Arts + Entertainment 10.5.23

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

YEARS YOUNG

Abook written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Florida Studio Theatre would need to devote countless pages to its CEO, Richard Hopkins, who joined FST 43 years ago, and his wife, Rebecca Hopkins, who came as an intern in 1998 and was named managing director five years later.

For better or worse, for richer or poorer, the story of FST is the story of the Hopkinses. Luckily for Sarasota theatergoers, there’s been a lot more better than worse, and the theater’s productions, stages and outreach programs for children and playwrights of all ages have grown richer, not poorer, through the years.

Along with the Sarasota Players, the community theater now in its 94th season, and the Asolo Repertory Theatre, which has grown from a festival launched in the late 1940s into Southeast Florida’s largest Equity theater, FST is a veritable theatrical institution in Sarasota. But with a dizzying number of plays, musicals, cabaret shows, festivals and workshops throughout the year, it is in a league of its own.

Thanks to the Hopkinses, FST stands as a towering example of a regional theater that makes firstrate live entertainment accessible and affordable, day in and day out.

Richard and Rebecca Hopkins turned a scrappy upstart into a cultural powerhouse.

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It is a truly exhausting endeavor, and rather than crown Richard and Rebecca Hopkins king and queen of the theater prom, we’ll don them with the medals of marathoners. They are champions of endurance, to be sure.

And they’ve got the trophies to prove it. There are too many to mention, but in 2017, Hopkins was awarded the Florida Theatre Conference Lifetime Achievement Award.

He and Rebecca both received the Luminaire Award in 2016 for promoting the future of the arts in Sarasota. That honor followed the 2012 Cultural Champion Award for both Hopkinses from the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County.

Make no mistake, FST’s leading man and lady get plenty of help from supporting players. Among their able artistic crew are Associate Director Sean Daniels, Associate Artist Catherine Randazzo, who has a big hand in cabaret productions, and Associate Director At Large Kate Alexander, to name just a few key players.

EVERYONE A KEY PLAYER

It’s not mounting a platitude to say everyone is a key player at FST, where the production team led by Director Ahkim Church keeps everything on a high level despite a restrained budget.

The Hopkinses’ frugal ways can be chafing to actors and other theater folk who long for frills and fatter paychecks, but the theater is thriving while many other regional venues across the U.S. are struggling.

When you look at the milestones during FST’s 50-year history, there are only two that precede Richard Hopkins’s arrival. The first is the founding of FST as a touring company by Jon Spelman in 1973. The second is getting use of the original home of the Sarasota Woman’s Club at 1241 N. Palm Ave. That 1914 building was bought and renovated three years after Hopkins’s arrival at FST.

Make no mistake. This is the house Hopkins built.

Let the numbers speak for themselves. When Hopkins became FST’s producing artistic director in 1980, he founded the theater’s main stage series with just 106 subscribers. Today, FST reaches over 38,000 subscribers through a variety of programs. That makes it the largest subscription theater in Florida, one that touches 200,000 people annually.

On the real estate front, FST has grown to what it calls a “village” of five theaters. There’s the Gompertz Theatre, the Keating Theatre, Bowne’s Lab (used for improv and other experimental fare) and two cabarets— the Court and the Goldstein. The Sudakoff Administration Building houses FST’s offices, costume shop and three commercial rental spaces.

ARTS PLAZA ON THE WAY

But FST’s physical expansion isn’t over yet. In March 2022, it announced plans to build the 11-story Mulva Arts Plaza in downtown Sarasota at a cost of at least $28 million. The new building will add a new main stage and two new cabaret theaters to the FST campus, affordable housing for actors and arts workers and 200 parking spaces.

Why does FST want to jump on the downtown development bandwagon by building a skycraper in its cozy little theater village?

The area’s shortage of affordable housing makes it imperative that FST provide accommodations for its visiting actors and its arts workers, Hopkins says in a wide-ranging phone interview. While one gets the

AI NOT A THREAT YET

The rapid growth of Sarasota, particularly post-Covid, is not as potentially lifechanging to FST and the local theater community as the advent of artificial intelligence. The dangers of plagiarism, intellectual property theft and fraud posed by AI-powered language tools like ChatGPT helped prompt the recent writers’ and actors’ strikes in Hollywood.

