Nan Colton as Harriet Beecher Stowe

Nan Colton, playing Harriet Beecher Stowe, begins her performance at the Bonita Bay Club in Bonita Springs on Friday, March 19, 2010. Colton put on a show aimed at education and entertainment to a crowd of literature and history buffs. The event was sponsored by the Bonita Springs Historical Society. Aaron Hale/Staff

Connect with the arts through monthly performances that give voice and embodiment to the two-dimensional. The MFA’s ever popular performing artist-in-residence Nan Colton invites us to meet an artist or historical figure in a 30-minute presentation that includes a cup of coffee and delectable pastries.

Today’s program is entitled Under the Palmetto Leaves. Visualize the life, environment, and people of north Florida during the nineteenth century as we happen upon Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Refreshments are served at 10 am, followed by the performance at 10:30 am.

FREE for MFA members. The program is included in our Museum admission.

Complimentary valet parking is available for attendees from 9 am until 2 pm on the day of the performance.  Enjoy lunch in the MFA Cafe following the performance and make a day of it!

IMAGE: Thomas Moran, American (1837-1926), Florida Landscape (St. Johns River), (detail), 1877, Oil on canvas, Museum purchase.

The 2017 schedule includes:

January 11: Contemplation
February 8: Remembering Anne Frank
March 8: Finding Voice in Photography
April 12: Living in Downtown St. Petersburg
May 10: Under the Palmetto Leaves
June 14: Clash of Cultures: Spaniards to Pinellas County
July 12: Meeting Monet
August 9: An Intellectual Affair
September 13: Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Le Brun: Portrait of a Portrait Painter
October 11: Woman Sitting
November 8: Catherine the Great: The Empress Who Collected
December 13: Han-Terbury Tales