Review: ‘Spitfire Grill’ at Actors’ Playhouse a Tender, Sugar-Coated Musical

Emily Van Vliet Perea, Laura Turnbull, Nate Promkul, Kimberly Doreen Burns, and Heather Jane Rolff in “The Spitfire Grill” at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, Coral Gables, through Sunday, Nov. 2. (Photo by Alberto Romeu, courtesy of Actors’ Playhouse)

The fish out of water story begins when a woman, fresh off the bus from prison, shows up in the small town of Gilead, Wisconsin.

The sheriff told his warden friend he’d find a place for Percy Talbot (Emily Van Vliet Perea), and so he does – at Hannah Ferguson’s (Laura Turnbull) diner, the Spitfire Grill.

The musical, now playing at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre as the kick off to its season through Sunday, Nov. 2, got its inspiration from the 1996 movie “The Spitfire Grill.” Watching the film almost 30 years later, the movie —a star vehicle for Ellen Burstyn as Hannah and with a very young Marcia Gay Harden as Shelby Thorpe — plays like a Hallmark Channel movie.

It got mixed reviews when it opened for being dark and dramatic. James Valcq and Fred Alley kept the drama (most of it anyway) but lightened up “The Spitfire Grill” when they decided it needed a folksy musical score with the underpinnings of country, bluegrass and blues influences. The musical opened off-Broadway in 2001.

Still, the redemption story, second chances and finding a home in the comfort of strangers, even as a musical, has its Hallmark moments. So, how to overcome that? Dive in with earnestness and commitment, and your audience will excuse and maybe even love some of the hokey moments.

Director David Arisco had his heart set on “The Spitfire Grill” for some time and believed the small-scale musical would be a mighty nice fit for the intimate space in the theater’s 300-seat second-floor Balcony Theatre. Brandon Newton’s set is certainly what creates the immersion into the world of Gilead – Hannah’s porch on stage right and the rest of the space filled with the kitchen and main diner area, along with Sam Sigler’s props that give the Spitfire genuineness.

The musical opens with Percy waxing poetic about turning the page on a new life. “What seems like fifty years, or maybe it was five. It’s hard to count the days when you’re buried alive.” And then Alley’s lyrics use the familiar phrase of a children’s hide-and-seek game, which signals it’s safe to come out without a penalty – it’s a metaphor that Percy sings as she gets ready to face the townsfolk – “Ready or not, here I come, olly olly oxen free.”

Van Vliet Perea is fetching as Perchance “Percy” Talbot, the rough and tumble parolee from Detroit, who brings along with her a Southern accent from growing up in the mountains of West Virginia. It even more so entrenches the character as an outsider in the small midwestern town, and Van Vliet Perea’s accent is spot on. Her strong vocals are a perfect fit for the country-style folk. The simple lyrics sometimes belie the complicated structure of the songs with Van Vliet Perea and standout Kimberly Doreen Burns as Shelby wrapping the notes so seamlessly that the storytelling, which could get lost, remains front and center.

In the second act, Burns’ perfect soprano soars in the interpretation of the beautiful “Wild Bird.” The actress has the task of making convincing one of the most classic of character arcs: shy wallflower comes out of her shell. Here, tragically meek Shelby finds strength through her sisterhood at the Spitfire Grill.

Laura Turnbull as the owner of the Spitfire, brings the right feisty energy to the role of the widow ready to hang up the towel. She’s particularly convincing when she has a change of heart about the outlier when she realizes Percy may be the exact infusion needed to give the sleepy town a reason to wake up. But Turnbull’s Hannah is loud and clear in the first strains of their meeting singing: “Smart mouthed girl, fresh outta jail, can’t tell a skillet from a garbage pail.”

For comic relief, there’s nosy postmistress Effy Krayneck, with Heather Jane Rolff playing the self-appointed town crier with deft coming timing.

While the authors have given their female characters plenty to work with, the two male characters, Hannah’s nephew, Caleb Thorpe, played by Jim Ballard, and Sheriff Joe Sutter (Nate Promkul) are not as dimensional.

The talented Ballard makes the best of down-on-his-luck Caleb, who isn’t given many redeeming qualities. He’s lived in the shadow of Hannah’s son, Eli, who went missing in action in Vietnam. Married to Shelby, the former foreman of the town’s quarry, is bitter and frustrated about everything. Ballard’s solid baritone soars with the chain-gang rhythm of “Digging Stone” – “A man is more than blood and bone when he’s shoulder to shoulder digging stone.”

