermitage Retreat, which Sandberg likes to call an "incubator," hosts nearly 100 artists in various disciplines whose diverse works end up in concert halls, theaters, museums and galleries both locally and around the world.
"Even though it's part of our name, I don't really like the word 'retreat,'" Sandberg says. "The biggest misrepresentation about the Hermitage is that it’s like a beach vacation for retired artists. But our fellows always say they get more work done here in their time than anywhere else."
In the New York theater world alone, this past season saw performances and works by Hermitage alums such as Craig Lucas ("Days of Wine and Roses"), Lynn Nottage ("MJ: The Musical"), Jeanine Tesori ("Kimberly Akimbo"), Dennis O'Hare ("Merrily We Roll Along") and Joshua Harmon ("Prayer for the French Republic.")
Closer to home, a collaboration between the Hermitage and Sarasota Art Museum brought a cutting-edge show to SAM, an arm of Ringling College housed in the old Sarasota High School.
The show, called "Impact: Contemporary Artists at the Hermitage Retreat," featured 10 artists: Diana Al-Hadid, Sanford Biggers, Chitra Ganesh, Todd Gray, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Michelle Lopez, Ted Riederer, John Sims, Kukuli Velarde and William Villalongo.
As Sandberg noted in an interview for the "Impact" show, some of the artists who come to the Hermitage have never heard of Sarasota until they get here.
Unlike some other fellowship programs, the Hermitage has no work requirement. But its fellows are required to interact with the community in a program of some kind.
The Hermitage hosts some 50 of these events a year, on its beach and at Sarasota cultural institutions such as Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, which opens its grounds for Hermitage Sunsets @Selby Gardens Series, now in its fifth season.
Following Hurricane Helene's damage, the Oct. 18 program, “Zeniba Now: The Heartsong and Other Experiments” has been moved from the Hermitage campus to the roof of Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe.
Hurricane Milton notwithstanding, all systems are still go for the Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens program, "Let the Music Set You Free" on Oct. 17 with Britton Smith. The band leader for the alternative soul band Britton and the Sting, Smith is a Tony Award winner, Broadway veteran and finalist for the Hermitage Greenfield Prize.
The cost to attend a Hermitage programs is nearly nil. The only requirement is that attendees register on the Hermitage website and pay a $5 registration fee. This makes Hermitage events accessible to students and those on fixed incomes, though they also attract some of the community's well-heeled arts donors.
No one disputes the high caliber of art performances in Sarasota, but one thing that makes Hermitage shows stand out is they present new work that is on its way to major stages or museums.
But after hunkering down in a Hermitage bungalow and working out a block on their latest project, not every artist is in the mood to dance and sing. Sandberg, a musical theater veteran who recently starred in the World War II drama "Operation Epsilon" in London, understands.
When Tesori told him that she didn't want to spend her time at the Hermitage worrying about her performance, he gave her the OK to do a casual Q&A with the audience, replete with a glass of wine.
"The audience just loved it, "Sandberg says. "Because as cool as it is to hear new work from Jeanine Tesori, it’s even cooler to hear about her perspective sitting in an editing booth with Sondheim working on the 'West Side Story' movie while trying to launch her opera that started here."
That opera, "Grounded," just premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Featuring a libretto by George Brant, "Grounded" follows a female fighter pilot who finds herself operating a drone from Las Vegas, far from the field of battle. From the shores of Manasota Key to the halls of Lincoln Center — now that's magic.
But it's not just the perfect setting that makes the alchemy happen. The other ingredient is the artist. Here's where Sandberg gets really excited telling a visitor the Hermitage story.
Just like with the MacDowell Genius Award, artists can’t apply for a Hermitage fellowship: They have to be nominated. But it’s not Sandberg or the board of directors that do the honors; the Hermitage’s National Curatorial Council of 14 superstars in their respective creative fields nominates prospective fellows, who must be unanimously approved.
Made up of 14 superstars in their respective creative fields, this year's new hot-shot council members include Nottage, Grammy Award nominee artist and composer Shara Nova, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Groff and Brooklyn Museum Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Kimberli Grant.
Also coming on board the council for the first time are New Victory Theater Director of Education Courtney J. Boddie, President and Executive Director of Creative Capital Christine Kuan and Arts Corp founder and Arts Education Manager for the City of Seattle Trina LaPadula.
In addition to fellowships, each year the Hermitage hands out its Greenfield Prize, a $35,000 cash stipend awarded across disciplines, in concert with the Greenfield Foundation of Philadelphia. This year’s Greenfield Prize winner is Deepa Purohit, who made her Off-Broadway debut last season with her play “Elyria” in New York.
Another thing that arouses Sandberg's childlike enthusiasm is talking about what happens when you put four or five Hermitage Fellows of differing creative backgrounds around a barbecue or firepit.
One local manifestation of cross-cultural collaboration formed at the Hermitage is the SAM exhibit, "The Truth of the Night Sky," an immersive exhibit that ran from April 21 to Sept. 29. The show was the creative offspring of multimedia artist Anne Patterson and composer Patrick Harlin. The two artists met at the Hermitage in 2014 and bonded over finding inspiration in nature for their respective works.
One reason why Sandberg is so happy to be surrounded by artists in his Hermitage sandbox is that he's one himself. He grew up in Manhattan with a mother who encouraged his love of the theater. Ask to pinpoint a magical moment that launched his appreciation for the performing arts, he demurs, saying he can't name a single play because he was "surrounded by theater all the time as a child."
A Yale graduate, Sandberg joined the Hermitage in December 2019 after directing numerous off-Broadway shows, including "Operation Epsilon," "The Last Smoker in America," "Shida" and "Straight." At Yale, he both performed and served as business manager for college performing arts troupes.
When Sandberg took the job at the Hermitage, it was with the understanding that his freelance theatrical work could continue. It helps recharge his batteries and keeps him exposed to the real world, he explains.
But his main role in life is serving as ambassador for Hermitage. "When I came here from New York and asked people what they knew about the Hermitage, people had so many specific or limited view. 'Oh, you do a poetry reading once a year. Oh, you do a gala in Sarasota once a year with a commission for visual art. Oh, you do a few cute beach programs,'" he recalls.
Well, let's set the record straight: What is the Hermitage Artist Retreat, anyway?
Sandberg doesn't hold back. "I think we are perhaps the most innovative and exciting arts and cultural organization in the state of Florida and one of the top in the country. We need to exist."
