Here's the complete schedule of this year's GASP!, Creative Loafing's multi-faceted performing arts fest at the Tampa Museum of Art on Friday, March 31, from 6-10 p.m. at the Tampa Museum of Art. For ticket information and a map of the performance spaces at the museum, go to gasptampa.com.
GASP!arilla PLAZA
6-8, VARIOUS TIMES
Sheryl Oring: “Greetings from Tampa Bay”
In this collaborative artwork commissioned by Tampa International Airport, Sheryl Oring and her assistants, all dolled up in the style of ’50s stenographers, will type up your Tampa Bay stories, which will eventually become part of a sculpture Oring will install at the airport this summer. The North Carolina-based artist has been gathering material all over Tampa Bay for months now, from tales of crab feasts in old Ybor to one woman’s account of meeting her future husband while here on vacation. (Who says Virginia is the only state for lovers?) Be forewarned: Oring says the typists are working on a “small typing surface” — index cards — so try to keep your stories succint.
Mark Byrne The Balloon Guy
Magical mischief on the plaza. Later on, see his mind-blowing performance piece, Me and Magritte, in the GASP!aret.
Mobile Itinerant Funk UnitAn acoustic marching band that always gets the GASP! party started, bringing the funk in and around the museum with brass, percussion, and panache.
Nicole Hays & A.J. Vaughan
Acrobatics set to music. Catch the duo later in two unique acts in the Atrium.
6-9, VARIOUS TIMES
Noel Rochford
The lead singer of UNRB returns for a solo gig this year, what he describes as “a psychedelic electric ukulele hybrid experience.” Watch for him throughout the evening, jamming with dancers and other musicians or just entertaining the crowd, which (as anyone knows who’s seen him perform) he does extremely well.
Sultan Fuego, The Man Immune to Pain
GASP! favorite Daniel Funk, aka The Human Blockhead, returns in all his fire-breathing, sword-swallowing, nail-driving glory. You might wince, but you won’t be able to turn away.
GASP!Fashion by Dolce Couture
Melissa Dolce’s witty designs bring a new twist to “Sports” wear — right in tune with the sports photography show upstairs. Watch for her models throughout the evening; one of them’s a real “catch.”
9-10
The Real Clash
The mega-talented seven-piece band out of St. Petersburg College’s Music Industry/Recording Arts (MIRA) program brings “the soul of hip-hop without all the additives and fillers.” Finish out the night by dancing till ya GASP!
NORTH ATRIUM
6:45 Becca McCoy & Crystal DelGiudice in Sheila Cowley’s Freefall, inspired by a photo in the Who Shot Sports exhibition and choreographed by Paula Kramer. See the GASP!Phrastic story on p. 15 for details.
7:00 Studio@620’s Voodoo Macbeth (excerpt) with Erica Sutherlin, Calvin M. Thompson, Sharon Scott and company
Bob Devin Jones’s reimagining of the Scottish play, inspired by a legendary 1936 production by Orson Welles, features a powerhouse all-African American cast, percussion and dance. With this excerpt, GASP! audiences get a sneak preview before the show opens at the Studio on April 8.
7:30 Hip Expressions Belly Dance
Choreographer Johanna Xenobia returns with her irrepressible troupe, a big hit at last year’s GASP! This time she promises some surprises — watch out!
7:45 Helen Hansen French in Fledgling No More
The exquisite St. Pete-based dancer (co-founder of the acclaimed BEACON dance series) first performed this piece at last year’s St. Petersburg Arts Alliance MUSE awards. Co-choreographed with Kellie Harmon, the solo was inspired by the painting The Pinnacle by the 2016 MUSE visual arts honoree, Steven Kenny. French revives it here, and thanks to the artist the painting will be on view, too.
8:00 Susannah LeMarquand & University of Tampa dancers in Four-fifths, w. Julia Call, Kalina DuBuc and Cara Hazel
Created over many months in a collaboration between UT dance professor LeMarquand and her students, Four-fifths is at once courageous and joyful.
8:10 Audrey Richter/Collective Soles in MagdalenaThe stellar dancer/choreographer who just this past weekend riveted audiences in Collective Soles’ With Love at The Studio@620, Richter pays tribute in Magdalena to the life, legacy, and artwork of Frida Kahlo. Richter’s dance solo experiments with color, texture, and display as an ode to the feminist artist’s iconic paintings.