Sheriff Joe is a more difficult character to dig into. Promkul certainly tries but the swiftness in which the writers have the character fall head over heels for the stranger in town, wanting to settle down and create a family, has too little time to seem realistic in its development. The character seems to only serve as a vehicle to allow for Percy’s big reveal.

Tom Wahl drifts in and out as The Visitor and finds a way for his character to speak volumes without uttering a word.

Kudos to the five-piece band, led by Nick Guerrero, with Alvaro Bermudez on guitar/mandolin, Tatiana Semichastnoval playing accordion, Tony Seepersad, violin, and Marcel Krasner on cello, whose musical artistry brought out the best in the score.

As a side note, the band was hidden only somewhat behind a black curtain stage left, creating a distraction with the conductor’s light just visible enough to pull focus and interrupt immersion into the story. Since the music is so integral, perhaps a better choice would have been to have the small band of players visible.

Eric Nelson’s lighting, using clouds that changed colors on a large backdrop projection, created mood changes and helped signal passages of time. Reidar Sorensen’s sound design was crystal clear, and Ellis Tillman’s costumes – from Hannah’s coveralls to Effy’s blue postal sweater with logo and matching logo bag added authenticity.

With “The Spitfire Grill,” Arisco delivered on his promise of a heartfelt love letter, guiding the production with sensitivity and an eye for the musical’s subtle nuances.

While the sugar coating may be too thick for some tastes, “The Spitfire Grill” takes you a million miles away from Miami and from all of the noise of the constant news cycle. And, right now, that’s as satisfying as apple pie.

WHAT:  “The Spitfire Grill”

WHERE:  Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables

WHEN:  8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 2.

COST:  $45, $55, $65, $75, 80, $85, and $100.

INFORMATION: 305-444-9293 or actorsplayhouse.org

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

The Journey of Sergio Blanco’s Unique Play ‘Kassandra’ To Miami

Ysmercy Salomón stars in “Kassandra” at Westchester Cultural Center, produced by Arca Images, opening Thursday, Oct. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 26. (Photo courtesy of Arca Images)

Sergio Blanco wrote “Kassandra” in a single day while in Athens, Greece.

“I had gone there for the premiere of another one of my plays, and since I had a few days to wander, I thought, ‘Why not write a piece in Athens so I can have something in common with Euripides, Socrates, and Aeschylus,” said the French-Uruguayan playwright.

“Kassandra” is being performed by South Florida Hispanic theater company Arca Images, opening Thursday, Oct. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 26 at Westchester Cultural Center.

The result was a monologue – with the titular character named from Greek mythology, a Trojan princess fated by Apollo with the gift of prophecy, but then cursed when she rejected his advances. Blanco’s heroine is a transgender immigrant who tells her story in broken English.

“From the moment I decided to choose a character from Greek mythology, mythology inevitably entered the text. I found it fascinating to mix Greek mythology with our contemporary world,” said the playwright.

Blanco said he went out walking along the streets of Athens. “(I) started saying the monologue out loud. As I spoke and ideas came to me, I wrote them quickly and succinctly on a map.”

When he returned to the hotel where he was staying, he said the map was covered with hundreds of words and ideas, which he then transferred onto paper. “Little by little,” he said, the text developed. “That same night, when I went to bed, the play was finished.”

Alexa Kuve, executive and artistic director of Arca Images, said there were many reasons to choose the play to open the company’s 25^th season, including working with Blanco on a successful production of his work “Tebas Land” in a past season. But there was another compelling factor that would assure “Kassandra” coming to life, according to Kuve. It was the actress she had in mind to take on the tour de force role.

“When I read the play, I loved the script. But the reason why I am doing ‘Kassandra’ is because I have Ysmercy Salomón. I wouldn’t want to do this monologue without her,” said Kuve. There was also Salomón’s association with Carlos Celdrán, who is directing “Kassandra” and is a longtime collaborator with Arca Images.

Kuve said that Salomón had a “great career in Cuba” and that Celdrán was her teacher.  The actress worked with Celdrán at his Argos Teatro, the award-winning Havana-based theater company he founded in 1996. She went on to appear in film and television roles in Cuba, including 2012’s “Penumbras,” where she starred as Tati, a dancer living during the island’s post Soviet crisis in 1991.

“ ‘Kassandra’ is something that I was always interested in working on,” said Salomón, who now lives in Miami, about the one-character play, where she is on stage for 90 minutes. “She is the possibility to express everything that we have as an actor inside of us.”

