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Sarasota News Leader February 15, 2013 Page 93 PLAYWRIGHT KOPIT TO BE FEATURED IN FREE PROGRAM Hermitage Artist Retreat Fellow and Tony-nominated playwright Arthur Kopit will be the featured speaker at a public program at the Venice Theatre, 140 Tampa Ave. West in Venice, on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 4 p.m., the Hermitage has announced. Venice Theatre Executive/Artistic Director Murray Chase will interview Kopit about his life and work in the theater, a news release says. ���Arthur Kopit is one of America���s most renowned playwrights,��� says Bruce E. Rodgers, executive director of the Hermitage, in the release. ���Not only is he talented and well known, he has also been very generous with his input and praise of the other artists fortunate to be sharing time at the Hermitage during his residencies. We are so pleased to be able to share him with the community for this wonderful afternoon about his life in American theater.��� Kopit is the author of: Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma���s Hung You in the Closet and I���m Feelin��� So Sad; Indians (Tony nominee and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize); Wings (also a Tony nominee and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize); a new translation of Ibsen���s Ghosts; the book for the musical Nine (score by Maury Yeston; Tony Award for Best Musical, 1982; Tony Award for Best Musical revival, 2003); End of the World, with Symposium to Follow; the book for the musical Phantom (score by Maury Yeston); the book for the musical High Society (score by Cole Porter, additional lyrics by Susan Birkenhead); Road to Nirvana; Because He Can (originally entitled Y2K); Chad Curtiss, Lost Again, and numerous one-act plays, the release points out. Arthur Kopit/Contributed photo His current projects include Discovery of America, a play based on the journals of the Spanish conquistador, Cabeza de Vaca; a new musical, Eureka!; and four other new plays: Autumn Light, Secrets of the Rich, The Incurables and A Dram of Drumchhicit, the latter written with Anton Dudley, the release points out. Kopit���s program is a ���give-back��� requested of all artists invited for residencies at the Hermitage Artist Retreat on Manasota Key, the release notes. In exchange for time and space to make art on Florida���s Gulf coast, each artist is asked to provide two programs in the community during his or her stay. The Venice Theatre program is free, but space is limited, so reservations are requested. They may be made by calling the box office at 4881115. Those seats not reserved will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis, the release points out. For more information about Kopit���s talk or the Hermitage Artist Retreat, call 475-2098 or visit www.HermitageArtistRetreat.org.