HERMITAGE SUNSETS @ SELBY GARDENS To Feature Migdalia Cruz And Lauren Marcus In November
Playwright Migdalia Cruz and writer-performer Lauren Marcus will share original work in the next installment of the Sarasota series.
By: A.A. Cristi Oct. 27, 2025
The Hermitage Artist Retreat’s “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” series will continue November 20, 2025, with An Evening of Scenes & Songs at Historic Spanish Point in Osprey, Florida.
The event will feature new work from Hermitage–Roundabout Fellow and award-winning playwright Migdalia Cruz, alongside music and performance by Broadway actor and songwriter Lauren Marcus (Be More Chill).
About the Program
Now in its sixth year, the Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens partnership between the Hermitage Artist Retreat and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens brings together artists from across disciplines for outdoor performances and conversations at sunset. The November 20 program will spotlight the newest Hermitage–Roundabout Fellow, Migdalia Cruz, whose residency is part of an ongoing collaboration with Roundabout Theatre Company, the nation’s largest not-for-profit theater. The fellowship supports artists developing new work at the Hermitage with the potential for future production at Roundabout.
“Migdalia Cruz and Lauren Marcus each represent the bold creative voices that the Hermitage exists to champion,” said a Hermitage representative. “This event promises an inspiring evening of original theater and music, shared in one of Sarasota’s most beautiful natural settings.”
About the Artists
Migdalia Cruz is a Bronx-born playwright, lyricist, translator, and librettist with more than 60 works performed in over 150 venues across 12 countries. Her honors include awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, McKnight Foundation, NYSCA, TCG/Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwright Award. A protégé of María Irene Fornés, Cruz is a DGF Legacy Playwright and co-chair of the Dramatists Guild Foundation Playwriting Fellows. Her work has been developed and produced internationally, and she is recognized as one of the “Fifty Key Figures in Latinx and Latin American Theater.”
Lauren Marcus is an actor, singer, and writer best known for originating her role in Broadway’s Be More Chill and for her performance in The Jonathan Larson Project Off-Broadway. She is currently co-writing the book for Girls Just Want to Have Fun, a new musical adaptation of the 1985 Sarah Jessica Parker film. Marcus is a two-time Jonathan Larson Grant finalist, a Penn State New Musical Theatre Initiative Commission recipient, and an alumnus of the Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project. As a recording artist, she released her debut EP Never Really Done With You in 2016 and recently completed two sold-out residencies at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City.
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