Quick Look: Audition Day
Posted: August 9, 2010 Filed under: 2010-2011 Season, Photos | Tags: Carter W. Lewis, Florida Stage, James Danford, Jonathan Wemette, Louis Tyrrell Leave a comment
Jon Wemette, Carter W. Lewis, and Lou Tyrrell taking a break
James Danford is looking forward to a new season!
Florida Stage in Manalapan
Posted: May 21, 2010 Filed under: Florida Stage | Tags: Florida Stage, Jonathan Wemette, Manalapan 1 Comment
Posted by Jonathan Wemette, Artistic Associate
If you’ve seen When the Sun Shone Brighter, you might have noticed a poster in the lobby titled “Florida Stage in Manalapan.” Its content is simple – just a list of all the plays we’ve produced in Manalapan since we moved here in 1991 – but we think the message is clear: we’ve produced a lot of new plays here.
Something I had fun doing while putting this together is locating where I fit in Florida Stage’s Manalapan timeline. My first show here was Opus in 2006, and I’ve been a part of every play since, putting me in roughly the bottom fifth of the poster. What about you? How long have you been part of Florida Stage’s time in Manalapan? Which of these titles do you remember best (and worst)? Post a comment! (And click the image for a closer look.)
Big Passions in Little Havana
Posted: May 11, 2010 Filed under: Florida Stage | Tags: Florida Stage, Jonathan Wemette, When the Sun Shone Brighter Leave a commentLast Wednesday, with our playwright as our fearless leader, the When the Sun Shone Brighter cast and artistic team took a field trip to Miami’s Little Havana and got to know the world we'll be presenting on our stage for the next month and a half. The play isn't necessarily set in Little Havana – it takes place in several locations throughout Miami – but the passions, concerns and history of the Cuban exile community permeate the play, and if you want to understand Floridian Cubans, then Little Havana is the place to start.
We started our day, by necessity, with a quick (1.5 hour) jaunt down I-95, and the research started before we even stopped the car. In the little residential neighborhood where we would be making our first stop, we saw a political sign for "Joe Sanchez," who ran for Mayor of Miami in 2009. In a strange coincidence, the protagonist of When the Sun Shone Brighter is a Mayor of Miami-Dade County named "Joe Sanchez-Fors, Jr." There really is no relation, though – the play has been in development since 2006, long before the real Joe Sanchez began his run.
Our first stop of the day was "The Elian Gonzalez Museum," which isn't really a museum, but the house where the 6-year-old Elian stayed for half a year before being sent back to Cuba. Elian's great uncle still lives there and maintains the collection, which is made up mostly of articles, photos of Elian, art inspired by the drama, and items that supposedly belonged to Elian (though I'm skeptical that any 6-year-old could play with that many toys). The most moving sights, though, were the inner tube that Elian was discovered in and the closet where he was taken at gunpoint, and where the most famous picture of the whole affair was taken. The door to the room that contained the closet hasn't been fixed – it still has the dents and holes from where it was smashed in.
The great uncle was a gracious host, but he asked that we not take pictures inside. We had told him we were working on a play (we didn't get into the play's nuanced take on Cuban-American relations), but he told us he had heard people were planning to make a movie about Elian that he wanted no part of, and I don't think he ever really believed that we weren't the filmmakers. If you want to see the museum, though, there are some fantastic pictures already available on flickr.
Next, we went to Versailles, the Little Havana cafe that is a favorite hangout for Cuban-American hardliners and has become a necessary stop for politicians seeking the Cuban-American vote. John McCain stopped there during the 2008 presidential campaign and sampled their famously strong espresso. We tried the espresso as well, plus some croquettes, all while fending off a local musician enthusiastically trying to sell his homemade CD.
The most striking evidence of the Cuban-American hardliners' presence at Versailles is a plaque that was installed on a rock just outside the restaurant in May, 2007. It is dedicated, in Spanish, to "The Peña [a sort of social group] of Versailles … those who meet daily in this restaurant Versailles, patriotic and cultural center of the exile, to contribute ideas and share the dream of return to the waiting homeland."
From here, we travelled down Calle Ocho (8th Street to us gringos) to a little strip called "Cuban Memorial Boulevard." This cool, shaded stretch of road includes several memorials to those who have fought for Cuban independence, including José Martí and Nestor "Tony" Izquierdo, a soldier at the Bay of Pigs. There is also a massive ceiba tree, which has spiritual significance to practitioners of Santeria, an Afro-Cuban religion. Within its enormous, wall-like roots, we saw the carcass of a chicken, a sacrifice that is apparently not an uncommon sight there.
