A+E INSIDE: < FESTIVUS MIRACLE: ‘Seinfeld’ food items for all of us to celebrate ... or not. 3
BLACK
TIE INSIDE:
DESIGNING WOMEN: Fashion, flora and philanthropy meet at Selby Gardens. 7 >
ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT DECEMBER 21, 2023
YOUROBSERVER.COM
Courtesy images
Sharr White’s adaptation of Larry Sultan’s book, “Pictures From Home,” examines the power photos have on a family’s relationships and image of itself.
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY PHOTO ALBUM Sharr White’s powerful adaptation of the book ‘Pictures From Home,’ takes the stage at FST. MARTY FUGATE
IF YOU GO
CONTRIBUTOR
“P
ictures from Home” is now in focus at Florida Studio
Theatre. Sharr White’s play is an adaptation of Larry Sultan’s photo memoir of the same name. But “adaptation” falls short of describing this metafictional Mobius strip. Let’s with the source material. In the ’80s, the photographer Larry Sultan had relentlessly documented his parents’ lives — with a special focus on his father.
When: Dec. 13 through Feb. 18 Tickets: $25-$39 Where: FST Keating Theatre, 1241 N. Palm Ave., Sarasota Info: Call 366-9000 or visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
To that end, Sultan recorded interviews, took staged and candid photos, and pulled stills from his father’s Super 8 home movies. Those words and images formed the basis of Sultan’s book and the companion exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He noted that, “Photographing my father became a way of confronting my confusion about what it was to be a man in this culture. I wanted to puncture this mythology of the family and to show what happens when we are driven by images of success.” Sultan set out to deconstruct his father’s impossible American dream; SEE PICTURES, PAGE 2
In “Pictures From Home,” a son questions how his father uses family photos to support a narrative of success.