The actress said she shares much in common with her character she portrays. “I was born in Cuba, so English is my second language, just to let you know” she confided as she apologized during the interview for her own ability to communicate “without a mistake” in English. “And it’s the same for Kassandra. She’s an immigrant and she’s trying to express herself with the audience with broken English, with the few words she knows.”

In the opening scene, the character is sitting inside of what Blanco describes as a “truly squalid and extremely marginal bar located on the outskirts of a city.” She tells a would-be buyer that she does not speak Spanish.  “I’m not speak Spanish. . . . .Very little. Hombre… Casa… Sexo… Dinero… Caro… Muy caro… Hola… Señor… Muy señor amigo… I’m sorry… It’s not ok… It’s very difficulty for me… But I speak English… Little English… Sorry… Disculpe…”

To those who want to produce “Kassandra,” Blanco is emphatic in the preface of the play that it not be translated.  “This piece was written in the precarious English of its character, Kassandra, who barely knows it, and in the insufficient English of its author, who is completely ignorant of it. It is a language of survival for both,” he writes.

His purpose, he said, is that audiences must make their own investment in understanding the character.

“I also love the idea that Kassandra refuses to be translated — it’s her way of asserting her identity. No one has the right to translate her, to understand her, we have to make the effort of understanding her language.”

Salomón said it isn’t only speaking the lines but having to be fully involved in the way the character communicates.

“It’s very interesting for an actress because you have to find different ways to express everything. It isn’t just verbally, it’s with your body and with the emotions.”

And while she says that character is not “living a very good life,” what’s refreshing is her positive outlook.

“She says, ‘I have hope in the future.’ And this is wonderful. Sometimes we are playing characters that are not very optimistic. So for Kassandra, living for the day and hope in the future, that is her dream.”

Since he released “Kassandra,” it has been performed on five continents in more than 30 productions.

Last year. an operatic version premiered at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, with music composed by Argentinian musician Pablo Ortiz. “He translated Kassandra’s world into the musical realm with great fidelity to the spirit of the play. The roles was magnificently sung by trans soprano Maria Castillo de Lima.” The production, with the same soprano in the role, then played the Greek National Opera.

Blanco wrote his play about a transgender immigrant in 2008 who states, “I am not a man, I am not a woman, I am Kassandra.” And while times for LBGTQ+ individuals and their rights has always been a divided issue, in 2025, there were 1,000 anti-transgender bills introduced across 48 states in the United States, according to the independent research organization Trans Legislation Tracker.

The playwright hopes that his character’s story helps people understand what he considers to be three important issues.

“First, that gender identity is something that’s constructed. Second, that each person is free to create their own construction. And third, that as a society we must respect each other’s choices. ‘Kassandra’ is a text that defends freedom — not freedom as a slogan or motto, but freedom as an inalienable right.”

WHAT:  “Kassandra” by Sergio Blanco

WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, Friday, Oct. 17, Saturday,Oct. 18 and 25. 5 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 19 and 26.  (Sergio Blanco will be performing a U.S. premiere of his one-person show “Memento Mori” in Spanish with English translation at 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 23 and Friday, Oct. 24.)

WHERE: Westchester Cultural Arts Center, 7930 SW 40th St., Miami

COST: $30, $25 for seniors, students with valid ID.

INFORMATION: (305) 934-5103 and arcaimages.org 

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

 

Review: In Absurd ‘Art Duty,’ An Examination of Art, Life, Death and Stuff in Between

Jeff Burleson, left, as Tobin and Marla Lopez as Asher in Art Duty” at LakehouseRanchDotPNG in Miami Lakes through Oct. 5. (Photo by Richard Lewis, courtesy of LakehouseRanchDotPNG).

There’s a piece of art on a tall white pedestal. A sculpture. It is two piles of folded clothes, each with a worn sneaker atop and tied with twine. Many times, throughout the play, “Art Duty” by Daniel Prillaman at LakehouseRanchDotPNG, those who come in to sometimes admire, sometimes abhor the work, comment on its appeal – mostly its shiny, gold

One visitor asks how much the installation has cost the government, setting up the boundaries of what’s identified as Art Plaza, not being just any museum.

The guards are not to reveal the information, but after the person shouts that he is a “taxpaying citizen,” the amount is revealed. Guard 1 Tobin refuses to answer, Guard 2 Asher says 15. “As in $15 million.” the person identified as Eggs asks? “No, 15 percent.” That would be 15 percent of the nation’s capital. What? Eggs is stunned. It’s just one of the kernels of information set forth to put the action in motion in the newly produced play running through Sunday, Oct. 5 at Main Street Players in Miami Lakes.