Bottom line: Who needs humans to write and act when computers can do it faster? Hopkins is not a believer. “When I was working on the libretto (spoken word section) for ‘Up on the Roof,’ I asked ChatGPT to write a musical. It wasn’t bad, but what bothered me is all the mistakes. ChatGPT is getting its information from sources on the internet that are wrong.”

It looks like writers of musical revues and other shows won’t be losing their jobs just yet.

But is there anything else on the horizon that could knock Sarasota from its throne as Florida’s cultural capital?

Richard Hopkins thinks so. What concerns him isn’t the shortage of affordable housing and parking. It’s the waning of kindness.

Before he met Rebecca (both agree it was pretty much love at first sight), Hopkins was thinking about leaving Sarasota. “San Francisco was one of my favorite places, but everyone was always in a fight there,” he says. “The right hated the left and the left hated the right. They couldn’t agree on anything. There was no middle ground.” That’s starting to happen in Sarasota, and indeed everywhere, he says.

Hopkins worries that Sarasota’s longstanding tolerance for oddballs and outcasts, which owes much to its circus heritage, is disappearing. “For as long as I’ve been here, Sarasota’s interactions have been relational, not transactional,” he says. “There’s no question we have to make money, but when business is driven by the sound of the cash register and not passion, we will have lost something.”

Being a long-haired, theater type, Hopkins is not afraid to name it: Heart.

feeling that Hopkins doesn’t suffer fools gladly, he’s not put off by provocative questions.

To accommodate the theater’s continued expansion as more visitors come to town and out-of-towners retire and relocate here to work remotely, the theater needs more parking, Hopkin says. And the new stages will help fuel FST’s growth.

But wait. Hasn’t Hopkins heard that regional theaters are laying people off, curtailing their schedules and even closing? Places like New York City’s Public Theater, LA’s Mark Taper Forum, Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre Company and the Westport Country Playhouse have been hurt by sharp declines in subscription sales since the pandemic. The end result is what industry publications such as American Theatre are calling a “crisis.”

“This isn’t about Covid,” Hopkins declares. “This was happening before the pandemic.”

The way Hopkins sees it, some storied theaters have lost touch with their community (one of his favorite words). They’re offering material that may be too edgy, on the one hand, or too predictable, on the other, at prices that many people can no longer afford.

Where else in the country can you see four main stage productions for a subscription price of $69? Or three cabaret shows for $49? According to Hopkins, not many.

Even though they were interviewed separately for an article on FST’s 50-year history, both Richard and Rebecca Hopkins remained firmly focused on the present — and the future. Both had to be prodded to talk about the past.

THAT SEVENTIES SHOW

Pressed to name some of FST’s greatest hits on the main stage and in the cabaret, they both pointed to shows from last season: the play “Network,” based on the popular film of the same name about a news anchor who goes berserk, and the musical revue “The 70s: More Than a Decade.”

“The 70s,” created by Rebecca Hopkins, Richard Hopkins and Sarah Durham, featured the music of The Who, Harry Chapin, the Bee Gees and Marvin Gaye, among others.

Directed by Randazzo with musical arrangements by Jim Prosser, “The 70s” closed on Feb. 12 after a 19-week run in the Court Cabaret. It returned in March for an encore run in the Keating Theatre, a larger venue, where it finally closed April 9.

The Hopkinses are hoping for that same kind of magic with “Up on The Roof,” another musical collaboration between the two with additional support by Sarah Durham.

The show about the music written by songwriters in New York’s legendary Brill Building, post-Elvis but pre-Woodstock, features Jannie Jones, Jacquelyne Paige, Joey Panek and Brandon Wardell.  Jones is well known to Sarasota audiences for her 2019 star turn

in “Ethel Waters: His Eye is on the Sparrow.” That show was a revival of FST’s 2005 world premiere of Larry Parr’s musical biography about the celebrated actress and singer who rose to stardom from poverty.

At a recent performance of “Up on the Roof,” Jones won loud applause and cheers from the audience in the Court Cabaret for her rousing performance of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” written by Brill Building spouses Carole King and Jerry Goffin. King sang the ballad on her triumphant 1971 album “Tapestry,” but Aretha Franklin’s soulful cover has stood the test of time.

