For the beginning of June, there are a surprising number of new arts programs happening in the Sarasota area, from music and fringe festivals to new play premieres. Here are a few options recommended by Jay and Carrie for the coming week. A full calendar listing is available from our friends at the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County.
June 3, 6
Last year Cuban choreographer Tania Vergara Perez debuted “Casa Havana,” a work in progress drawing on her homeland’s culture, people and musical rhythms. It ended up winning SRQ Magazine’s Gold Award as the Best Local Dance Performance of 2024-2025. Her company, Tania Vergara Dance-Theater, also won the “Audience Favorite” award at last year’s Squeaky Wheel Fringe Festival.
Photo by Tania Vergara; Design by Dairon Batista
This week “Casa Havana” returns, but in a full-length version that is vastly expanded and .reworked. (Anyone who know Vergara Perez knows the can’t stop editing and improving her choreography.) You’ll have two opportunities to catch it at the 2006 Squeaky Wheel Fringe Festival this week.
“Casa Havana,” Tania Vergara Dance-Theater at the Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, part of the 2026 Squeaky Wheel Fringe Festival. 7 p.m. June 3; 2:30 p.m. June 6. $15 (plus fees). squeakywheeltheatre.org/fringe
. — Carrie Seidman
June 5-6
The Sarasota Music Festival returns with the first two concerts of this year’s revamped program. The festival welcomes 40 rising musicians preparing to start their professional careers and gives them the chance to work with about 20 professionals over the two-week event. Each concert will have the Festival Fellows performing side-by-side with their professional mentors. The first two concerts have a chamber music focus. On June 5, the program includes works by Florence Price, Beethoven, Amy Beach and Felix Mendelssohn. The June 6 concert features works by Louis Spohr, Mozart, Robert Schumann and Ruth Crawford Seeger.
Sarasota Music Festival runs June 3-13. Most programs are in Holley Hall in the Sarasota Orchestra’s Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center, 709 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $15-$25 for a Musicians Table conversation that replaces the traditional Levin Lecture at 4 p.m. June 3. (Pianist and former artistic director Robert Levin is no longer able to attend). $40 for the June 5 concert and $30-$45 for the June 65 concert. sarasotaorchestra.org; 941-953-3434
— Jay Handelman
June 6
Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s Independent Artist Showcase gives established artists the space to create, direct and perform original works. This week, it brings JoAnna Ford, who performed with WBTT for three seasons starting in 2017, back to the stage after a seven-year hiatus during which she struggled with an autoimmune disease that threatened her ability to sing. In “JoAnna Ford’s Heart Wide Open: A Musical Lesson of Vulnerability,” the artist combines jazz, soul and storytelling as she shares the journey following her diagnosis through grief and reclamation to joy.
Joanna Ford. / Photo by Sorcha Augustine
“JoAnna Ford’s Heart Wide Open: A Musical Lesson of Vulnerability,” part of the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s Independent Artist Showcase. 7:30 p.m. in WBTT’s Donelly Theatre, 1012 N. Orange Ave., Sarasota. Tickets $39-$100 (VIP/sponsor). 941-366-1505; westcoastblacktheatre.org
— Carrie Seidman
June 6-27
Casey Murphy, left, and Veronika Duerr star as Ben and Beatrice in Lauren Gunderson’s “Lady Disdain,” inspired by Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” at Asolo Repertory Theatre. Photo by Adrian Van Stee provided by Asolo Rep
"Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” gets a new twist in the rolling world premiere of “Lady Disdain” at Asolo Repertory Theatre. The play is by Lauren Gunderson, who has become one of the most produced and popular playwrights in the country with such plays as “Silent Sky,” “I and You” and new takes on Jane Austen stories. “Lady Disdain” is about Beatrice and Ben, rival audiobook narrators who do battle with words as they battle an apparent attraction between them. Casey Murphy, a Sarasota actor who has been involved in the development of the play, portrays Ben opposite Veronika Duerr as Beatrice. Sean Daniels directs the contemporary comedy. which just had a run at the Forward Theater Company in Madison, Wisconsin. The Cap Times in Madison called it “delightful.”
“Lady Disdain” by Lauren Gunderson runs June 6-27 (opening night is June 12) at Asolo Repertory Theatre, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $31-$77 for previews, and $35-$95 for other performances. asolorep.org; 941-351-8000
— Jay Handelman
June 8
Thomas Carabasi./ Photo by Carol LoRicco
Looking for a great mellow way to start the week? Check out Thomas Carabasi’s New Jazz Standard Quartet at Monday Night Jazz at The Cabaret, presented by the Jazz Club of Sarasota. You’ll hear songs from both the American and Brazilian songbook, with an emphasis on rhythm and swing and plenty of jazz classics and familiar favorites. The quartet features Perry Chiles on saxophone/flute; Patrick Bettison on keyboards; Alejandro Arenas on bass; and Carabasi on drums. Make a night of it and come early for food and drink before the music starts.
“Thomas Carabasi and the New Jazz Standards Quartet,” Monday Night Jazz at The Cabaret, presented by the Jazz Club of Sarasota. Doors open 6:30 p.m.; music starts 7:30 p.m. at the John C. Court Cabaret, 1265 1st Street, Sarasota. Tickets start at $46 (plus fees). eventbrite.com/e/mnjc-thomas-carabasi/tickets-1988266939940
— Carrie Seidman
