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Community Compass is a new service of OITM. GLBT organizations from around the state are invited to provide briet — 200 words or less — descriptions of recent or upcoming activities and events. Send your submissions to us by email by the 15th of the month.
Theatre on a Shoestring is a Burlington non-profit theatre company that produces live theatrical events. We have created the premier site for job opportunities in theatre, dance, film/tv, and comedy clubs, and we serve as your local connection for celebrity appearances. TOAS also has a lot of other interesting information online at www.theatreshoe.com, including contests, links to numerous sites online, and much more.
We will be holding auditions for our fall production in September with the play Three Tall Women by award-winning playwright Edward Albee. For more information, visit our Web site.
TOAS also hosts free Web space on our site for non-profit organizations -- Vermont Association of Theatre and Theatre Artists and Pride VT, to name a couple. We create simple Web sites and maintain them on an as-needed basis. We also help set up organizations with free Web sites through a variety of different hosts.
Last month, we decided to venture to Florida to check out some of our publication advertisers. In St. Petersburg, FL, we were met by Golden Threaders who whisked us to our suite reserved for us by John from Vermont at the Suncoast Resort Hotel. This upscale gay/lesbian resort is actually the largest g/l resort in the United States.
Our mornings started with a buffet breakfast on our suite balcony overlooking the palms, mango trees, outdoor Tiki Bar, and all the gays and lesbians lounging around the pool. Surrounding this lush inner courtyard were marvelous shops offering rainbow gifts, Christmas items, antiques, clothing, and flowers. Dining spots offered deli food, fine cuisine, an entertainment bar, and even a computer cafe that lets you check your email.
The Suncoast is located just about five minutes from Gulfport, FL; well-known for its artsy, bohemian environment, it is now enjoying a lesbian migration from the north. Affectionately known as Dykeport, here there is a unique convergence of ideal conditions. It boasts a flourishing Lesbian social environment and inexpensive housing in a charming, sleepy little beach town with red brick streets, majestic oak forests full of wild parrots, and enchanting tropical sunsets by the sea. Only 15 minutes away are 26 miles of some of the most beautiful azure waters and white sand beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. Elly Claire, real estate agent supreme, showed us 11 houses and two condos all in one day!
It was on our last day of research that we crossed the Skyway Bridge from St. Pete's to enter the beautifully developed little seacoast town of Palmetto, which still maintains its "Old Florida" charm. There we visited The Palms of Manasota, a 22-acre corporate retirement site recently opened by retired psychology professor Bill Laing, who has already invested $650,000 into this gay/lesbian retirement community.
This community has a three-phase plan. First, there will be single-family villas and a 5,000-square-foot recreation hall and swimming pool; then, less expensive two-bedroom condo quads will be added. Finally, the third-phase one-bedroom units will offer assisted living advantages of laundry, house cleaning and meals.
The acreage contains ponds, waterfalls and a conservation area of gardens with walkways for residents to enjoy the natural flora and fauna. What gay or lesbian could resist this paradise? Golden Threads couldn't...!
To find out more about the places we visited, check out www.suncoastresort.com or www.prideworks.com/palms/brochure.htm.
