Stars Shine on Marco Island

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Above: Thorsten Kaye, Susan Haskell and Walt Willey

Story and photo by: John Chambrone

MARCO ISLAND-For the past twelve years, Marco Island’s Soapfest has hosted actors from various daytime dramas. Having been to a variety of soap opera related events, I have to say that this particular event is my favorite. Taking place on Marco Island, the beautiful city plays the perfect back drop to the fun events that take place within the city limits. Scheduled to take place May 15 and 16, the two days boast a line up of festive activities including “A Night of Stars”, “Cruisin’ & Schmoozin’with the Stars”, “Celebrity Bartender Bash” and “Specter”. The proceeds benefit children with autism, a cause that ‘All My Children’ star Walt Willey is very familiar with. His son has autism spectrum disorder. Willey will be in attendance once again to host the event. He will be joined this year by fellow ‘Children’ stars Thorsten Kaye (Zach Slater) and Stephanie Gatschet (Madison North). Kaye’s real life wife, ‘One Life to Live’ star Susan Haskell joins fellow ‘One Lifer’ Scott Evans to represent their show. It has been a few months since ‘Guiding Light’ has been off the air, but last year, Soapfest promised to continue to include actors from the show in their event. They kept their word and delivered with possibly the soap’s most popular character. Sopafest is proud to be bringing back Kim Zimmer, who has portrayed ‘Reva Shayne,’ for nearly twenty five years. Zimmer will be reunited with on screen son’s Jeff Branson and Tom Pelphrey, who played her sons ‘Shayne’ and ‘Johnathan.’ Also returning this year is former ‘GL-er’ John Driscoll, who is now featured on ‘Young and the Restless.’

One reason I love this event so much is that most of the actors are from ‘As the World Turns,’ the one show that I have been watching religiously for twenty seven years now. The intimate settings of all of the events gives you the opportunity to actually sit down and chat with all of the actors, something that you hardly get at other soap related events. This time around, you can expect to hang out with ‘As the World Turns’ actors Alexandra Chando, ‘Maddie Coleman,’ Evan Alex Cole, ‘Hunter,’ Trent Dawson, ‘Henry Coleman,’ Ellen Dolan, ‘Margo Hughes,’ Billy Magnussen, ‘Casey Hughes,’ Marnie Schulenburg, ‘Alison Stewart,’ and Jake Silbermann, ‘Noah Mayer.’ This may be one of the last chances Floridians get to mingle with the actors from ‘As the World Turns.’ The show will air it’s final episode in September after a run of fifty four years. Tickets range from $50 - $175. Visit www.soapfest.com or call 239-394-0080 for tickets and event details. Be sure to check the website regularly for updates.