It's time again for a whirlwind tour of performance notes from around the Bay area.

Winning Floridians You may remember that last April I wrote about "The Floridians," a project of the LiveArts Peninsula Foundation and American Stage. The idea was to find six playwrights and six composers who would create a series of original one-acts and songs about Florida people, events and themes. American Stage agreed to give staged readings of the resulting work in early 2003 in its New Visions series; and a full production at the same venue, stretched over three evenings, would follow in the summer of 2003.

Thirty playwrights and 12 composers submitted their work for consideration by the LiveArts and American Stage judges. Those judges were managing director Lee Lowry, acting artistic director Neil DeGroot and Angela Bond for American Stage, and David Rowell, Kristen Rowell and Lillian Nelson for LiveArts. The judges for composers were LiveArts general manager Diana Leavengood, LiveArts artistic director Bill Leavengood and Mary Christian.

The winning playwrights and composers have been announced. The selected Florida playwrights are: Lila Donnolo, Bob Devin Jones, Bill Leavengood and Michael Updegraff (all of St. Petersburg); Doug Cooney (West Palm Beach) and Larry Parr (Sarasota). The selected Florida composers are Lee Ahlin, Steven Coy Cook, Peter Gallagher and Danny Hamilton (all of St. Petersburg); Steve Blackwell (Punta Gorda), and Bonnie Whitehurst (Safety Harbor).

Was there an ethical problem in granting awards to Leavengood and Ahlin, one the foundation's artistic director and the other a founding trustee? Diana Leavengood says no: "Well, I think that there would be if Bill and Lee had been on the selection committee, but since they had no power over the selection committee and were not part of its decisions, the board is comfortable with the way the decisions were made."

Winning playwrights will receive $500; winning composers, $250. On behalf of LiveArts, Bill Leavengood is donating his commission to be used for a student element of "The Floridians." About that element: Two selected Florida youth playwrights (age 14-20) will be awarded commissions of $200 each to create original Florida-theme one-acts. One Florida youth composer will be awarded $100 to create an original Florida-theme song. The selected students' work will be presented on one evening as part of American Stage's New Visions reading series.

Interested Florida young people (either natives of Florida or current residents) should send a 10 to 20-page writing sample to Bill Leavengood, LiveArts Peninsula Foundation, 10 Fifth St. N., #204, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. The postmark deadline for submissions is July 15.

For more information on "The Floridians," contact Bill Leavengood at wmsleav@cs.com or Jen Thompson at the LiveArts office, 727-565-0196.

Alley Cat Roars The Alley Cat Players, which last month brought a delightful production of Mac Wellman's Sincerity Forever to town, have already got their next three plays scheduled. The evidence is unassailable: Surrealism has found a home on the shores of Tampa Bay.

Running July 19-28 at Ybor City's Silver Meteor Gallery is Tom Stoppard's After Magritte, a surrealist farce featuring a policeman, a possibly mad English family, a puzzling one-legged man and a turtle. Performing will be Colleen McDonnell, Steve Mountan, Scott Isert, D. Davis and Jimmy Chang. The Stoppard play will occupy only half the evening; following intermission is After After Magritte: A Surrealist Montage. This is a verbal collage made from the words of 28 prominent Surrealists, including Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Tanning, Leonora Carrington and Andre Breton. Threads from their poems, manifestos, articles, letters, and other writings have been woven together by Alley Cat co-founder Jo Averill-Snell, who also directs.

The next Alley Cat show runs Aug. 30-Sept. 15, also at the Silver Meteor. It's Ali Smith's Traces of Arc, about a grocery store clerk who hears a voice that other people don't. And then from Oct. 30-Nov. 2 at the ¡Viva la Frida! Cafe y Galeria, it's Mac Wellman's vampire play Swoop. Wellman's plays are always marked by an impressive use of language; in this one Mina, Lucy and Dracula debate all things Draculean, as well as the merits of housecats and the properties of geezer gas.

Alley Cat made its first foray into theatrical surrealism last year, with a staged reading of Pablo Picasso's bizarre Desire Caught by the Tail. Now there's abundant evidence that the ACPs are serious about this side of the artistic spectrum; and that we theater-lovers are going to be treated to some experiences that we've been missing. This is, to put it mildly, a good thing.

For more information, check out the Alley Cat Web site at www.alleycatplayers.org.

Back From Miami The Tampa-based dance collective Moving Current recently came back from a successful showing in the prestigious Florida Dance Festival in Miami.

According to dance collective member Erin Cardinal, Moving Current had four of the pieces in a seven-piece program on June 24. They were "Reach," by Cindy Hennessy; "Jam Tango" by Lisa Tobias; "Open Spaces" by Cardinal; and a dance by USF's Lynne Wimmer. Cardinal says that the audience of about 200 at the New World School of the Arts in downtown Miami was "great, incredibly receptive. There was a really, really nice, warm audience, dance lovers."

In order to get into the festival, Moving Current personnel had to submit videos to the board of reviewers at the Florida Dance Association. The selection process is highly competitive.

What's next for Moving Current? A short breathing spell, says Cardinal. And then, in late July: rehearsals for a fall concert.

Dog & Pony Returns. Dog & Pony Productions, which last September presented The Sea Horse at the Shimberg Playhouse of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, is planning its next full production.

Edward Albee's The Zoo Story will be presented at the Shimberg, opening Sept. 6. Don Moyer and Jim Wicker will star, and Elizabeth Brincklow will direct. Dog & Pony is looking into possible productions for spring 2003: one is The Morning After the Miracle, about Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan in the years after the events of The Miracle Worker; and the other is a play based on the prison letters of Ethel Rosenberg.

Dog & Pony Productions was formed last year by actor/director Pam Yado, actor/ director Karla Hartley, actor/drama teacher James Wicker and director/producer Brincklow.

Contact performing arts critic Mark E. Leib at mark.leib@weeklyplanet.com or call 813-248-8888, ext. 305.

This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2002.