October continues to bring a variety of events to the Sarasota area arts scene, with this week featuring season debuts, creative collaborations and two Halloween-themed shows with ties to recent TV series.
Selby Gardens' annual orchid show will return, this year collaborating with an artist with Sarasota-Manatee connections, while Sarasota Orchestra and Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall will team up for a free fall family concert.
Art Center Sarasota will launch the first exhibition cycle of its 2026-27 season with four new shows, while ensembleNEWSRQ will kick off its season with a concert featuring a two-time Grammy-winning vocal ensemble.
Rise Above Performing Arts stages "Carrie: The Musical," based on Casey Key resident Stephen King's debut novel
also adapted into film and an upcoming Prime Video miniseries, while Venice Theatre puts on a play about Lizzie Borden, the subject of a Netflix show's latest season. Here are this week's highlights. Event details are subject to change.
1. 'The Orchid Show 2026: Christian Sampson' at Selby Gardens
Selby Gardens' annual show this year will feature a collaboration with Christian Sampson — known for his installations that use glass, acrylic, and dichroic film, including an installation at Sarasota Art Museum — with works inspired by the gardens' orchid collection. Sampson is a Bradenton native who earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Ringling College of Art & Design and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Hunter College in New York City, and is currently based in Los Angeles. Oct. 10-Dec. 6; Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Downtown Sarasota Campus, 1534 Mound St., Sarasota; $28, $12 ages 5-17/member guests, free ages 4 and under/members; 941-366-5731; selby.org
2. Sarasota Orchestra 'The Conductor's Magical Book' at Van Wezel
Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, which recently hosted a free Family Fest featuring other local performing arts organizations such as Asolo Rep and Florida Studio Theatre, will next host this free Sarasota Orchestra family concert. In a tale that blends narration with live music, young Tony Stradivarius uses a magical book to guide the orchestra, giving children an introduction to symphonic music, orchestra instruments and conducting. Stilian Kirov will serve as guest conductor, and Rachael Lord as featured narrator. 7 p.m. Oct. 9; Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota; free; 941-953-3434; sarasotaorchestra.org
3. Four new exhibitions at Art Center Sarasota
Art Center Sarasota will launch the first exhibition cycle of its 2026-27 season. "Olive Branches Carried Us Home" by Karina Yanes combines symbols of Palestinian endurance and identity with imagery drawn from her family's stories of life in Palestine; "The Revival" by St. Pete Ceramics will feature ceramic works created in a temporary studio after a recent fire destroyed their original facility; "Joy in Motion" by Jorge Blanco features drawings, prints and sculptures that celebrate playfulness and joy; and juried exhibition "Strange Weather" celebrates the surreal. Oct. 8-Nov. 14 (opening reception 5-7 p.m. Oct. 8); Art Center Sarasota, 707 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota; free; 941-365-2032; artsarasota.org
4. Roomful of Teeth + ensembleNEWSRQ
The contemporary composer-focused chamber music ensemble ensembleNEWSRQ will kick off its new season with this show featuring Roomful of Teeth, the two-time Grammy-winning vocal ensemble co-founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer (and past Sarasota visitor) Caroline Shaw. The concert's program will include Shaw's "The Isle" and "This Might Also Be a Form of Dreaming," as well as Peter Shin's "Bits Torn from Worlds," Leilehua Lanzilotti's "On Stochastic Wave Behavior" and Wally Gunn's "The Ascendant." 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5; First Congregational Church, 1031 S. Euclid Ave., Sarasota; $40, $10 streaming; ensrq.org
5. 'Carrie: The Musical' at Rise Above Performing Arts
Stephen King's debut 1974 novel about the titular tormented teen with telekinetic powers, later adapted into an Oscar-nominated 1976 film and a soon-to-be-released miniseries, was also made into an 1988 musical that will be put on by Sarasota's Rise Above Performing Arts. Though its original Broadway run was an infamous flop, "Carrie: The Musical" has gained a cult following in the ensuing years, perhaps best evidenced by the fact that Manatee Performing Arts Center will also premiere its own production a week after Rise Above's. Oct. 8-11 and 15-18; Rise Above Performing Arts, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail Suite 1175, Sarasota; $27-$37; 941-702-4747; riseabovearts.com
6. 'Blood Relations' at Venice Theatre
Venice Theatre will stage Sharon Pollock's 1980 play about Lizzie Borden, who was accused and acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe in 1890s Massachusetts, that asks "Did she, or didn't she?" Borden's story remains a topic of interest more than a century later, adapted into other stage productions including the musical "Lizzie," a 2018 film of the same name, and Netflix's "Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story." Oct. 9-Nov. 1; Pinkerton Theatre at Venice Theatre, 140 Tampa Ave. W., Venice; $40, $30 college students/current educators; $19 youth (child-high school); 941-488-1115; venicetheatre.org
Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Top Sarasota area arts events include season debuts, collaborations
