Best Of 2021

Shockheaded Peter

Before surprise back surgery blew up my spring, I was scheduled to review “Shockheaded Peter” at Jobsite. Doing my due diligence, I was blown away by the production photos. The images were thrilling—in your face, subversive, and more than a touch frightening. In other words, a perfect match for the material. From old school painted set pieces, grotesque makeup, dramatic lighting both in color and texture, over the top costumes and wigs, striking creatures from Muppet-esque hand puppets to a giant stork that swallowed Coleen Cherry, all the visual elements walked the transgressive knife’s edge between humor and horror. jobsitetheater.org

Best of the Bay 2021 Arts & Entertainment: Creative Loafing Tampa Bay's 2021 readers and critics pick the best in local theater, poets, museums and so much more.

Best of the Bay 2021 Arts & Entertainment


Winner: M. Catherine Wynkoop

Runners-Up: Jadyn Mills “Lend Me a Tenor,” Eugenie Bondurant

Tony Krol

As we interviewed Tampa Bay’s Black artists for our Spring Arts Preview, Tony Krol’s name kept coming up. Krol worked with several Black artists in 2020, created murals with them, provided space for them to show their work, and brought them into conversations about curation. The collaborations introduced Tampa Bay to the Black Activist Photographers and New Roots Art Collective. They brought us Tampa’s Black Lives Matter street mural, “Cultural Currency” at Peninsularium, and “Black Storm” at Cafe Hey. Krol knows that Tampa’s diversity is one of its greatest assets, and he’s making sure that diversity is well-represented in Tampa’s art galleries and streets. mergeculture.com

Elizabeth Brincklow

Brincklow was born with an unfair advantage. You see, her mother Martha taught “arts and ideas” to generations of students at Dunedin High School. This cultural cocoon launched her to the FSU School of Theatre and the study of mime in Paris. Imaginative gigs in D.C. and NYC forged her keen skills. But the trail she’s blazed across disciplines with major artists over the past three decades since returning to Pinellas County is unmatched. She strategically developed St. Pete’s cultural scene, crafted Creative Pinellas’ grants program and shepherded Dunedin’s Public Art Master Plan and implementation of significant installations. brincklow-arts.com

Winner:Naked Came the Florida Man” by Tim Dorsey

Runners-Up: Dogs of the Burg” by Urban Dog Studio, “Curveball at the Crossroads” by Michael Lortz

Winner: Mayven Missbehavin

Runners-Up: Femmes and Follies, Janinie Fatone-Butler