A lot has changed during the tenure of Rebecca Hopkins, who has created many of FST’s hit cabarets. The line between the season and the off season has all but disappeared, not just measured by the traffic on Sarasota streets, but by the number of FST productions.

She is the first to agree with the oft-heard observation, “There is no off season anymore.”

If history is any guide, FST will be ready to meet the challenge.

Audiences loved FST’s production of “Network,” based on the film about a TV anchor who goes mad on the air.

TIMELINE OF FLORIDA STUDIO THEATRE

1973 — FST is founded by Jon Spelman as a touring company for underserved audiences such as migrant camps and prisons.

1977 —Thanks to local supporters, FST obtains the use of the Sarasota Woman’s Club building, including office space and a 72-seat theater.

1980 — Richard Hopkins is named artistic director and establishes a resident theater in Sarasota.

1982 — FST premieres its children’s education program.

1983 — FST purchases and renovates the 1914 Sarasota Woman’s Club building and launches its New Play development program.

1991— FST rolls out its Write a Play program, which tours Sarasota County schools.

1991 — Local playwright Larry Parr premieres his play, “Hi-Hat Hattie,” later presented at theaters throughout the nation.

1992 —FST inaugurates its first summer season, presenting three main stage productions.

1993 — FST holds its first Young Playwrights Festival.

1995 — FST completes the construction of a new three-story support facility that houses a 100-seat cabaret theater (now known as FST’s Goldstein Cabaret), scene shop, rehearsal spaces and production offices.

1996 — FST launches its Cabaret Series with a subscriber base of over 3,000.

1997 — FST purchases the Sudakoff Administration Building, housing FST’s administrative offices, costume shop and three commercial rental spaces.

2000 — FST develops and produces

“Sophie Tucker: The Last of the Red Hot Mamas”, which goes on to play at theaters throughout North America.

2003 — Rebecca Hopkins is named managing director of FST.

2004 — FST opens the Gompertz Theatre with a return engagement of FST’s production of “Sophie Tucker: The Last of the Red Hot Mamas.”

2005 — FST inaugurates the Stage III Series, dedicated to cutting-edge plays.

2005 — FST produces the world premiere of “Ethel Waters: His Eye is on the Sparrow” by Larry Parr.

2010 — FST produces John Biguenet’s “Shotgun,” its first rolling world premiere in partnership with the National New Play Network.

2012 — FST reaches its $6.8 million goal for the New Gompertz campaign, breaks ground in January and celebrates the grand opening of the renovated theater in November.

2013 —The John C. Court Cabaret opens.

2016 — FST presents the National New Play rolling world premiere of Mark St. Germain’s “Relativity.”

2016 — FST premieres the Children’s Theatre series.

2017 — FST celebrates the opening of Kretzmer Artist Housing, providing 20 bedrooms for visiting artists, apprentices and interns.

2022 — FST unveils plans for the $28.5 million Mulva Arts Plaza, an 11-story building to house another main stage theater, two more cabaret theaters, housing for guest artists and year-round arts workers, and parking for patrons.

Source: Florida Studio Theatre

THIS WEEK

THURSDAY

ART IN COMMON PLACES OPENING RECEPTION

5 p.m. at Creative Liberties, 927 N. Lime Ave.

Free

Visit CreativeLiberties.net.

This exhibition is a retrospective of 34 prints and posters created by artists and poets through the local nonprofit Art in Common Places. The opening reception will feature live poetry readings by Jackie Cutrone, Anne Morrison and Glenn Schudel. Light bites and refreshments will be available. The exhibit runs through Oct. 28.

HERMITAGE SUNSETS @ SELBY

GARDENS

6 p.m. at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 1534 Mound St.

Free with $5 registration fee

Visit HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

Hermitage fellow Halley Feiffer will present a playwriting workshop on “The Blurred Line Between Humor and Heartbreak.”

KEN MILLER

7 p.m. at McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, 1923 Ringling Blvd.

$25

Visit McCurdysComedy.com.

