Miami Beach Botanical Garden Hosts FREE Performing Arts Events

Miami Performance and Visual Art Festival - July 26-29

The first of its kind, this free festival will offer workshops, artist's talks, performances and parties for four days. Presented by Edge-Zones, a non-profit arts organization, live performances will be presented to the public in a participatory discourse during the four-day program. This intensive contemporary arts event will take place at three different sites: Downtown Miami, the Miami Design District, and the Botanical Gardens. 

This innovative program will explore the breaking down of boundaries between visual art, music, dance and poetry. A dynamic dialogue between time-based art practice and its documentation will occur through a comprehensive exhibition of site-reactive installations. 

At 9:30 a.m. on the 26th, the festival will start with a meet-and-greet here at the garden, with artist's talks and lunch to follow until noon. Come to the garden to pick up a schedule of events, and visit the event website here.

On the 29th, performances, installations, and discussions at the garden will start at 9:20 a.m., with a free children's workshop at 10 a.m. Events continue until 8 p.m., where you can join the party with DJ Action Pat at 150 NE 40th Street, a pop-up performance space in Miami. 

Shakespeare Under the Sun - August 4 and 11, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily

The garden is hosting three outdoor plays produced by Arturo Fernandez of Ground Up & Rising. The first performance will be Julius Caesar, with two shows at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.  This is an hour-long, modern adaption of the Shakespearian classic. Ground Up & Rising is an award-winning,  non-profit theater organization with a vision "to replace the safe and already treaded with the avant-garde and risque." 

The producer, Arturo Fernandez, has been named as one of the Top 20 Artists Under 40 by the Miami New Times, and was given the 2010 Theater Visionary Award by the Miami ArtZine, amongst other accolades. Read more about Fernadez's performances and accomplishments here!

Start your weekend off right with a refreshing reminder of the performing talent Miami is known for. Some chairs will be provided, but everyone is encouraged to bring their own chairs or blankets to sit on and enjoy the zoysia grass. For more information, 305-673-7256, Ext. 201.

Performances to follow will be Macbeth on August 26 and September 2, and Danny & the Deep Blue Sea, September 16 and 30.

For more information, please visit the Miami Beach Botanical Garden website.

Award-Winning Broadway Musical Next to Normal Now Showing at Actors' Playhouse

Winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and three 2009 Tony Awards, Next to Normal explores how one suburban family copes with crisis. With powerful lyrics and an electrifying pop-rock score of more than 30 songs, this intense, emotional and ultimately hopeful musical aims right for the heart with its story of a family coming to terms with its past and bravely facing its future. 


Actors' Playhouse is proud to be the first regional theatre in South Florida to produce the show following its long Broadway run and National Tour. Next to Normal will be presented at the Miracle Theatre through February 12.


The most talked about new show on Broadway, Next to Normal is the acclaimed and compelling hit-musical "that pushes Broadway in new directions," according to Rolling Stone magazine. Next to Normal's surging score, with emotional book and lyrics, tells the story of one woman’s struggle with manic depression and the toll it takes on her family.


"Next to Normal is the most powerful and riveting piece of musical theatre written in the last decade," said Artistic Director David Arisco. "I'm extremely excited to follow in the footsteps of last year's August: Osage County with a production of another Pulitzer Prize-winning work. Our cast, band, design and creative team are more than up to the task of taking our South Florida audience on this electrifying musical journey." 


Next to Normal features an impressive cast with strong ties to both the New York and South Florida theatre communities. Jodie Langel, playing Diana, premiered on Broadway as the role of Cosette in Les Miserables and later went on to play the role of Eponine. Now living back in South Florida, Langel's Broadway tour credits include the role of Bertrande in the Pre-Broadway tour of Martin Guerre, the Narrator in the National Tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Grizabella in the National Tour of CATS. Mark Sanders, who was last seen as Perchik on the Broadway National Tour of Fiddler on the Roof, will play the role of Dan. Eddy Rioseco, a native Miami boy, will play the role of Gabe. Rioseco's New York shows include Fame (Nick), Mamma Mia (Pepper) and Wicked (Boq). 


