Bruce Rodgers, Executive Director

Bruce Rodgers began his artistic life as a musician studying at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY; receiving his bachelor’s degree in music from SUNY Potsdam – Crane School of Music; and performing with the world famous USMA Band at West Point for three years.  After receiving his Master’s Degree in English / Creative Writing from Indiana University, he began his theatrical career in 1977 at the GeVa Theatre in Rochester, NY and has also affiliated with the Tony-award winning McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ as resident playwright, and the Asolo Theatre Company in Sarasota, FL.  As a playwright, his drama Lost Electra won the prestigious Lois and Richard Rosenthal New Play Prize in Cincinnati, and a Dramalogue Award in Los Angeles.  It has been produced at numerous regional theatres throughout the United States.  In 1992, he was commissioned to write the very successful Centerburg Tales for the Asolo Theatre.  His play The Gravity of Honey has also seen numerous American productions.  It opened in Dublin with the Dublin International Theatre Festival in October, 1996, and most recently was produced at the Meadow Brook Theatre in Detroit. He has performed readings of The Gravity of Honey throughout Florida, and as part of the American Library’s “Evenings With Authors” program in Paris, France.

Mr. Rodgers is a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a Seaside "Escape to Create" Fellow, was named a Distinguished Artist by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and won a Playwriting Fellowship from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. He has consulted for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and twice for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC.

Sharyn Lonsdale, Executive Assistant

Sharyn Lonsdale joined the Hermitage as Executive Assistant in October 2008. She has lived in Englewood with her husband and two daughters for 15 years and comes to us after a successful career as a journalist at the Englewood bureau of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and as a freelance writer and editor. In her role at the paper Sharyn has been a supporter of the Hermitage, covering events and writing profiles of resident artists. Sharyn also has an extensive background in office administration and she is thrilled to have found her "dream job" here, assisting Bruce, managing the office and working in the office where she can see the Gulf through the window.

The Restored Hermitage House

Founder Syd Adler