Ken Miller was chosen by Steve Harvey as the grand prize winner of the first-ever standup spotlight comedy competition that bears Harvey’s name. Runs through Oct. 8.

‘UP ON THE ROOF’

7:30 p.m. at FST’s Court Cabaret, 1265 First St.

$18-$39

Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Manhattan’s Brill Building was home to songwriting duos such as Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Carole King and Gerry Goffin and Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Their string of hits is showcased in this musical revue by Rebecca Hopkins and Richard Hopkins. Runs through Feb. 4.

‘REEFER MADNESS’

7:30 p.m. at Pinkerton Theatre, Venice

$37

Visit VeniceTheatre.org.

Last seen at Venice Theatre in 2008, the campy musical “Reefer Madness” is a hilarious sendup of the 1936 film of the same name that warned of the perils of marijuana. Runs through Oct. 8.

“Up on the Roof” runs at FST’s Court Cabaret through Feb. 4.

‘RUTHLESS!’

7:30 p.m. at The Players Centre, The Crossings at Siesta Key, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail $32 Visit ThePlayers.org.

The theater company now known as the Sarasota Players presents the morbidly funny tale of an 8-yearold actress who’s willing to go the distance to land the lead part in her school musical. Contains adult material. Runs through Oct. 15.

‘CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REMIXED!’

7:30 p.m. at FST’s Goldstein Cabaret, 1239 N. Palm Ave. $18 and up Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

“The Jersey Tenors” and “The Surfer Boys” veteran Vaden Thurgood has created his own musical revue for FST that follows the life of Creedence Clearwater Revival founder John Fogerty. Runs through Oct. 22.

FALL FESTIVAL OF MUSIC

7:30 p.m. at SCF Neel Performing Arts Center, 5840 26th St. W., Bradenton $15 Visit SCF.edu/Neel.

The SCF Music Program kicks off its 2023-24 season with performances by music ensembles, a symphonic band, concert choir, chamber choir, guitar ensemble, jazz big band and jazz combo.

FRIDAY

‘ABLUTIONS & AFFIRMATIONS’ OPENING RECEPTION

6 p.m. at SPAACES gallery, 2051 Princeton St. Free Visit spaaces.art.

Marina Shaltout’s solo show makes the case that rituals of self-care cannot heal the wounds of living in a destabilized world. Runs through Oct. 28.

FREE FAMILY CONCERT: FERRET IN THE ORCHESTRA

7 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail Free Visit SarasotaOrchestra.org.

After a week of bringing this hilarious program to fourth and fifth graders at area schools, the Sarasota Orchestra invites families to enjoy a free night of symphonic capers and laughs.

DON’T MISS

‘ONCE ON THIS ISLAND’

When: Oct. 11 through Nov. 19

Where: at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 N. Orange Ave.

Tickets: $20-$50 Info: Visit WestCoastBlackTheatre.org.

Directed by Jim Weaver, this Tony Award-winning musical set on a Caribbean island is based on Rosa Guy’s novel “My Love, My Love.” The tale of a peasant girl searching for love and identity features uplifting Caribbean rhythms and instruments.

Sorcha Augustine

OUR PICK

30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION: SARASOTA

FILM SOCIETY

Eat, drink and try your luck at raffles for movie tickets and passes at this fundraiser to celebrate the Sarasota Film Society’s 30th anniversary. After mixing and mingling, you can see one of three films: “The King’s Speech,” “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Three Strangers.”

IF YOU GO

When: 4 p.m. Monday Where: at Burns Court Cinema, 506 Burns Court Tickets: $50 Info: Visit FilmSociety.org.

SATURDAY

50TH ANNIVERSARY ORCHID

SHOW

10 a.m. at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 1534 Mound St.

$26

Visit Selby.org

Since its inception in 1973, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens has been known around the world for its orchid collection. Orchids of different shapes, colors and patterns will be on display in the Tropical Conservatory and there will be an exhibition in the Museum of Botany & the Arts. Runs through Nov. 26.

‘THE VELVETEEN RABBIT:

A TOY STORY’

10 a.m. at FST’s Keating Theatre, 1241 Palm Ave.