Next to Normal features music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, and direction by David Arisco. 


The show opened on Friday, January 20 and will run through February 12, 2012. Evening performances will be held Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., with afternoon matinees on Sunday at 2 p.m. A special weekday matinee is scheduled on Wednesday, January 25 at 2 p.m.


Tickets for weeknights and matinees are $40, and on Friday and Saturday evenings $48. The theatre offers a 10 percent senior discount rate the day of performance and $15 student rush tickets 15 minutes prior to curtain with identification. Discounts are based on availability and exclude Saturday and Sunday. 


Four-show flexible subscription packages are now available to the remainder of the 2011-2012 season for only $186; which includes: the international musical sensation that won Actors' Playhouse eight Carbonell Awards in 2001, including Best Musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (March 7 - April 8, 2012) with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice; the hilarious, new comedy Becky's New Car (May 9 - June 3, 2012) by Steven Dietz, as well as the World Premiere of a manly musical revue called Real Men Sing Show Tunes and Play With Puppets (July 11 - August 12, 2012) by Paul Louis and Nick Santa Maria.


Actors’ Playhouse is the nonprofit resident theatre company and managing agent of the historic Miracle Theatre on Miracle Mile in Coral Gables. Actors’ Playhouse, which has brought home 70 regional Carbonell Awards for artistic excellence, is a Florida Presenting Cultural Organization and one of 22 major cultural institutions in Miami-Dade County. In addition to its Mainstage season, Actors’ Playhouse offers a year-round season of Musical Theatre for Young Audiences, a National Children’s Theatre Festival, a Theatre Conservatory and Summer Camp Program, as well as educational arts outreach programs for under-served youth, and has initiated a Young Talent Big Dreams contest for children in partnership with The Children’s Trust.


For more information please call 305-444-9293 or visit www.actorsplayhouse.org. Actors' Playhouse is located at 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables in the historic Miracle Theatre.


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Miami Childrens Theater Presents 100th Main Stage Show

Hana Nardone as Eva Peron in Miami Childrens Theatre's production of Evita.
Evita markes the 100th show in MCT's history.

Miami Childrens Theater (MCT) marks a major milestone in its 15 year history as it presents its 100th main stage production with the May 13 debut of Evita. Evita will be run May 13-22 at the Robert Russell Theater located at the Alper Jewish Community Center in Kendall, 1155 SW 112 Ave., Miami.

Directed by Damaris Lopez-Canales, with musical director Ana Flavia Zuim and choreographed by Celia Merendi, Evita is in full rehearsal and promises to be a rich, faithful version of the Andrew Lloyd Weber-Tim Rice epic bio of Eva Peron.

“All of the elements you expect from a Miami Childrens Theater production are present in Evita – a showcase for South Florida’s premiere talent, incredible music direction and choreography, full sets and costumes – but this production is special,” says Beth Fath, executive director of Miami Childrens Theater. “For one thing the young woman playing Evita, Hanah Nardone, is so symbolic of what we stand for at Miami Childrens Theater. And that is to take a long term approach to helping young people find their way and succeed at the next level.”

Nardone started with MCT when she was nine – landing the role of the sheriff’s daughter in Robin Hood. Through the years Ms. Nardone performed or teched in 35 plays at MCT, sometimes getting a lead role but many times joining in the ensemble or manning lights and eventually stage managing shows. Currently, Hanah is a senior at New World School of the Arts and is mulling offers from some of the top university theater programs in the nation.

Evita  is being performed on May 13, 14, 19, 20, 21 at 8 pm and  May 15 and 22 at 2 pm. The Robert Russell Theater is located at 1155 SW 112 Ave., Miami. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors and children and may be purchased at www.miamichildrenstheater.com

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