American Stage's Act One gala Friday night celebrated the 25th anniversary season for the theater. The festivities began with dinner served inside the Times community auditorium, a room in which it is unusual to see people in evening wear.
Board president Al and Nancy Karnavicius mingled in the crowd, along with artistic director Todd Olson, managing director Lee Manwaring Lowry, Bill and Marion Ballard, Bill and Hazel Hough, Diane Bailey, Robert Danielson, Ed. Cassidy and Charles Landrum, Doug Grant, Helga and Lewis Andrews, Tom and Vickie Dunn, Bruce and Mary Ann Marger, Evan and Carol Jones, Susan Rodnite, Audrey Zahn, Bill and Sally Habermeyer, Joel and Debbie Momberg, Dr. Charles and Eunice Hirsch, Julie Solomon, Carol Mallah, Sheldon and Ann Wykell, Donna Fleece, Mark and Wendy Durant, Marshall and Wendi Stevens, Patti and John Farese, Evan and Diana Whittle, Angi Jennings, Mark King, Don Shea, David and Guna Carr, and Skip Tylman.
Miriam Rochford and her brother Noel circulated through the room, generating interest in prizes for the evening.
The buffet dinner, catered by Mattison's, included carved pork tenderloin, chicken with goat cheese, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and farfalle pasta with sauteed vegetables in a pesto cream sauce.
Afterward, patrons went to a performance of Stones in his Pockets and later were treated to postprandial treats and a cabaret performance.
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I left after the main course to get to the home of Tim and Anje Bogott for the launch of a fundraising effort for the Canterbury School of Florida.
A tall wire replica of the Eiffel Tower entwined with tiny white lights stood near the driveway. Paris is one of the destinations being offered in the campaign, which will pay for athletic fields at the school's upper campus.
Participants also can bid on trips to Park City, Utah; the Hotel Club del Mar Resort in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica; the Big Cedar Wilderness Club in the Ozark Mountains near Branson, Mo.; and South Seas Plantation on Captiva Island.
The group will sell 600 tickets at $100 each. Buyers may select one trip per ticket, with each ticket being placed in one of five drawings. Each trip is for seven days and six nights.
Celebrating were Bill and Ria McQueen, Bob and Nancy Siver, Ed and Marlene Camejo, Bill and Mary Ann Bond, Troy and Judy Holland, Dr. Steve and Betsy Updegraff, Bob and Mollie White, Kaye Pollard, Daryl DeBerry and Bill Coffman, and Dr. Maury and Mimi Krystel.
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Late Saturday afternoon, I arrived at Evander Preston's jewelry studio in St. Pete Beach, where preparations were under way for the benefit that he and chef Tom Pritchard sponsored for artist Lance Rodgers, who is recovering from acute pancreatitis.
Preston has a remarkable kitchen behind his jewelry showroom. In addition to the tandoor oven and the wok stove, he recently installed a salamander, a gas-fired broiler.
Pritchard of Island Way and Salt Rock grills, chefs Barry Spalding and Zach Gross, and Kenny Walton were searing tuna and skewered scallops and heating egg rolls.
Their piece de resistance was an enormous wooden platter piled high with salad greens, onto which were heaped tandoori chicken lollipops, pickled quail eggs, cucumber slices topped with smoked salmon and wasabi cream cheese, and slices of deep-fried beef tenderloin. As if any were needed, the garnish was edible dendrobium orchid blossoms.
The crowd included Wayne and Marlene Mock, Susan Cameron, Donna Fleece, Richard and Diane Winning, Lenne Nicklaus-Ball, Charli Holtz, Rob Douglas, C.J. Bruce, Susan Glickman, Al and Nancy Karnavicius, Bob Kelzer, Gene Smith and Johnny Green.
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The Minority Development Committee of the American Cancer Society held its 15th annual gala Sept. 6 in the the ballroom at the Hilton St. Petersburg.
Mildred Sawyer and Valerie McGarrah were co-chairwomen, and Anthony Thurston was master of ceremonies.
Al Thornton, Joanne Bossa, Roberta "Mindy" Mindykowski and Shirley Thornton, cancer survivors all, spoke of their diagnoses and treatment.
"What you don't know can kill you," Al Thornton told those attending, capturing the central focus of the evening.
Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg lawyer and president of the city's chapter of the NAACP, recounted the experience of his late wife, Ruby, who died in July 1997 of breast cancer.
Additional program participants were the Rev. Louis Murphy, Bobbie Tampa, Alan Schukman, Carol Hagans, Don DuChateau, Mary Jones, Mattie Spencer and the Rev. Roosevelt Hardy.
Others attending were Charles and Bessie Shorter, Lula Wilson, the Rev. Hayden and Alexis Crawford, Ken and Donna Welch and Norman and Mary Brown.
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The St. Petersburg Woman's Club-sponsored women's tennis clinic, originally set at Denver Park on Saturday, will be rescheduled. When the date was chosen last May, the club didn't realize it conflicted with Race for the Cure, which benefits the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and many of its members participate in that event. A new date will be announced soon.
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Shorecrest Preparatory School has changed the date for its spring gala to March 5. Night of a Thousand Stars will take place in the Coliseum in St. Petersburg.
Looking ahead
Thursday
PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ: Personal Enrichment through Mental Health Services awards, dinner. 6 p.m. Coliseum, 535 Fourth Ave. N, St. Petersburg. $30. 545-6477, ext. 316.
COOKING FOR KIDS: Pinellas County chefs prepare signature dishes to benefit Help A Child. Island attire or business casual. 6:30 p.m. Harborview Center, 300 Cleveland St., Clearwater. $75. 864-2684.
- Mary Jane Park can be reached at 727 893-8267; fax (727) 893-8675; e-mail park@sptimes.com or P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731.