$10

Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org

“The Velveteen Rabbit” tells the story of a child who gets a sawdustfilled rabbit as a gift. But as the pair bond through the adventures in the child’s books, they discover the power of love to make imaginary things real. Through Oct. 15 on selected weekend dates.

FST IMPROV PRESENTS: OUT OF BOUNDS

7:30 p.m. at FST’s Bowne’s Lab Theatre, 1265 First St.

$15 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Experienced improvisers face off in competitive rounds of games, scenes and songs to win the audience’s laughter and applause. Runs weekends through Nov. 25.

THE CUBAN PROJECT: SARASOTA CONTEMPORARY DANCE

8 p.m. at Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W., Bradenton

$38

Visit SarasotaContemporaryDance. org.

In the early 1960s, Cuban parents sent more than 14,000 unaccompanied children to the U.S. to escape Fidel Castro. In “Cuban Project: Historias,” Leymis Bolaños Wilmott explores the experiences of her family and others caught up in this

unprecedented wave of immigration.

SUNDAY CHAMBER SOIRÉES: RARE GEMS

4 p.m. at Holley Hall, 709 N. Tamiami Trail $42 and up Visit SarasotaOrchestra.org.

Sarasota Orchestra members play Gustav Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A Minor, followed by the only string quartet composed by Claude Debussy.

‘ROMEO AND JULIET’

5 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail

$30-$89 Visit VanWezel.org

For more than a decade, the International Ballet of Florida has won kudos across the state. Alongside its students, IBF welcomes principal guest artists from the National Ballet of Ukraine, Lithuania Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and more as they begin their 2023-24 season with one of the most tragic love stories of all time.

TUESDAY

ARTIST SERIES CONCERTS:

PIANIST ILYA YAKUSHEV

7:30 p.m. at Historic Asolo Theater, 5401 Bayshore Road $30-$50 Visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org.

Winner of the 2005 World Piano Competition, Ilya Yakushev will be joined by a string quartet, including Daniel Jordan, concertmaster of the Sarasota Orchestra, in a performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet, Mozart’s Fantasia in D Minor and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

WEDNESDAY

GREAT ESCAPES:

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

5:30 p.m. at Holley Hall, 709 N. Tamiami Trail $47 Visit SarasotaOrchestra.org.

Follow the rich and diverse musical history of the Big Apple as the Sarasota Orchestra performs the works of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Scott Joplin, Leonard Bernstein and many more New Yorkers. Through Oct. 14.

LYNNE KOPLITZ

7 p.m. at McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, 1923 Ringling Blvd. $25 Visit McCurdysComedy.com.

Lynn Koplitz has hosted her own Netflix special, “Hormonal Beast,” and has appeared on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” “Tough Crowd” with Colin Quinn and Jenny McCarthy’s comedy special “Dirty, Sexy, Funny.” Through Oct. 15.

PRESENTS

CHARTING THE LOST CONTINENT

OCTOBER 25 & 26 | 7:30PM

A chorus of heartwarming, lusty, poignant, introspective, and thoroughly human stories exploring the thoughts, feelings, and wit of people as they reflect on the seasons of life and the journey that brought them to the present moment. Based on poetry by Linda Albert.

Charting the Lost Continent is supported in part by a teaching artist grant to Carole Kleinberg from The Johnson Singer Arts and Education Fund, a program of the Floyd C Johnson and Flo Singer Johnson Foundation.

Presented at The Players Centre. Visit SarasotaJewishTheatre.org to learn more.

October 13th-October 15th

Church of the Redeemer

Bach and Beer – a perfect combination!

Key Chorale presents a 3-day festival celebrating the music of  J.S. Bach with 4 amazing concerts and concluding with a German Biergarten.

Fri, October 13, 7:30 PM Opening Concert

Sat, October 14, 11:30 AM Organ Recital & Bach’s Lunch

Sat, October 14, 7:30 PM Period Instruments Chamber Music Concert

Sun, October 15, 4:00 PM Closing Concert

Sun, October 15, 5:30 PM Biergarten Experience

Purchase your tickets today at: KeyChorale.org

941.552.8768

Purchase a 3-day pass & SAVE 15%!

Where will you take us this year?