Much in the same vein as Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” (currently on Broadway, by the way, starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter), the two guards pass the time with conversation – none of it really deep. At one point, Asher talks of a dream about searching a grocery store for a can of tuna.

Characters drift in and out in an effort to provide commentary, each with a desire to see the work – either to admire it, to scorn it, or, in one case, to sketch it.

The pedestal has a label affixed to it. The playwright does not give direction on what the art should look like.

The work is attributed to LakehouseRanchDotPNG’s Indy Sulliero, who created the set, and Richard Lewis, the scenic paint artist/charge. They’ve titled it “It’s Not Subtle.”

Michael Font and Luis Otamendi play seven characters each. The two other characters are Jeff Burleson as eye-patch wearing security guard Tobin, and Maria Lopez as Guard No. 2 Asher. The guards are not depicted as male or female – their language doesn’t speak to gender per se.

LakehouseRanchDotPNG did Sandusky, Ohio-based Prillaman’s piece as a reading during its 2024 DotPDF series of new works from playwrights across the country. This is the first time it is receiving a full production.

The set of gray walls with white conveys a claustrophobic, stark space. It also relays the idea that this is the only piece of art within Art Plaza.

Sound by Alex Tarradell has wind whistling outside – there’s a coldness to all of it. A clock chimes in between scenes, suggesting the passage of time, which also serves as the introduction of a new scene and new characters all played by Font and Otamendi.

The characters are mostly absurd – we’re introduced at first to the Vomiter. He is offstage and his wretching goes on for quite a while. Asher (Lopez) wants to help but Tobin (Burleson), the more seasoned guard says they are unable to leave their post.

There’s Leopold Caldwell, the correspondent of the government run TV station, who must gush on air  about the artwork. The Sketcher comes to admire the piece with sketchbook in tow, but life interrupts his art ending in a loud shouting match with a love interest over the phone. Snobbish Rich Lover #1 and Rich Lover #2 come by to talk about their absolute love for the golden art. “I would have this Art’s babies,” says Rich Lover #1. The two end up in an obscure conversation about eyeballs and freakish rituals. It’s a bit difficult to follow.

Brandon Urrutia’s direction finds its way to keep the two guards planted in place while the other characters come in and out creating a swirl of mayhem. The action moves swiftly in what is a complicated piece filled with entrances and exits. Urrutia also is the lighting designer, using muted hues to depict the cold environment of the two guards, and brighter tones for the characters who are juxtapositions of the guards –whirling much of the time in contrast with monotony of the two central characters.

Prillaman’s piece is an expose on art and the meaning of life but some of the scenes could use better segues in order to feel as if the “visitors” connect in an overarching way. That they are representations of different societal sects makes a statement, for sure, but there could be more cohesion.

Erin Proctor’s costumes go from realistic to outlandish and are perfect for a play that has no specific time of past, present or future.

For the one dimension that is meant for the guards, both Burleson and Lopez breathe life into their guards. Lopez as Asher, the younger more inexperienced guard, bringing out Asher’s naiveté is a wonderful choice. And Burleson’s Tobin, just waiting for retirement, creates the complete opposite of the co-worker who has been assigned to join him on art duty.

In a scene where Burleson’s Tobin is struck by something funny, the actor’s ongoing and utterly believable laughter is one of the high points of the 90 minute, no intermission play.

It’s a lot of maneuvering for Font and Otamendi to play the many different characters but whether paired up or in single roles, each of them rise to the occasion. Font, with his long locks, grabs a lot of the attention with his outlandish depictions of Sketcher and one of the later characters who enters, Sandy Daniels, who says she has not arrived for the art, but has a “degree in talking.”

Prillaman has a gift for artful dialogue and comedy and has given his actors and the director much to work with. If there were a bit more information about what was outside of the four walls these characters inhabit – the world in which exists that creates what goes on inside – it might add a bit more context.

“Art Duty” does fulfill its absurdist, satirical mission especially during fraught times when the U.S. government is making decisions on what constitutes art, and the more recent and current debate over free speech.

WHAT:  Daniel Prillaman’s “Art Duty”

WHERE:  LakehouseRanchDotPNG, Main Street Playhouse, 6812 Main St., Miami Lakes

WHEN:  8 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday through Sunday, Oct. 5

COST:  $20.

