Theatre Lab play to get summer production in Martha’s Vineyard
BOCA RATON — A two-person play that had its premiere at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab will be taking the stage this summer at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse in Massachusetts.
To Fall in Love, by Jennifer Lane, debuted at Theatre Lab in November 2021, and starred Theatre Lab’s producing artistic director, Matt Stabile, and his real-life wife, actress Niki Fridh, in the roles of Wyatt and Merryn, a couple trying to save a marriage falling apart after the death of their 5-year-old son. They decide to answer a series of 36 questions about relationships crafted by two Stony Brook professors for a study to see whether it will help them get back together after being separated.
Fridh and Stabile will reprise their roles on the Patricia Neal Stage at the Playhouse. The show runs from July 26 to Aug. 5.
“I think what’s most beautiful about this play is that here are two people who are absolutely being driven apart by grief, but they’re doing this because they love each other so much, as an effort to see if they can move past this together,” Stabile told Palm Beach ArtsPaper in November 2021. “There’s no better statement about humanity than that.”
The show will be directed by its original director, Louis Tyrrell. The play was recommended by a Theatre Lab supporter to the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse for consideration in its 2023 summer season. The Playhouse decided to bring the original Theatre Lab production north, with slight alterations to the set and lighting design.
“Accepting [the premise of the play] takes a fair amount of suspension of disbelief, but chances are you will buy it … because of the performances of Matt Stabile and Niki Fridh,” ArtsPaper theater critic Hap Erstein wrote of the production.
Tickets to the performance are available at mvplayhouse.org/theater.
Artist Lappin wins Dina Baker honor from Cultural Council
LAKE WORTH BEACH — Patricia Lappin, an artist based in Delray Beach, has been named recipient of the 2022-2023 Dina Baker Fund for Mature Female Artists.
“This grant is one of the greatest honors that I’ve ever received, and it’s been extremely validating,” Lappin said in a prepared statement. “Receiving this award has given me newfound confidence in my work. It’s allowing me to follow through on projects and get my work out there in ways that I wouldn’t have been able to without it.”
The Dina Baker Fund was created to assist the careers of female artists ages 60 and up who have recognizable merit and financial need. The $10,000 grant can be used for anything from professional development to basic living expenses.
Fund winners also receive an exhibition in the Cultural Council’s Donald M. Ephraim Family Gallery at the Cultural Council’s headquarters in Lake Worth Beach. The exhibition, titled Patricia Lappin: Connections, will run from June 2 to July 14.
A lifelong artist, Lappin studied with painter Caesar Cirigliano and taught at The Greenwich Art Society in Connecticut. Her current work is focused on abstract expressionism, using glowing colors in acrylic paint, loosely applied with spatulas and palette knives.
Lappin has a studio at Zero Empty Spaces in Boca Raton, where she leads private painting classes for communities and groups throughout the region. She also exhibits and teaches at the New Studio for Visual Arts in Jupiter.
Student winners of Zink Scholarships named
FORT LAUDERDALE — Three South Florida high school seniors have been named winners of the 2023 Jack Zink Memorial Student Scholarships, which are given under the auspices of the Carbonell Awards.
Winners of the scholarships, named for a late South Florida Sun-Sentinel theater critic, are awarded based on talent, experience and commitment to the theater. One winner apiece is chosen from Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Recipients receive $2,000, and must be intending to pursue college studies in theater or journalism and have at least a 2.5 cumulative GPA.
The Palm Beach County winner, Emily Moreland, achieved a GPA of 4.0 at Florida Atlantic University High School. She has performed in four productions at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre and the Lake Worth Playhouse (where she was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and was a member of the national touring company of Annie.
“Being able to bring my passion for theater into the classroom and using it as a space to take risks and become a more human and truthful performer is something that I cherish and hope to continue for the rest of my life as an artist,” Moreland wrote.
Broward County’s winner was Diane Danyang Li, a student at American Heritage School in Plantation. Addison Doris Stone, a student at Coral Reef Senior High School in Palmetto Bay, was Miami-Dade County’s Zink scholarship winner.
The 46th annual Carbonell Awards, which recognizes outstanding work in South Florida professional theater, will be presented Nov. 13 at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center in Lauderhill.