Our director, Lou Tyrrell, also struck up a conversation with a street musician here who was playing a mean guitar. (You can hear it yourself in the video below.) Through translation provided by our cast member Dan Domingues, he told Lou about coming over to the U.S. from Cuba on a raft only three years ago.
The final stop on our field trip was The Bay of Pigs Museum and Library. This museum seemed slightly more official than the Elian Gonzalez Museum – it, too, appeared to have originally been a house, but it had been remodeled enough to make it clear that nobody lived there anymore. We were greeted, among the articles, pictures and other memorabilia, by a veteran of the Bay of Pigs who sat us down and shared with us his personal story. He took our questions and gave us a firsthand account of the training he underwent for the invasion, the unsuccessful attack, and the indignity he suffered as a prisoner until the U.S. negotiated for the brigade's release. The language he used was an intriguing mix of still-fiery passion and the moderation that often comes with the passage of time. He referred to his fallen comrades as "martyrs" and proudly declared that he had fought "until the last bullet," but when asked for his feelings about Kennedy, he took a moderate stance, expressing disappointment in Kennedy's lack of support for the 2506 Brigade but also the opinion that Kennedy was a liberator for Cubans.
After the Bay of Pigs Museum, our playwright invited us into his home for a dinner with enough food for five casts. This was for our benefit, so I'll spare you a description, although it's worth noting that Chris has a charming family.
The primary lesson I took from the day was that the passions expressed by the Cuban-American characters in When the Sun Shone Brighter are very real. When "Manny Arostegui" refers to his homeland as a "lost island paradise," the playwright isn't being grandiose – Manny is. The violence that has plagued the Cuban-American exile community from the 1960s into the 21st century, and which serves as a backdrop for much of our play, is appalling, yes, but it's less surprising when placed in the context of a tight-knit community that still feels the pain of the Cuban Revolution like it happened yesterday. Fidel Castro is not ancient history for the family who lost a 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez; the Bay of Pigs is not an historical footnote to the men who watched their fellow soldiers die there; and the Cubans who sip espressos at Versailles long every day for their “waiting homeland.”
I can’t wait to share a little of this important, uniquely South Florida play with our audience. It’s a hell of a story.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102787860058948794613.0004864364deb345ae47b&ll=25.773151,-80.233154&spn=0.030917,0.068493&z=13&output=embed
View When the Sun Shone Brighter – "Little Havana" Field Trip in a larger map
With a Bang
Posted: April 22, 2010 Filed under: 2009-2010 Season | Tags: Florida Stage, Jonathan Wemette, When the Sun Shone Brighter Leave a commentWe’re a couple days into rehearsals for When the Sun Shone Brighter, our final play before picking up and moving to the Kravis Center, and it’s clear that our theatre in Manalapan will be going out not with a whimper, but with a bang – figuratively and even literally.
When the Sun Shone Brighter is about a South Florida mayor making a run for the U.S. Senate, but its historical backdrop is the violence within the Cuban exile community that rocked Miami starting in the 1960s and has only recently died down. (For a quick explanation of this complicated history, click here) There aren’t any big explosions on stage, but the impact of one of the darkest chapters in Miami’s history is felt throughout the play, having serious consequences for the characters even in 2002 (the play’s present-day).
The passions of the anti-Castro factions in South Florida have made an impact on the artists in our rehearsal room, too. The playwright, Christopher Demos-Brown, is also a lawyer in Miami, and the play has come out of many of his own observations about his hometown. Bill Schwartz, playing the ghost of the mayor’s murdered father, was the face of the Miami Police Department for years as its “Public Information Lieutenant,” and he has some harrowing stories about his own experiences during the Elian Gonzalez drama. We’re also joined by John Herrera (a Tony nominee, by the way), who was, in fact, born in Cuba.
All this has made for some fascinating conversations around the table, and will hopefully lend the production a deep sense of authenticity. You’ll be able to judge for yourself starting May 12…
Meet the Last Jew in Afghanistan
Posted: April 3, 2010 Filed under: Florida Stage | Tags: Florida Stage, Jonathan Wemette, Lt. Col. Engell, Two Jews Walk Into A War..., Zabolon Simentov 2 Comments
Posted by Jonathan Wemette, Artistic Associate
(If you only have time to read one blog, please: skip mine and go straight to Lt. Col. Engell’s.