INFORMATION: 786-427-4721 and lakehouseranchdotpng.com

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

There’s no place like home for two South Florida natives in the national tour of ‘The Wiz’

The ensemble of the North American touring company of the Broadway revival of “The Wiz” performs the Emerald City scene. The cast includes Miami native Amitria Fanae’ and Fort Lauderdale’s Kameren Whigham. The show opens at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, Oct. 7. (Photo by Jeremy Daniel)

When the 50th anniversary tour of “The Wiz” opens at the Adrienne Arsht Center as the first show in the center’s Broadway in Miami season, two cast members will be performing on a stage where, as youngsters, they watched from the seats.

Amitria Fanae’, who plays Addaperle, The Good Witch of the North and understudies the roles of Aunt Em and Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West, is a native of Miami; Kameren Whigham, a member of the ensemble, is originally from Fort Lauderdale. Both grew up immersed in South Florida’s performing arts scene.

“My very first stage experience was going to see a production of ‘Tambourines to Glory’ at Miami Northwestern Senior High School,” said Fanae.’   “I remember being so captivated by it. There was something so mesmerizing about seeing the arts and the actors being able to tell a story and it being so real,” said the graduate of Booker T. Washington Senior High School in Miami.

Whigham, who said he “came out of the womb dancing,” first getting into hip hop and ballroom, then ballet, jazz, modern and musical theater—was also shaped by South Florida’s arts programs.

“I used to go to the Arsht Center and watch the Miami City Ballet, and I saw shows like ‘The Lion King’  at that very theater,” said Whigham, a graduate of Dillard High School’s performing arts program.

“Now I get to perform on that same stage.”

The tour makes a stop at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts opening Tuesday, Oct. 7 and running through Sunday, Oct. 12.

After a 2024 Broadway run as of revival of the groundbreaking 1975 all-Black cast retelling of “The Wizard of Oz,” it’s the reimagining of the Frank Oz tale for a new generation, weaving in soul, R&B, gospel-rock, and ’70s funk. In its first national tour of the revival, Whigham said there are a few updates.

“The heart of “The Wiz” stays the same, but the heartbeat changes—a more modern sound, with contemporary fusion movement,” said Whigham.

Both performers followed their own yellow brick roads out of South Florida. Now living in Atlanta, Fanae’ went on to star as Celie in “The Color Purple,” a performance that earned her Broadway World’s Best Actress in a Musical award. She has also appeared in “Dreamgirls,” “Ain’t Misbehavin,’” “Godspell” and Disney’s “Festival of the Lion King.”

Whigham, a graduate of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, has danced with PHILADANCO! and appeared in Tyler Perry’s “A Jazzman’s Blues.” For both actors, this is their first Broadway national tour. For them, bringing this milestone production home feels like a full-circle moment.

“It’s a blessing. Growing up, I knew I wanted to inspire and give back to people, so I’m honored that my family, friends, and community get to see me perform on that very stage,” said Whigham.

Fanae’ echoed the sentiment, noting the pride she feels representing Miami as part of a national tour.

“I’m excited for my community to see the work that I put in and to know that there is beauty that comes from Liberty City and Overtown — and that no dream is too impossible to achieve with good work and faith,” said Fanae’.

That homecoming is framed by the vision of choreographer JaQuel Knight, who grew up in North Carolina where his Southern roots shaped his creative approach.

“I grew up in church, so the foundation of my artistry is rooted in Gospel, in the soul of the South,” he said.

Knight, the creative force behind Beyoncé’s dance moves on “Single Ladies,” has choreographed a long list of headline-making performances—from Shakira’s Super Bowl halftime show to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” video. But for him, “The Wiz” stands apart.

“It’s something about the story, how it’s told in this version, that feels like it’s a piece for everyone — regardless of your age range, regardless of where you come from,” he said. “There’s a little piece of music, a little piece of song, a little piece of story that everyone can lean into, and that makes this version very important for now.”

Knight described the cast as joyful, with “so much love and chemistry, which is magical to see on stage.” He added that he is eager for Miami audiences to experience that energy and he hopes they leave feeling “the sense of love, the sense of community, and the sense of joy that has been poured into this.”

It’s a vision Knight says extends beyond the stage, especially for young audiences. And inspired by his two South Florida performers, he also wants the production to be an inspiration.

“Especially the kids who will get to see themselves on stage, see themselves in these characters, and know they can dream just as big,” he said.

Fanae’ also spoke about the impact of young audiences seeing characters that feel representative of them on stage.

“For little Black and Brown kids to be able to sit in the audience and see themselves in these characters — that’s everything. It says,  ‘You can do this too, and your story matters,’ ” she said.