Pineapple Kitchen Mysteries plots expansion into hotels

The question of “whodunit” is spreading in the SarasotaBradenton area, thanks to hospitality company Pineapple Kitchen, which is expanding its murder mystery dinner shows to new locations.

The east Manatee County-based business is run by husband-andwife team Mike and Jenny Schenk.

Pineapple Kitchen, which also provides culinary education and gourmet products, will start hosting murder mystery dinners at the Even Hotel in Lakewood Ranch and Hotel Indigo in downtown Sarasota beginning in November. Currently, the dinners are limited to its Lakewood Ranch Lena Road location.

Guests become characters and suspects during the three-hour, four-course dinner show as they race to figure out who committed the hypothetical murder.

A show’s audience ranges from between 20 to 30 people. According to the website, shows cost upward of $120 per person.

The theme at the hotels will be “Pineapple’s Speakeasy.” Guests will encouraged to dress as gangsters and flappers for a Roaring Twenties vibe. The shows will run every weekend, sometimes including Thursdays.

All of the murder mystery shows come with custom scripts, not just for the improv actors hired to play an investigator who helps move the story along. Scripts are provided for every guest as well because everyone is a character in the show.

With the growing interest in their murder mystery dinner shows, the Schenks have ambitious goals. They hope to eventually expand to Naples or Tampa and maybe even outside of Florida.

Their original plan was to produce new shows in Lakewood Ranch quarterly to entice previous guests to come back. But when “The Mystery at the Pineapple Inn” hit the website, it sold out — fast.

“Our intention was to change it over in March (2023),” says Mike Schenk. “Because of the popularity of that show, we decided to continue it. It continued to sell out two or three months in advance. We carried that show for seven months.”

The same thing happened for their recent ’80s-themed show in August. “It got to the point where our customers were saying, ‘well, we wanted to do this, but it got sold out,’” Jenny Schenk says.

After mulling over advice from three advisers, they began looking for small boutique hotels to accommodate their intimate shows.

Knowing the hotels would take over food service and give them more space, they decided it was the best choice. They looked for hotels with spaces that accommodated no more than 45 guests to keep the intimate feel of the shows.

The Schenks, celebrating 35 years of marriage this year, have worked in the hospitality industry since they were in their twenties. Their first product under the Pineapple Kitchen brand was a soft pretzel bite with dip they launched in 2019. Not long after, the pandemic hit. But the Schenks were still able to get their pretzel kits into over 300 stores nationwide.

Since then, they’ve added a tasting room, the culinary theater and new product offerings, including Pineapple Kitchen charcuterie trays, gourmet meats and cheeses and an extensive selection of sauces.

One of their most successful lines is the Kitchen Kids camp. It teaches kids basic kitchen skills they use to serve their parents in their own popup restaurant.

Between the culinary theater, the product line and tasting room, things are getting a little cramped on Lena Road. In the next year or two the duo plans to explore opening a second location in Lakewood Ranch area.

Pineapple Kitchen is now looking to expand in distribution. The Schenks have hired a food broker to help them get on the shelves of larger retailers, including the holy grail for small food purveyors: Publix.

Will they pull off their culinary caper? Stay tuned. For more information, visit PineappleKitchen.com.

This Magic Moment

Sept. 30 at Michael’s On East | Benefiting the Benjamin Gilkey Fund for Innovative Pediatric Cancer Research

To honor their late son’s love of magic, Michael and Laura Gilkey hosted a magic-filled fundraiser, “This Magic Moment,” Sept. 30 at Michael’s On East to raise money for The Benjamin Gilkey Fund for Innovative Pediatric Cancer Research.

The evening brought a fun theme to a heart-touching cause with a lineup of magic entertainment emceed by former Sarasota High School principal David Jones, who is known for performing magic tricks for kids and adults alike.

Attendees clad in black and white enjoyed food and drinks with games, a live auction and a magic show by Zubrick Magic Theatre before hitting the dance floor.

After Benjamin Gilkey died from complications of leukemia in 2017, his parents started a foundation to honor his memory and raise money for pediatric cancer research. Prior to the event at Michael’s On East, the foundation had raised more than $1.35 million for pediatric cancer research at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. Representatives from the hospital were on hand to share progress made with the funds, including clinical trials and investigative studies of children with cancer.

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