Mondays are Dark

It’s a dry and refreshing 83 degrees out. If the break in the weather isn’t enough, the fact that there are so many stories this week should tell you that ‘The Season’ has begun.

 

News that hasn’t really hit print yet*: at the Marvelous Wondrettes opening, Slow Burn Theatre Company announced that next season they will be producing all of their shows in the Amaturo Theater at The Broward Center for Performing Arts.  That’s the same space that has hosted The Carbonell Awards the last few years.

  

And now for your Monday reading list:

Speaking of Broward Center

South Florida Business & Wealth Magazine (who knew?) calls the new Huizenga Pavilion at the Broward Center the “Jewel on the River.”

The Huizenga Pavilion echoes the design of the main building with its use of sand colored exteriors, red barrel tile accents and plenty of windows. It offers waterfront views on two levels with the 230-seat Porter Riverview Ballroom on the top floor. On the lower floor, Marti’s New River Bistro will offer modern American fare and indoor and outdoor seating overlooking the New River. The restaurant, which was scheduled to open Oct. 5, will have an open to the public pre-theater, pre-fix dinners before 8 p.m. Diners may also go on Open Table and make reservations for later in the evening.

All The World’s A Stage

And the Front Yard Theater Collective decided to put you on bikes to see it, according to WLRN.

In its latest play, the troupe performed its scenes at different locations in downtown Miami, and the audience rode on bicycles from one spot to another. It was called “History On Wheels.

Sorry we missed this one.

  

So… The World In A Box (or Ten?)

The Miami New Times takes a look at MicroTheater Miami, which closed their most recent event about a week ago.

Underneath a string of bulb lights are seven steel shipping containers covered with the faces of well-known artists. Humphrey Bogart, Charlie Chaplin, and Salvador Dali all sit looking picturesque and inviting.

This, ladies and gents, is Microtheater Miami.

South Miami-Dade Takes Center Stage

The Miami Herald takes a look at the success of the four-year-old South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center.  While the article deals primarily with their dance programs, SMDCAC has become the home for New Theatre and The M Ensemble.

 

Women in The Garage

The Broward/Palm Beach New Times reports that Theatre at Arts Garage’s third season  will consist entirely of plays by women.

"There's been a conversation around the country for some time now about the lack of opportunities for women playwrights," says Lou Tyrrell, artistic director at the theater. "So I thought it was time to, in our own small way, help to contribute to that conversation. And it was very easy, as it always is to me, to find three wonderful plays by gifted playwrights who happen to be women."

A New Catalogue

The Miami Herald fills us in on the creation of The Holocaust Theater Catalogue, at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The catalog exists as a resource for anyone: scholars; students; teachers; producers; theater companies. The catalog has more than 550 titles and counting, most in English, some in Hebrew, with works in other languages still to come. The online listing doesn’t contain a play’s full script, but it provides the title, author’s name, his or her nationality and date of birth, a synopsis, a dramatic category or theme, character breakdown, original language, production history and contact information for the publisher and the person who holds the rights.

Sneak Peak and Stuff

Florida Theater On Stage reports that Island City Stage is opening some rehearsals for its upcoming production of POZ to public viewing – you can sit in and watch how it comes together (if you call ahead).  Also, Thinking Cap Theatre’s Halloween Party. 

  

In Which Mike Daisey Spends Too Much Time in Seattle

In this article in The Stranger, Mike Daisey visits Seattle and declares that theater in America has failed.

That dream is dead. The theaters endure, but the repertory companies they stood for have been long disbanded. When regional theaters need artists today, they outsource: They ship the actors, designers, and directors in from New York and slam them together to make the show. To use a sports analogy, theaters have gone from a local league with players you knew intimately to a different lineup for every game, made of players you'll never see again, coached by a stranger, on a field you have no connection to.

He makes some valid points; that a few decades ago, theater companies were formed with the mission to bring art to the masses while providing a living wage to the artists.  Many of those companies have failed (Florida Stage, and Caldwell Theatre Company, for example), while others became virtual road-houses (like Maltz Jupiter Theater seems to have done for some shows).   And a lot of what’s left simply doesn’t pay enough to live on.  Which segues perfect to the next story.

  

Thinking of Being an Actor?

Business Insider lays out the fiscal realities of the professional actor.

The financial and employment realities of professional acting make any semblance of a normal lifestyle difficult to sustain. The nature of the career and compensation mean putting other dreams on hold — especially ones that require a large financial investment, like home ownership or starting a family — unless of course you marry rich.

And marrying rich is no guarantee in this era of Pre-Nuptial Agreements.  Dammit.

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* (Florida Theater On Stage mentions it at the end of their glowing review for The Marvelous Wondrettes)