On a recent afternoon, Carlota Pradera and Lazaro Godoy both peered at the empty, black performance space and pondered the narrative of the upcoming show, Bare Bones. Neither would reveal the show’s narrative, if it has one; only that every aspect of the production, from the tree trunks to the…
Bourbon is on the rocks, and so, apparently, is a marriage in James McLure’s Laundry and Bourbon and Lone Star, two interlocked one-act plays. Both include the same array of characters: two close companions and one intruder bearing a sordid secret. Both end in revelations, vomit, and toppled props. And…
Rosie Herrera learned young that a show girl is never the star of the show. As a teenager working the cabaret at the Teatro Bellas Artes in Little Havana in the early aughts, she posed prettily on the side of the stage, jutting out her hip to display her costume,…
August Strindberg’s 1888 masterpiece chronicles an eventful Saturday night and Sunday morning in the servants’ quarters of the estate of a Swedish count. Miss Julie (Katherine Amadeo), a flighty noblewoman, escapes her upper-class trappings for a midsummer’s eve of frivolity with educated valet Jean (Matthew William Chizever). Their actions, fueled…
Hattie Mae Williams is a Miami-bred badass. After graduating from New World in Miami and then getting a degree with honors from Fordham/Alvin Ailey in New York — one of the single most respected contemporary dance programs in the country — Williams established her own modern dance corps, the Tattooed…
Anyone who’s unaware might find it easy to dismiss Evita as yet another musical that’s run its course — or worse, a one-hit stage show with a terrific title tune but an otherwise well-worn narrative. But the terrific touring version that opened at the Arscht Tuesday night proved nothing could…
Amy Herzog’s The Great God Pan borrows its name from a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning titled “A Musical Instrument.” It concerns the Greek god Pan, part-man and part-goat, ransacking a river to build a reed instrument. Intimations of hedonistic darkness, particularly regarding Pan’s specialty — sexuality — burble beneath…
Of the six plays in GableStage’s 2013-14 season, Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike was its most anticipated production for hard-core theatergoers — and not just because the play won just about every award for which it was nominated in 2013, including the Tony for best play…
Of the six plays in GableStage’s 2013-14 season, Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike was its most anticipated production for hard-core theatergoers — and not just because the play won just about every award for which it was nominated in 2013, including the Tony for best play…
By now, the Blue Man Group has become a reliable brand, much like Cirque du Soleil and its various offshoots. Like Cirque and its ilk, the Blue Man Group has yet to grow tiresome or overindulgent, even in spite of the constant exposure. Somehow, the sight of these oddly endearing…
Months in the making, Karen Peterson and Dancers’ latest work, GRIT, debuts in its entirety this Thursday and Friday at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium. The defining piece touches on the human experience, and is intended to showcase the strength of the renowned mixed-abilities company, which is comprised of a host…
If you’ve been to a South Florida comedy club in recent history, you’ve likely seen Nery Saenz. He’s made you laugh, established a connection, and explained how to pronounce his name (near-ee sigh-enz). He hosts the weekly pop round-up What’s Up Bro?! Podcast, and recently toured with comic legend Dave…
Carlos Mencia has never been so uncontroversial. For years, the comedian navigated the seas of mainstream success with his show Mind of Mencia while being thrashed by storms of criticism for allegations of stealing material within the community. It’s rare for a comedian to experience soaring adoration or scathing hate,…
Dear Amy, Like most other critics, feminists, and fans of funny things, I’ve been devouring the second season of your show, Inside Amy Schumer, with a relish I typically reserve for garlic bread pizza. It’s smart, insightful, and funny enough to make everyone love it even though it’s nice to…
To create, nourish, and promote art that speaks to South Florida, with an emphasis on Ibero-American culture. That has been the goal of Miami Beach’s FUNDarte since day one. Such an effort got a major boost in 2012, when the non-profit arts organization became one of 34 Knight Arts Challenge…
Ritualistic writing, interdisciplinary theater, phosphorescent paintings, and sexual reassignment surgery come together to form the backbone for the 15th annual Here & Now: 2014, A Knight Emerging Artist Series. Here & Now is where and when the Miami Light Project commissions new performance work by innovative South Florida artists. The…
This past weekend, Miami Theater Center opened Everybody Drinks the Same Water, a decorous world premiere written by MTC artistic director Stephanie Ansin and resident artist Fernando Calzadilla. It’s set in 13th century Cordoba, Spain, a fractious cauldron of faiths and cultures lorded over by a bigoted Christian queen (Barbara…
The Main Street Players, Miami Lakes’ resident community theater company, departs from its tradition of producing Broadway or off-Broadway hits to mount the world premiere of an early work by one of South Florida’s best playwrights, David Michael Sirois. A two-time Carbonell Award nominee for his plays Brothers Beckett and…
The scene opens backstage at a red-curtain theater in Miami. Cast and crew scurry about prepping for the big show. A bubbly starlet babbles to a nervous Pakistani academic. A Cuban exile laments about Havana to a swagged-out YOLO bro. A European art snob throws shade at a closeted Southern…
Love. Lust. Spirituality. Peace. Thaïs encompasses all of this and then some. The Florida Grand Opera’s (FGO) production of Jules Massenet and Louis Gallet’s story of an ancient Egyptian courtesan who finds peace from a troubled monk is set to astound Saturday, May 3, through Sunday, May 10. The two…
To close its 16th season, the Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida is dedicating its finale performance to ballet’s Russian forefathers and to Venezuela, which has heavily influenced the company’s neo-classical repertoire. The shows will be held Saturday, May 3, at the Aventura Arts and Cultural Center and Sunday, May 4,…
What do fairy tales, botany, Jungian psychology, musicals, and New York City all have in common? Seemingly nothing, but if you allow yourself to go just a little bit insane, you’ll find they all can all come together quite beautifully on stage. At least, that’s the goal of Fairy Tales:…