If you have time for two, I’ll give you a little context.)
It’s a shame that our plays can only run for six weeks, because sometimes they have impacts that last longer and require more conversation; it’s hard to talk about a play that closed a few months ago when you’ve opened three new ones since then.
Remember Two Jews Walk Into a War…? The two-hander based on the true story of the last two Jews in Kabul, Afghanistan, written by Seth Rozin? We opened our season with it in October.
Right after the play closed, Seth let us know that he’d received an email from Lieutenant Colonel Robert Engell, the lay Jewish leader for coalition forces in Kabul. Lt. Col. Engell was looking for more information about Zabolon Simentov, the last Jew in Afghanistan, and the synagogue where he lives. Lt. Col. Engell believed he could be of assistance to the man and the rundown building.
How had he heard about Mr. Simentov? His parents saw Two Jews Walk Into a War… right here at Florida Stage and sent him the program.
Seth had not actually been in contact with Mr. Simentov while writing Two Jews…, but in doing some of my own research for the show, I’d come in contact with the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, which was not only immensely helpful, but is located just down the street from the synagogue. They had even been able to send me fresh pictures of the building.
Kabul's only
synagogue – Fall, 2009
So, I forwarded Lt. Col’s request, and, well… I’ll let his blog, posted just this Sunday, take it from there…
Lt. Col. Engell’s blog about his interaction with Zabolon Simentov, the last Jew in Afghanistan.
Needless to say, we’re all thrilled that our production has led to some positive action on Mr. Simentov’s behalf. And Seth’s script continues to spread Mr. Simentov’s story across America: there was a coproduction at Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey and New Jersey Rep, and Florida Theatre Studio will be producing it in the near future.
Dr. Radio: A Homegrown Musical
Posted: March 26, 2010 Filed under: Florida Stage | Tags: Bill Castellino, Christopher McGovern, Dr. Radio, Elizabeth Dimon, Florida Stage, Irene Adjan, Jonathan Wemette, Margot Moreland, Nick Duckart, Wayne LeGette Leave a commentPosted by Jonathan Wemette,
Artistic Associate
If you read this blog, then you probably already know: it’s opening night for Dr. Radio. The theatre always buzzes with anticipation the day of an opening, and it’s even more pronounced when it’s a World Premiere, as Dr. Radio is.
To mark the occasion, I want to highlight just one of my favorite elements of this show: Dr. Radio’s ridiculously talented cast is made up of entirely South Florida actors, all playing roles that were written specifically with them in mind. It’s an exciting and appealing way to make a show, to be sure, but it happened in this case out of necessity, too.
Bill Castellino and Christopher McGovern pitched the idea for Dr. Radio to Florida Stage last year while they were working with us on Cagney! At that time, the play was just a vague concept, a story about a man who fixes radios. There was a brief outline, but it resembles tonight’s final product in only the broadest of strokes. Both men had several other projects they were working on (including our summer musical, Some Kind of Wonderful!), so they weren’t able to flesh out Dr. Radio right away, but they knew that if they if they let too much time to go, South Florida’s best actors would inevitably get snatched up by other theatres.
So, in August 2009, we organized some auditions at a time when Bill and Chris were already going to be in Florida to hash out the script. Bill and Chris saw actors on their first day here, so as they worked on the show in the following days, they already had a good idea of what actors were available to fill their needs, and they were able to shape their story and characters accordingly. I think audiences will appreciate what a natural fit this creates between the actors and their roles.
Some of the cast will be familiar to Florida Stage regulars – Elizabeth Dimon, Irene Adjan – some will be new to our patrons but familiar to the wider South Florida audience – Margot Moreland, Nick Duckart – and one fits somewhere in between, familiar to the most diehard of Florida Stage fans, but certainly recognizable to anyone who’s been keeping an eye on South Florida theatre: Wayne LeGette was last on our mainstage when we were the Theatre Club of the Palm Beaches.
I don’t think I’m overstating things to call this something of a “South Florida musical theatre” dream cast. We’re thrilled to have these actors on our stage, and even more thrilled that they were able to play a vital role in the creation of this world premiere musical.
(Very Recent) Memories…
Posted: March 10, 2010 Filed under: 1st Stage New Works Festival | Tags: 1st Stage New Works Festival, Florida Stage, Jonathan Wemette Leave a comment Posted by Jonathan Wemette,
Festival Production Supervisor
To mark the closing day of the Fourth Annual 1st Stage New Works Festival, I wanted to recall just a few of my favorite moments from the Festival so far…
-The Playwrights Panel. Todd London was a fabulous moderator, facilitating a fascinating discussion about the relationship between playwright and audience. It helped put the entire Festival in context and provided invaluable insight for our audience, I think.
