Local playwrights premiere new works, the Norton hosts a wellness-themed Art After Dark, and political reporters dish on the last election at Books & Books. Plus, Boca’s Battle of the Bands and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY
What: An Evening With Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables
Cost: Free
Contact: 305/442-4408, booksandbooks.com
The cover of the New York Times bestseller “Fight” speaks viscerally and symbolically to its contents: A frowning Donald Trump, his visage as red as the Arizona mountains, literally fracturing the two leaders of the previous administration, their faces rendered in the blue of fading jeans. Subtitled “Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House,” “Fight” chronicles our recent presidential election in the terms of “blood sport politics.” Its authors—NBC News reporter Allen and The Hill correspondent Parnes—brought the receipts, having interviewed 150 sources from in and outside the three campaigns for the White House. Listen to them share some of their insights, then purchase the book ($32 at Books & Books) and get it signed by the authors.
TUESDAY TO FRIDAY
What: Square 1 Playwrights Festival
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Lake Worth Playhouse’s Stonzek Theater, 713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth Beach
Cost: $10
Contact: 561/296-9382, lakeworthplayhouse.org
Things are back to square one, as it were—meaning the blank page, and its endless possibilities—at this festival for local playwrights. Be the first to experience readings of these brand-new short works at a budget price for four straight nights. N.M. James’ “Only the Gators Will Know” is set on a stranded boat in the Everglades; “Tempus Fugit” imagines a surreal encounter between a barista from 2010 and a monk from 1254; “You Haven’t Changed a Bit” tracks a conversation between former classmates at their 70th high school reunion; “Lick Back” captures the farcical antics of teenage girls as they try to snap the perfect picture; and “Back From Walla Walla” finds professional-actor exes meeting at the same Broadway audition.
FRIDAY
What: Battle of the Bands
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/393-7810, mizneramp.com
As is customary, the City of Boca Raton’s final Free Friday concert of the summer will feature homegrown acts vying for cash prizes and bragging rights in this fifth-annual tradition. Four groups in the “Under 20” category—Jinx, Shy Blossom, Nothing Wrong With Wet Socks and the Strangers—will compete against each other for a $2,500 cash prize. So will the bands duking it out in the “Over 20” category: Blood Moon Mafia, Jupiter Rock Farm, Leave It to Us and the Marina Effect. Winners will be selected by industry judges, with enthusiasm provided by what is sure to be a packed house of attendees. Pay attention to the music, because you never know which obscure artist will graduate to bigger stages in the future: Audio Crisis, two-time winners in both the Under and Over 20 categories as recently as in 2022, went on to open for Post Malone at Hard Rock Stadium. In between acts, enjoy a Young Entrepreneurs Market featuring the work of artisans and businesspeople ages 13-20.
What: Art After Dark: Wellness Night
When: 5 to 10 p.m.
Where: Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach
Cost: $5 students, $10 adults
Contact: 561/832-5196, norton.org
Find your inner Zen at this wellness-centered evening of activities at the Norton, where attendees can sample various holistic modalities at a fraction of their typical cost. Erin Dahlgren, a certified breath guide, starts the evening with breathwork sessions at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m., guiding participants through the benefits of conscious and controlled breathing. At 6 p.m., join a tai chi session and experience the therapeutic effects of this deliberately paced, 5,000-year-old eastern practice. At 6:15 and 7:15 p.m., Johanna Transformations will lead a sound bath, inducing attendees into a meditative state through the use of recorded healing sounds and live music from specialized instruments. The evening concludes with live music from renowned classical guitarist Collin Holloway from 7:30 to 9 p.m. As always at Art After Dark, visitors also can opt for docent tours of the collection and special exhibitions at 5:30 and 7 p.m., or join a teaching artist for an open studio session from 6 to 9 p.m.
What: Opening night of “Three Scenes in the Life of a Trotskyist”
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Main Street Playhouse, 6812 Main St., Miami Lakes
Cost: $20
Contact: lakehouseranchdotpng.com
The title of playwright Andy Boyd’s observant political drama describes its neat three-act structure, which charts the surprising political evolution of the Trotskyist of the title, one Lev Trachtenberg, over the course of 40 tumultuous years in the United States. In the first of these scenes, Lev is a leftist radical and card-carrying true believer at New York’s City College in 1939. By 1967, the second scene, he has come to reassess his hardline views amid the tumult of the civil rights movement. By 1980, Lev’s political pendulum has swung fully to the opposite direction, as he works for a right-wing think tank favored by Ronald Reagan. The play questions whether political views are shaped by a changing world or the changing individuals within it. Developed in 2020, “Three Scenes in the Life of a Trotskyist” will enjoy its third production courtesy of LakeHouseRanchDotPNG, a Miami theatre company specializing in provocative work in intimate black-box settings. It runs through Aug. 17.
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