8:20 Moving Current Dance Collective’s Brooke Bradley and Crystal DelGiudice in You Got This!
Moving Current dancers bring energy and expertise to whatever they perform, and what could be more fun than seeing them dance to Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” and Felix da Housecat? You gotta believe they got this.
8:45 Hip Expressions Encore
9 Susannah LeMarquand & UT Dancers Encore
VARIOUS TIMES
Noel Rochford on electric ukelele
A.J. Vaughan on electric violin
Dolce Couture
SOUTH ATRIUM
6-10 Brian Feldman’s The Skill Crane Kid
You pays yer quarters and ya takes yer chances — if the guy inside the skill crane machine will let you. Inspired by the story of a 7-year-old Michigan boy who crawled inside such a machine through its prize slot, Feldman — a truly original performer from Orlando — will remain inside a playable skill crane machine for the duration of GASP! Over the span of four hours, anyone is invited to try and win Brian, or other great prizes, for only 50¢ per play. “Bring your date!” exhorts Feldman. “Bring your kids! Bring your quarters!”
7:15 Nicole Hays & A.J. Vaughan: Spinning Sphere
8:30 Nicole Hays & A.J. Vaughan: Tank & Tilly’s Clockwork Cabaret
Two chances to see this dynamic duo. Nicole’s unique Spinning Sphere is an elegant, um, spin on pole dance, while Tank & Tilly is a steampunk-themed variety show with comic flair in which Hays and her viola-playing partner A.J. vie for acrobatic supremacy.
GASP! & ELECTRIC ROOM
6-10 Infinite Third (Billy Mays III): The Ambient Installation Series
The experimental guitar virtuoso (son of the late TV personality) creates immersive soundscapes that envelop audiences and provide improvisatory inspiration to performers. Lie back in our Concept Bait-designed listening lounge or get up and dance — the possibilities are Infinite.
The GASP!-PHRASTIC ROOM
6-10 GASP!-Phrastic & GASP! POETRY SLAM
Borrowing a page from Keep St. Pete Lit’s wildly successful Fantastic Ekphrastic, area writers were invited to choose from among 23 evocative images in TMA’s Alex Katz and sports photography shows and create stories, poems, essays, plays, even songs in response, to be performed either by themselves or actors (or, in one case, a dancer). For a full schedule of readings, click here.
GASP!aret
7:30-8 Paul Wilborn & Eugenie Bondurant w. Blue Roses & Becca McCoy
Pop standards, witty patter, and a luxe lounge atmosphere starring Paul Wilborn & Eugenie Bondurant, with Becca McCoy and Frank Bowman.
8:10-8:25 A.J. Vaughan as Donald Trump in excerpts from a new Gil Perlroth musical, The Trump Circus Is Now Performing in Washington D.C.
The popular local playwright Gil Perlroth (Ain’t Retirement Grand?) is writing a musical about you-know-who, and GASP! audiences are getting a sneak preview. The multi-talented A.J. Vaughan takes on the Trump challenge, singing (among other things) an affectionate ode to a man named Vlad.
8:30-9 Roxanne Fay in Paradise Whiskey
The award-winning local actress and playwright based this one-woman play on tales from her own family. The crusty, no-nonsense character she created is a true original, and Fay’s performance is a tour de force.
9:15-10 Mark Byrne the Balloon Guy in Me and Magritte
He’s dazzled fashionistas with his balloon couture at Dunedin Fine Art Center’s Wearable Art. He’s wowed magic fans with his sleight of hand. But with Me and Magritte he has come up with a delightful concoction that’s perfect for a performance at an art museum: Using balloon and magic both, he steps into the iconic images of the surrealist painter Rene Magritte and pulls off some tricks that are pretty surreal in their own right.
ART GALLERIES
6-10 (no food or drink, please)
• Alex Katz: Black and White
• Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present
• The Classical World
Special thanks to our sponsors and partners Tampa Museum of Art, Mise en Place, Sono Café, Tampa International Airport, CL Deals, Hyde Park Village, Kozuba & Sons Distillery, Daddy Kool Records, No Clubs State Media, Side Splitters Comedy Club, Tampa Triumph, Aloft Downtown Tampa, Premier Photo Booths, Roundhouse Creative, Video Shampoo, & Lyft!