-Nan’s homemade chili at the Opening Reception
-Andrew Rosendorf’s Aunt Judy, with us for the second year in a row. If 1st Stage was a high school, Aunt Judy would be our homecoming queen, no question.
-Reconnecting with old friends. With lots of old friends.
-The high school contingent at Lou’s BBQ. Most of them came to us through our Mentor Lab playwriting program, and they gave all of us a lot of hope for the future of American theatre.
-Delicious free food in the green room, including a dip that I would gladly eat for dinner
-Playwriting 101 with Carter W. Lewis. The newest addition to the Festival, this gave me an opportunity to develop the writer within (Want to see the monologue I created? Just ask!) and to find out just how many members of our audiences are talented writers themselves. Carter’s one heck of a teacher; his students at Washington University are lucky.
-Patrick Painter’s impassioned comments about South Florida’s tenuous and critical relationship with water, following the reading of Andrew Rosendorf’s Wasteland.
-The readings, of course. This almost goes without saying, but they’ve been wonderful, and so helpful, I think, for our playwrights, thanks to the incredible hard work of our directors, actors, dramaturgs and stage managers.
-Lots, lots more, of course, and there are still two more readings, a keynote address and a closing reception today! Come join us!
Let the Festive Festival Festivities Begin!
Posted: March 4, 2010 Filed under: 1st Stage New Works Festival | Tags: 1st Stage New Works Festival, Florida Stage, Jonathan Wemette Leave a commentArtistic Associate
Today, we begin rehearsals for our 1st Stage New Works Festival. That means we have 27 artists spread across three rehearsal sites working on 1,357 (double-sided) pages of hot-off-the-hard-drive new plays. And that’s just today.
Tomorrow, we’ll have 28 different artists at the same three rehearsal sites, working on 1,948 different (double-sided) pages of hot-off-the-hard-drive new plays.
Fortunately, this is all the easy part – for me. Now that things have been set in motion, the hard work is being done by the playwrights, the directors, the stage managers, the actors and the dramaturgs, not to mention the incredible Florida Stage staff, which is also closing Sins of the Mother, rehearsing Dr. Radio and hosting a session of Lee Wolf’s Theatre Club this weekend.
The hard, occasionally hectic, 1st Stage work will pay off in the readings that begin on Monday, after a raucous Opening Reception on Sunday night. That’s when the audience gets invited into the process and we begin our public conversation about these six new works. If you’ve never been to 1st Stage, you really should join us. A new works festival is, in my opinion, the ultimate in theatrical energy. All the work is still so fresh – to the playwrights, to the actors, to the audience. You don’t get the same buzz four weeks into a six-week run.
There are a lot of people who are going to be thanked in our playbill and from the stage, but most of them can’t be thanked enough, so I’m going to include a few more thanks right here. First of all, thanks to Stephanie Kelly, our Stage Operations Manager, who has taken 1st Stage by the horns and tamed it so that everyone gets coffee, highlighters, music stands, food (homemade!), interns, chairs, chalkboards and more. Alicia Scott, our Stage Management intern, has put organized binders, directions, nametags and dozens of other supplies. Palm Beach Dramaworks and Palm Beach State College are both graciously letting us their space for rehearsals. Dramaworks is also letting us use their Producing Artistic Director (William Hayes is directing Silverhill) and their Executive Assistant/Resident Stage Manager (Lara Kinzel Wagener is stage managing two of the readings). Boynton Beach High School is lending us some extra music stands. Nancy Barnett and Louis Tyrrell both open up their homes to entertain our 1st Stage guests. And every single member of the Florida Stage staff puts in extra hours to make this thing happen.
4th Annual 1st Stage New Works Festival Lineup!
Posted: January 6, 2010 Filed under: 1st Stage New Works Festival | Tags: 1st Stage New Works Festival, Florida Stage, Jonathan Wemette Leave a commentPosted by Jonathan Wemette,
Artistic Associate
This year's festival will feature
Plowing the Sea by
Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas
Silverhill by Thomas Gibbons
Goldie, Max and Milk by
Karen Hartman
The Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider by Carter W. Lewis
Wasteland by Andrew Rosendorf
Land’s End by Jack Staub
And Keynote Speaker Teresa Eyring,
Executive Director of Theatre Communications Group
It’s always a good day when we can announce our complete lineup for 1st Stage. The announcement is the culmination of more work than you might expect; the festival only takes a few days, sure, but we pack an entire season’s worth of new plays into that time.
