Miami New Drama Announces It's 2018/2019 Season
By: Stephi Wild Jun. 11, 2018
Closing its inaugural season at the Colony Theatre with completely sold out runs of new works, Queen of Basel and The Album , artistic director Michel Hausmann announces Miami New Drama's upcoming program of four plays that highlight pivotal historical periods and communities in Miami. Committed to producing new work that is reflective and inspired by the Magic City, these four productions include three world premieres commissioned by Miami New Drama, including the highly anticipated collaboration with Billy Corben on Cocaine Cowboys.
Other notable Miami natives who will have the rare opportunity to work in their hometown include playwright and screenwriter Aurin Squire , director Carl Cofield, a graduate of New World School of the Arts' inaugural class, and Cuban-American playwright and actor Carmen Pelaez .
The Miami New Drama 2018-2019 Season includes:
One Night in Miami...
Written by Kemp Powers . Directed by Carl Cofield . October 25 - November 18, 2018
The night of February 25t h , 1964, a young Cassius Clay emerges from the Miami Beach Convention Center as the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Against all odds, he's defeated Sonny Liston and shocked the world of boxing. While crowds of people swarm Miami Beach's hotspots to celebrate the match, Clay, unable to stay on the island because of Jim Crow-era segregation laws, spends the night at the Hampton House Motel in Miami's Overtown neighborhood celebrating with three of his friends: activist Malcolm X , singer Sam Cooke, and football star Jim Brown. The next morning, the men emerge determined to define a new world.
In One Night in Miami... , critically-acclaimed playwright Kemp Powers aims to pinpoint exactly what happened during those pivotal hours. Featuring the music of Sam Cooke, including his hit song, "A Change is Gonna Come," the show offers a piercing narrative for the evening, which challenges the four men, strips them bare, and reveals them for who they were.
FAKE
Written by Carmen Pelaez .
World premiere. January 24 - February 17, 2019
Amidst cut-throat competition at a renowned auction house, Camila has just been promoted as the head of the Latin American Art Department when she is presented with one of her great-aunt Amelia Pelaez's paintings as a last minute inclusion. The authenticity of the painting is questionable, Camila's dedication to her great Aunt is not, forcing Camila to decide between her own burgeoning career and Amelia's legacy. Written by Cuban-American playwright and Miami native Carmen Pelaez, this exciting world premiere thrusts us into the world of high stakes art dealing, Cuban politics, and a thrilling pursuit for the truth. Absent from Miami stages since her extended run of Rum and Coke at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, Ms. Pelaez will also star in the new play.
Cocaine Cowboys
Written by Billy Corben and Aurin Squire . Directed by Michel Hausmann .
World premiere. March 7 - April 7, 2019
Commissioned by Miami New Drama and directed by Michel Hausmann, this new production is an explosive, only-in-Miami story of power, class, desire, and the haunting grip of tragedy. Hilary Bettis, one of America's hottest young playwrights revamps Strindberg's classic Miss Julie while putting the audience onstage for a riveting theatrical journey. Set during Miami's famous Art Week at a luxurious hotel, Julie, the owner's spoiled daughter gets entangled with a waitress fleeing violence in Venezuela and her Afro-Cuban fiancé.
Based on the acclaimed documentaries by Billy Corben, Cocaine Cowboys chronicles the development of the illegal drug trade in Miami during the 1970s and 1980s through the eyes of Rivi Ayala, a hired assassin working with the notorious drug dealer Griselda Blanco. Created from the actual texts of Ayala's depositions, newspaper articles of the time, and other found documents, this new theatrical documentary will shed light on how the economic growth which took place in Miami during this period was a benefit of the drug trade, and how it shaped the Magic City we know today. Award-winning playwright, journalist, and multimedia artist Aurin Squire, currently a writer on CBS' The Good Fight , and a graduate of North Miami Beach High School, joins Billy Corben and Michel Hausmann in developing this uniquely Miami docudrama.
This production is supported Miami New Drama's second Knight Arts Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Viva La Parranda!
Developed by Betsayda Machado y La Parranda El Clavo in collaboration with Juan Souki.
World premiere. April 25 - May 19, 2019
A village, a dream, a new musical. Bringing passion and color through traditional rhythms and dances, Betsayda Machado and La Parranda El Clavo-her village's own multi-generational band-invites audiences to discover, indulge, and celebrate the contagious beats of Afro-Venezuelan soul through stories and songs of their real-life struggles and triumphs. The energizing percussion and vocal ensemble presents an engaging repertoire cultivated through centuries of African tradition and musical influence in Venezuela.
Miami New Drama Season Memberships starting at $150 for all four shows are now on sale at colony.org or by calling the theatre at 305.674.1040.
Founded by playwright and director Michel Hausmann and National Medal of the Arts winner Mois é s Kaufman , Miami New Drama is a producing and presenting organization committed to artistic excellence and groundbreaking work unique to this diverse and extraordinary city with a vision of theatre as a powerful vehicle for social change. The troupe's first show of its debut 2017-2018 season, the first multilingual version of Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town , was critically-acclaimed as "glorious, emotionally potent" and "inventive and touching...superb!" Past productions include the American premiere of Ferdinand von Schirach's Terror directed by Tony Award winner Gregory Mosher, The Golem of Havana , an original musical written and directed by Michel Hausmann, and Queen of Basel, a new play by Hilary Bettis, commissioned and directed Michel Hausmann. Miami New Drama is the resident company and operator of the City of Miami Beach's historic Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road and a two-time winner of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Knight Arts Challenge.
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