Art Center Honors Artists of the Year

It was a memorable night as the Marco Island Center for the Arts hosted a celebratory evening to honor the Artists of the Year for 2025 on May 6th.

According to Hyla Crane, Executive Director for the Marco Island Center for the Arts, the award was established by Marco Island Foundation for the Arts (MIFA) in 2014. In 2023, the Center for the Arts took over the tradition of awarding the MIFA Artist of the Year.

The two individuals who were recognized were Pat Berry, known locally as the Grandmother of Theater, and Ron Clark, the Arts Center Theatre’s (ACT) sound and lighting designer.

Gina Sisbarro, longtime theater actor and creative director of Sisbarro Acting Studio, introduced Berry.

Berry came to Marco in 1974 with her four children, and it wasn’t long before she took off and created an adult dinner theater with Betsy Bitner. Thus, the Marco Island Players began in the early 1990s and remained in the same location as it does today, a cozy 83-seat theater.

Berry kept going and added the children’s theater, and Sisbarro remembered the handprints from the kids’ camp on the back rehearsal wall. Berry’s next venture in 1998 was the Marco Island Film Festival, which ran from her accounting office, working with over 100 volunteers. Berry’s team consisted of Nick Campo, Maury Daly, and Mary Lee South (Tom Cruise’s mom). The Film Festival ran for seven years.

SoapFest came after the Film Festival ended, and this became a huge fundraiser for youth programs on the Island. Camp Able, a summer camp for children with special needs, was one of the many recipients. Another successful project was the Island Theater Company, producing several shows per year, a youth summer camp, and a youth production, including the annual Singing Broadway.

Berry is the proud mother of three daughters and one son, and though she has stepped away from the spotlight, she misses her theater kids. According to Sisbarro, she decided to always have a piece of Berry on her stage to honor all that she has done for the theater.

Hyla Crane introduced Ron Clark, saying that he has been in the video, editing, sound, and photography industries for a decade. Clark wrote his first short film script in 2012 and a year later transitioned into the production process of bringing the script to life and learned about location scouting, cinematography, editing, sound design, color grading, and working with actors.

“Ron always said this is where he learned about teamwork, and the theater is very lucky as Ron is the quintessential team player,” said Crane. “Ron started work with the Marco Players in 2020, and though new to theatrical lighting and sound, he jumped right in as he always does. Unfortunately, just one week after Ron started, the theater closed due to the onset of the global pandemic.”

Clark used the time to learn more about operating the lights and learning QLab software, setting the stage for his future with the Arts Center Theatre. When the Center assumed operations, Clark helped to upgrade the entire system to a fully computerized platform. He was nominated for Broadway Award Southwest for best audio and lighting for Vanities (Season Two) and won in 2023 for Hollywood Arms (Season One). “I could never have survived the last three years without Ron. He is the blanket to my Linus,” said Crane.

Previous MIFA Artists of the Year recipients were Malinda Trick (2014), Tara O’Neill (2015), J. Robert Houghtaling (2016), Austin Bell (2017), Gina Sisbarro-Penzo (2018), Sherri Morrison (2019), Marie Senechal (2020), Hyla Crane (2021) and James Swanker (2022) and Barbara Parisi (2024).

The evening featured delicious appetizers and drinks provided by Kretch’s Restaurant. And a big thank you goes out to Marco Island Office Supply, the proud event sponsor!