Cuppa Jax -Ray Hollister, Executive Director |JaxPlays, Inc.

Cost $15 -- Breakfast provided by Fresh Fork

Wednesday, July 22nd

8 a.m.- 9 a.m.

Riverplace Tower Skyline Room

Ray Hollister is the Executive Director of JaxPlays, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the past, promoting the present and propelling the future of live theatre in Jacksonville and the surrounding region. He built and maintains jaxplays.org, where he also works as archivist and theatre critic covering productions across Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia.
By day, Ray is the Digital Media Director at WJCT Public Media, where he oversees websites and social media across the organization. Before that, he hosted Deemable Tech, a radio show and weekly column that answered the tech questions people were too embarrassed to ask. It ran on stations and in publications around the country, including WJCT News 89.9 and Folio Weekly here in Jacksonville.

ABOUT JAXPLAYS

Jacksonville has more live theatre than most people realize. What it did not have was a reliable place to find out what is playing, who is making it and what came before. JaxPlays was built to fix that.
JaxPlays started because there was nowhere to find all of the live theatre happening in Jacksonville. Every step since has been an answer to a new problem: not enough serious theatre criticism, not enough news coverage of the theatre industry in the area. Executive Director Ray Hollister will talk about how JaxPlays grew from a listings page into a nonprofit working to preserve the past, promote the present and propel the future of local theatre and what it will take to keep it going.

Directions:

We meet at Riverplace Tower, also known as the Ameris Bank building. This is a walkable location along the Southbank Riverwalk and also convenient to the First Coast Flyer and the Skyway Riverplace Station.

There is limited free street parking, and paid parking is also available in a neighboring surface lot and garage.

Entering from the Riverwalk: take the stairs or elevator next to Village Bread Company up to the Skyline Room.

Entering from Riverplace Blvd: take the escalators and walk toward the back of the building, behind the Ameris Bank offices.

Entering from the garage: make a right at the first bank of elevators and another right into the hallway between the Ameris Bank offices.

Entering from the driveway between Riverplace Tower and the Doubletree: Walk down the hallway to the left, and make another left toward the restaurant. Take the elevator or stairs near the restaurant to the meeting space.

About Cuppa Jax:

Cuppa Jax holds gatherings for neighborhood and community leaders that are open to everyone in Jacksonville. Join us on Wednesday mornings in the Skyline Room in the Riverplace Tower on the Southbank to discuss important issues facing our city.

Scheduled speakers will talk for 10-15 minutes. The rest of the time is spent with Q&A and discussion of relevant issues brought up by participants. We also encourage attendees to make community announcements at the beginning of the program.

Some Important Things to Note:

No membership fee. Unlike many other discussion forums in Jacksonville, there is no membership fee to attend or participate in Cuppa Jax. We do ask attendees to cover the cost of coffee and breakfast provided by the restaurant in the building, which gives us access to the space. If you cannot attend due to the cost of the event, please email [email protected] and we will be glad to cover your ticket.

Topical and timely. We are seeking local thought leaders who can discuss and educate about important community issues to speak at future dates. We don’t accept offers to speak about or pitch organizations. Cuppa Jax is non-partisan, and does not endorse candidates or issues. An offer to speak does not constitute an endorsement. It is simply an opportunity for the community to have a meaningful discussion.