Arts In

Eugenie Bondurant is film and TV actor, cabaret singer, teacher, director, international runway model – and part of the heart of St. Pete. At an age when many women actors are struggling to find good roles, she was cast in the pivotal role of Tigris in the last Hunger Gamesfilm.In 2019, she started work on a DC comics film calledThe Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and starred with Harry Connick Jr. in Fear of Rain, a national film that was shot in St. Pete, playing a very scary villain and talking Cole Porter to Connick during breaks. They'd already auditioned over 100 guys for that part and couldn't find anyone they liked. When they let Eugenie audition, they rewrote the villain to be a woman. Then she got a call from the director, who said they'd been doing test runs of the Conjuring film and feedback from audiences was that they wanted much more of her character. So amid the pandemic they actually rewrote and re-shot much of the film to expand Eugenie's character. She got a whole new look, new lair, new backstory, more stunt work – and a DC comic based on her character, with material from scenes she played in the film. Last year she joined the Marvel universe via Werewolf By Night – as an elegant and deadly monster hunter in a fun classic horror film world, in an ensemble with Gael García Bernal and Harriet Sansom Harris directed by multi-Oscar-winning film composer Michael Giacchino. And after 25 years of teaching acting, Eugenie opened up her own acting school – Station 12 Studio. Classes take place in front of the big screen at the intimate Greenlight Cinema. She still appears in and directs local indie films and shorts, and uses her storytelling skills to bring classic songs to life with her piano-playing husband, Paul Wilborn. Eugenie shares these amazing stories – and how as an actor, she works hard to humanize the villains that she plays onscreen. A vibrant 61 years old when this was recorded, as Barbara St. Clair notes, Eugenie Bondurant is "living her best life." Arts In is produced by Sheila Cowley Executive Producer Barbara St. Clair

Dancer, choreographer, professor – and inventor – Merry Lynn Morris talks with Barbara St. Clair about her work exploring dance and disability, and how dance companies and educators are embracing a diversity of dancing bodies in performance. Published in the Creative Pinellas Arts Coast magazine on May 16, 2023 – https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/ Photo by Jim Lennon –Mary Lynn Morris and Dwayne Scheuneman in ML Morris choreography

Members of ThinkTank TYA's Young Artists' Ensemble Edwin Noah Perez, Kaylee Tupper Miller and Jadon Milne share their thoughts on how it feels to sing. Published in the Arts Coast magazine feature "Both Sides of the Bay Cabaret" by Creative PInellas 5/12/23.

Cindy Stovall talks with Helen French, Lauren Slone and Alexander Jones about 2023's Beacon dance celebration at St. Pete's Palladium Theater. Featured in "Beacon 2023" published in the Creative PInellas Arts Coast magazine on April 25, 2023 –https://creativepinellas.org/magazine/beacon-2023/

In a potent conversation ranging through his fascinating career, dancer and educator John Parks talks with Barbara St. Clair about his experiences touring the South with the Jose Limón Company during segregation, his inventive teaching philosophy – and how he helped the undervalued dancers in the movie version of The Wiz go on strike for equal pay and credit. . . and win. Transcript available at https://creativepinellas.org/magazine/arts-in-john-parks/ Photo by Tom Kramer

Cindy Stovall of "Beauty & The 'Burg" talks with actor Jennifer Christa Palmer, who plays Susan B. Anthony in freeFall Theatre's 2023 production of "The Agitators" by Mat Smart, and Matthew McGee, freeFall's director of community outreach.

Visual artist and creative activist John Gascot talks with Barbara St. Clair about his exploratory series of self portraits, the powerful human rights installation he created during the pandemic and inventing a Diversity Game to help teach kids that diversity and inclusion matters. He shares the vibrant work of the Pinellas Park arts community and the start of Pinellas Park's PRIDE celebration. gascot.com diversityartsinc.com pinellasartsvillage.com –photo by Laurie Elmer

Christina Bertsos shares her passion for sculpting in stone and marble with host Barbara St. Clair – and how her work with fabric and hand-crafted couture influences her creations now. She guides us through the physical hands-on craft of sculpting, explains how you find marble in Florida, and how she got started in stone through a class at the Dunedin Fine Art Center. https://www.christinabertsos.com/

Bach's "Toccata Et Fugue En Ré Mineur" performed on the University of Tampa's Ars Sonora Bell Tower –the first in the U.S. and the largest in the world. Recorded by Kurt Loft, photo by Kurt Loft. Story published in Arts Coast Online on October 7, 2022 – https://creativepinellas.org/arts-coast-magazine/

Cindy Stovall talks with Eric Davis and Matthew McGee about freeFall Theatre's 2022-2023 season and their efforts to create a safe space to gather, to escape and build community.