Allow me to tell you a few of the things that excite me about this year’s 1st stage:
1. Old friends. We’re bringing back a few playwrights from 1st Stages past this year, including Carter W. Lewis (The Storytelling Ability of a Boy), Andrew Rosendorf (Good Night and God Bless, or The Lone Ranger Rides Again) and Jack Staub (Running Out). Carter’s previous 1st Stage entry is actually the play that’s currently on our stage. Andrew is still everybody’s favorite Playwright in Residence. (And if you’ve been reading our blog, you already know a lot about his play in this year’s festival.) This is Thomas Gibbons’ first time in 1st Stage, but we’ve worked with him several times on mainstage shows including A House With No Walls, Permanent Collection and Bee-Luther-Hatchee.
2. New friends. We’re thrilled to be welcoming for the first time playwrights Karen Hartman and Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas. We’ve read work from both of them before, and I can’t wait to see their processes up close and to share their voices with our audience.
3. Perspective. Our keynote speaker offers something a little different this year. From her position as the Executive Director of Theatre Communications Group, Teresa Eyring has a bird’s eye view of the entire American theatrical landscape. You may have already read some of her thoughts in American Theatre magazine – and if you haven’t, you should start.
4. An education. We’ve added a new event this year that the aspirational playwright in me can’t wait for: Playwriting 101 with Carter W. Lewis. This is an opportunity to sit in on a 90-minute class with one of our favorite playwrights who also happens to have a successful teaching career at Washington University in St. Louis.
5. Parties. Our unofficial motto for 1st Stage is “More Parties than Plays.” I don’t think this is strictly true, but the sentiment is right. 1st Stage is not only a fantastic development opportunities for new plays – it’s a dangerously good time.
There will be more information in the weeks ahead (like play synopses and a schedule), but trust me: you should put March 7-10 in your calendars today.
Where’s Andrew
Posted: December 10, 2009 Filed under: Florida Stage | Tags: Florida Stage, Jonathan Wemette Leave a comment Posted by Jonathan Wemette, Artistic Associate
I know you’ve all been enjoying Andrew’s Thursday posts about the development of his “Water Play,” but I’m afraid he won’t be able to join us today. He’s got a good excuse, though: for the next couple days, as part of his research for the “Water Play”, he’s taking (attending, visiting – I don’t know the proper verb here) the “Florida Earth Ag Module.” You can find the complete schedule of the event at that link, but it looks like a fantastic opportunity for anyone who wants to learn about Florida’s connection to its land and water. Today, for instance, starts with an overview of agriculture in South Florida, then moves on to presentations about the sugar cane industry, the citrus industry and the Florida cattle industry.
Since Andrew’s gone, I’ll take this opportunity to give you a rundown of how Andrew, Nan (our Managing Director), and I spent last weekend. We flew up to Atlanta for the National New Play Network’s National Showcase of New Plays, hosted by member theatres Actor’s Express and Horizon Theatre Company. It’s a great weekend, one of the highlights of my Florida Stage year. Over three days, representatives from the 26+ NNPN theatres and many other new play organizations gather to watch readings of six new plays, plus a full performance at the host theatre. It’s a chance to see a lot of good friends, including our fellow Florida NNPN theatres, Florida Studio Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare Theater and New Theatre, and to spend time with professionals as passionate about new works as we are here. (My only complaint this year? The 30-degree weather. Yikes.)
All six readings had something great to offer, and I know we’ll be hearing more from them as they start to get productions around the country, but one reading had a special significance for us: Andrew’s latest non-water-themed play, currently titled Brilliant Corners, selected for the showcase from a pool of more than 20 submissions. I got to see Brilliant Corners develop page by page while Andrew wrote it in residence with us last year, and to hear it read by top-notch actors in a room full of the savviest theatergoers imaginable was immensely satisfying, and it made me proud of Andrew and of Florida Stage’s support for his writing. It’s a beautiful family drama that feels both classical and new, but you don’t have to take my word for it: we’ll be including Brilliant Corners in our 1st Stage New Works Festival this coming March.
But you don’t have to wait until then to hear from Andrew: he’ll be right here, at 1st Draft, next Thursday. (Oh! And I hope you’re enjoying his Wee Plays on Twitter.)
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