Whigham said some of the most powerful moments have been when he’s performed for young audiences.

“The most rewarding is hearing the audience clap, cry, scream — even 3,000 kids at a matinee who didn’t stop cheering,” he said. “Sometimes I have to pinch myself and be thankful I get to carry the torch of this legacy — that I get to inspire the next generation, just like I was inspired growing up watching ‘The Wiz.’ To now be a part of this cultural phenomenon is…honestly speechless.”

As “The Wiz” marks its 50th anniversary, the show’s themes may be as timely as ever.

“Right now, this story is what we need. Dorothy finding her tribe — people who don’t look like her — and choosing community,” said Knight.

For Fanae’ , it’s also an opportunity for audiences to look within.

“‘The Wiz’ shows us that we already have everything we need. Dorothy didn’t have to go searching far and wide — she had courage, love, and wisdom within her all along. That’s the kind of reminder audiences need right now.”

WHAT: Broadway in Miami’s “The Wiz”

WHERE: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami

WHEN: 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, Oct. 7 to 10, 2  and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, 1  and 7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12.

COST:  $47.97, $83.07, $118.17, $141.57, $159.12, $176.67  (includes fees)

INFORMATION: 305-949-6722 or arshtcenter.org.

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

 

Gloria Estefan Talks About Her New Musical, Latest Album And Her Role as Grandma Gigi

Gloria Estefan shown during a shoot for her first Spanish-language album in 18 years, “Raíces” (Roots) at Fairchild Tropical Garden. She’s working on a new musical with her daughter, Emily, and stars as Grandma Gigi in the DreamWorks movie “Gabby’s Dollhouse,” which opens Friday. (Photo by Gato Rivero, courtesy Estefan Enterprises, Inc.)

Miami’s Queen of Latin Pop is busier than ever. On Friday, Gloria Estefan will be seen in the new DreamWorks film, “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie” as Grandma Gigi. A new musical, “Basura,” she’s co-written with her daughter, Emily, will get its world premiere in Atlanta in May, and the Spanish-language album she released in late May debuted in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top Tropical Albums chart.

The 68-year-old, who just celebrated her birthday on Sept. 1, has plenty of musical balls in the air, but she said that’s what has always kept her going.

“Music is my motivation.”

Front and center is “Basura,” the original musical that will have its world premiere at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre on May 30 through July 12. Ongoing workshops in New York and the show’s development suggest that a Broadway run could be in its future.

It’s the story of the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, Paraguay. The musical is based on the documentary film “Landfill Harmonic” about a group of student musicians from Paraguay who make music from instruments created from trash.

“They came to Florida International University to perform, and it was the first time that we introduced ourselves to them,” recalled Estefan. “I got this random email from a Paraguayan woman, Kiara, who writes to me that I needed to meet the kids. ‘They’re coming to Miami.’ And she sent me a clip of the documentary about them not knowing that Em and I had been working on this for two years.”

The group is from an impoverished slum that is built on a landfill near the country’s capital Asunción. The instruments are made entirely out of garbage pieces found in the landfill where they live.

“Their message is so incredible,” said Estefan, about the orchestra that tours the world, selling out concerts. “Then they all go back to their home in a place that is so challenging and so difficult.”

The Cuban-born singer-songwriter said that she related to the young musicians and that’s what drew her to the story. “Music was always my escape, my catharsis.”

She had another motive for creating the musical, she admitted. “I wanted to spend more time with my daughter, and I thought we could do this together. And, at her age, she brings a whole different energy to the music,” she said about her 30-year-old Emily.

“It’s almost like an album from Emily and me because it’s all original songs,” she said. “We wanted to get back to creating songs, melodies and things that people will remember. Songs that will stick with them when they’ve left the theater, plus it tells this amazing story of these kids.”

Two Miami natives are also involved in the production of “Basura.” Tony Award winner Alex Lacamoire, who grew up in Miami and is a New World School of the Arts graduate, is music supervisor and arranger; choreography is by Miami native and former Miami City Ballet principal ballet dancer Patricia Delgado, who won a Tony Award in June for her work on the Broadway musical “Buena Vista Social Club.”

She had been steeped in “Basura” – not looking left or right.

But then her husband, Emilio, approached her. He had been writing songs for albums for different artists.

“He brought me the song “Raíces” (Roots) and said, ‘I can’t give this to anybody but you, this has to be you.’ I told him that I loved it and if one day I did another album  . . . I could not divert my attention from ‘Basura’ to start writing songs for a new album.”

