Danielle LaVia’s whole life in the theatre has prepared her for the unique and exciting opportunity she now embraces as founder and executive artistic director of the newly formed Charleston Playhouse in South Carolina.
An established stage, TV and film actress; writer, producer, director, voice-over artist and frequent frontwoman for television commercials, Miami Beach native Jill Melody is admittedly “driven” in her chosen pursuits.
I’ve always had complicated feelings about disclosing my autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. Which, I suppose, makes the fact that I accepted a role as panelist on last Monday’s Creating Change Conversation on Neurodiversity, Disability and Accessibility, led by Momentum Stage, somewhat noteworthy in and of itself.
Main Street Players is coming back from the pandemic with a bang with Wolf And Badger, the first of two world-premiere new plays that will make up the company’s abbreviated 2021 season.
Ironically enough for a play as funny and fun-filled as Off Balance, its world premiere is now taking place at Empire Stage under some uniquely tragic circumstances. The show is among the last works completed by the late local playwright Michael Aman, who died of brain cancer last May.
Towards the end of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theseus asks, “What revels are in hand? Is there no play, to ease the anguish of a torturing hour?”
Though Suki Lopez’s first performing arts passion was for dancing, it didn’t take her long to catch the musical theatre bug. “Throughout my childhood I was very focused on ballet and I did summer programs with ABT and Joffrey and all that…it was actually, one of my trips to New York for these summer programs that I sort of fell in love with Broadway and was like oh wait, I can do this… so I kind of switched gears in high school and shifted my focus,” she explains.
Sixteen months ago, the Actors’ Playhouse in Coral Gables was primed, rehearsed and ready to present Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot. Artistic boss David Arisco had settled into the director’s chair. Dave Nagy was eager to direct the musical score. Lights, sound, sets, props, even fight choreography, were on track.
An excited Leah Marie Sessa – a singer/actress with acknowledged vocal excellence and talent capable of modulating from light comedy to heavy drama — was prepared to step forward as Lady Elaine of Astolat, an innocent maiden who falls deeply in love with Sir Lancelot.
The Theater Up Close series at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami will celebrate its tenth anniversary this fall, with five new productions mounted by two local theater companies — including one world premiere and two South Florida premieres.
Any celebration of our American Independence Day would be incomplete without an acknowledgement of the many brave men who have risked their lives to keep our country safe and free—and that’s exactly what The Andrews Sisters inspired South Florida harmony group The Victory Dolls is all about. Their repertoire of World War II era hits and vintage looks bring a little slice of history to life for a new generation,while bringing those who do remember that time a much appreciated portal to their past.
