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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT NOVEMBER 16, 2023
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The Historic Asolo Theater is rebranding itself as the HAT in a whimsical marketing campaign that features souvenir postcards.
CALLING ALL FRANCOPHILES! Many of this season’s shows at the Historic Asolo Theater have a French accent.
MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Q
: What do a musical about the history of the Congo, a tribute to electronic
dance and a circus comedy show featuring kitschy snowbirds from Quebec have in common? A: All of these shows and others
IF YOU GO Congo Jazz Band by Les Francophonies When: Nov. 16-18 Where: The Historic Asolo Theater (the HAT), 5401 Bayshore Road Tickets: $30 to $40 Info: Visit Ringling.org.
coming to The Ringling’s Historic Asolo Theater (HAT) have the blood of France running through their veins, Mon Ami! There are some performances in the 2023-24 season that have a Spanish influence, but it’s a Francophile season at the HAT. That’s by design, according to Elizabeth Doud, the Currie-Kohlmann curator of performance programs at The Ringling. Since her arrival in 2019 from Miami, Doud has been orchestrating
a rebranding program to get folks to call her performance venue the HAT, and with good reason. Many people confuse the Historic Asolo Theater, a jewelbox theater within The Ringling, with the Asolo Repertory Theatre, just around the corner. The two Asolos differ in size and types of entertainment, but they share a parking lot at 5401 Bayshore Road. If you’re a newcomer to Sarasota, it’s easy to get confused. Part of the HAT marketing campaign is a colorful postcard with a flamingo wearing yes, a hat, emblazoned with the words “Greetings from the HAT.” It looks like something that members of La Famille Golden Crust, the Quebecois comedy troupe coming to the HAT from April 18-21, might send the folks back in the Great White North. Doud arrives for an interview at the HAT with a book of the funky postcards, one for each show in the 2023-24 schedule. In case you missed it, the HAT kicked off its French-flavored season with a wild white party hosted by La Dame Blanche, a Parisian born in Havana. Known in real life as Yaite Ramos Rodriguez, the cigar-smoking La Dame is the daughter of one of the Monica Roman Gagnier
SEE HAT, PAGE 2
Elizabeth Doud is the Currie-Kohlmann curator of performance programs at The Ringling.