What if he wrote the songs for her? ‘“Do you trust me?’ “ she recalled him saying. “And I said, ‘Of course, absolutely.’ So, in essence, he wrote the whole album.” Released on May 29 and recorded at their Crescent Moon Studios on Bird Road in Miami, “Raíces” became the singer’s first Spanish-language album in 18 years. It is the 30^th in her 50-year career.

There is one song on “Raíces” that Gloria did write. It is for her 13-year-old grandson, Sasha, who is the son of Nayib Estefan, Gloria and Emilio’s oldest child, and his wife, Lara Estefan-Coppola.

“I wrote it even before we went down the road with this album.” Written in English “My Beautiful Boy (For Sasha),” the song appears twice on the album sung both in the original English and in Spanish, “Mi Niño Bello (Para Sasha).”

She said she wrote it after missing her grandson after they had spent time together at the family’s vacation home in Vero Beach. “And then he had to go back to school. So I picked up my guitar and wrote it in 15 minutes. I called and played it for him. I wanted him to be the first to hear it. And he cried.”

The melody, she said, comes from an African lullaby called “Drume Negrita.” “Celia (Cruz) had recorded it when she was in her 20s. So I wanted to bring this very old roots, kind of Cuban rhythm to this very modern song.”

The title of the album “Raíces” (Roots) has a special meaning for Estefan. “If you think about it, my roots, some of them are in Cuba, but I came here when I was two and a half years old. So really my roots are in Miami. This is where I’ve made a life, where I have all my memories, where we created a family, where we created a career. The only reason our music sounds like it sounds is because I grew up in Miami.”

The music videos for the album were shot in Miami, including Fairchild Tropical Garden, and the high-energy salsa track “La Vecina (No Sé Na’)” at a place that held deep meaning for Estefan.

The night she recorded the song, the idea for the video became crystal clear. She said Emilio got the inspiration for the song “La Vecina,” which translates to the neighbor in English, from his “90-something year old aunt that he talks to every night on the way home from the studio and knows the business of everybody that lives in every apartment in her complex.”

The next day Gloria returned to the very first neighborhood she called home after fleeing Cuba.

“I wasn’t sure that it was still there because the last time I saw the place was in 2015, when we took Ana Villafañe who was playing me on Broadway to show her. There’s a scene in ‘On Your Feet’ that is supposed to take place there.”

The video for the album’s second single was completed just before the apartment complex near LoanDepot Park was to be torn down. “I am extra happy that I was able to preserve it.” She said there were six apartments with people living in them and one that was empty. “That was the duplicate of where my Mom and I lived. So I shot one of the scenes in there.”

She said it felt like a full circle moment. “A lot of great memories and very tough memories flooded me, but I think it adds depth because the album is all about roots. So I really went back to the very first roots of my journey in this country.”

And, in the third stop in what has been a year filled with fate, Estefan talks about another drop of kismet from the universe. She had been sent the script for the film “Gabby’s Dollhouse.”

“I thought it was cute, but I thought, ‘do I really have the time to do it? I’m working on the musical and the album.’ ”

On the way back to Miami from a trip to Los Angeles, she said one of those occurrences that you can’t plan happened.

“I’m in the airport lounge looking for a glass to put ice in and this woman points me toward the glasses. And then she says, ‘I’m head of Dreamworks Animation and we really need your energy for this film.’ ”

More connections and a meeting with the director, Ryan Crego, whose mother is Cuban, was what convinced her. She spent a month shooting the film in Vancouver in July. “We had a ball.”

And that’s what life is like for the four-time winning, 12-time nominated Grammy Award winner who is not even close to slowing down.

When asked about what’s on the horizon, there’s a film adaptation of the Broadway musical story about her life, “On Your Feet,” in the works.

With everything she’s accomplished and what’s still to come, “Raíces” (Roots), “Basura,” and even her fun role as Grandma Gigi, speaks to the heart of what remains important.

It brought to mind an experience that left her shaken while returning to Miami on a flight from Las Vegas.

“There was a woman with a baby about three months old about two rows behind me. After we landed, we were told to stay in our seats. A flight attendant, who looked like she was crying, really, came to take the baby from the woman. Then an immigration agent boarded, and they took the woman out. When we got off the plane, we could see her surrounded by at least five officers and the baby being held by a stranger. Where’s the humanity in that? All I’ve been able to think about since then is what happened there? It’s like I don’t recognize my country.”

Through her music and her work, she wants to be the humanity. Her projects, she said, are meant to show what she refers to as “different colors of a tapestry. They are beautiful because they are together and they’re different.”

She said it won’t be anytime soon that she’ll stop contributing – to “sing loudly about the values that are important, about love, about family, about the things that unite us as human beings.”

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

‘Vagina Monologues’ Playwright Tackles Climate Crisis In Show Coming To Miami Beach

The company of “Dear Everything” on stage at a sold-out performance at New York City’s Terminal 5. The show comes to the Miami Beach Bandshell for one performance on Sunday, Sept. 28. (Photo by Jenny Anderson)

Every day, our actions affect Mother Earth and influence the global climate. Dwelling on the future can oftentimes be bleak, making one want to scream. Or, in the case of author, activist, and Tony Award-winner V (formerly Eve Ensler), it makes her write empowering prose (and also scream).

V’s latest play about climate change is not a typical musical, it’s a musical uprising, according to the author.

“Dear Everything” is told in a somewhat folksy style with a narrator guiding the audience — as a cast of characters sings in between the narration. The show embarks on a North American tour this month with stops in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Miami.

V (who changed her name in 2019 to the mononym) will step into the role of narrator for the Miami performance on Sunday, Sept. 28 at the Miami Beach Bandshell.

Although “Dear Everything” premiered earlier this year at the Terminal 5 performance venue in New York City, the play itself has been in development for over five years. The year was 2020, “I was working on a bunch of stuff,” says V, “and (actress-singer) Idina Menzel and (songwriter) Justin Tranter approached me. They were thinking of writing something, but they didn’t even know what they wanted to do together. They were maybe doing an album, maybe a podcast, maybe a podcast story, and (they asked me if I) was interested in writing.”

She told them only if it would be about climate change.

“Because that’s all I want to think about right now,” says V.

The collaborative process involved lots of working sessions between V and her musical counterparts. “We’d just start jamming words and lyrics,” says V. “They would just create music and songs… I had never worked on anything like that before in my life.”

To bring the production to life, V also worked with Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus; singer and songwriter Caroline Pennell; songwriter and music producer Eren Cannata; and orchestrator Daniel Crean.

What eventually resulted after many working sessions was a show titled “Wild” that premiered as a concert production at American Repertory Theater in 2021. After that performance, V took the story and reimagined it ever-so-slightly. Years later, it became “Dear Everything.”

While standard adjustments were made for “Wild” to become “Dear Everything, such as scene cuts and dialogue changes, the biggest evolution was its structure. It went from something traditional to something more disruptive, according Ensler.

“I love what it is now, because it’s not a musical, it’s a musical uprising,” V says with a mischievous smile speaking to Artburst via Zoom. “It’s like a narrated concert in a way.”

A successful writer and playwright, V explains that every piece of writing flows from her once she has a structure in place. Once she knows the form of what she’s trying to say, it all falls into place.

“How you tell stories is reflective of the story you’re telling,” she adds. “And when the show was a musical, it felt like we were doing a musical, but it wasn’t in line with the political dynamic we’re addressing in the show.”

Told through narration and pop rock/folk songs, “Dear Everything” follows a group of adults who are willing to tear down their town’s forest for money. The town’s young people, led by the character of Sophia, work to save the forest and change the hearts of the adults.

V adds how “Dear Everything” highlights the current struggles society faces today being in between “what we know to be true about the future and how people are going to survive in the now.” This conflict is what drives the storyline along.

Atlanta-based Maya Penn, climate activist and poster designer for “Dear Everything,” sees a lot of herself in the main character of Sophia. V and Penn first crossed paths nearly a decade ago in Atlanta while the author was on a book tour. The then 11-year-old Penn was in attendance for the book signing and was already an eager young changemaker.

“She was just so awake,” recalls V about meeting Penn, her eyes lighting up at the memory. “Awake to issues, awake to the earth, awake to sustainability… I just wanted to know her. I wanted to be her friend.”

“We were instantly kindred spirits,” Penn adds.

Since their fateful first meeting, Penn has been involved with V’s non-profit movement V-Day and now she serves as the youngest board member for the organization.

Penn explains how the various characters on stage all have their own micro storylines that intersect in some way — much like in real life. “These characters are still people going through their own struggles and have their own hopes and dreams, all in the midst of all of this crazy stuff happening to their community… ‘Dear Everything’ really shows how the bravest thing that you can do is care and feel deeply,” adds Penn.

The show is very youth-driven, according to the creator as the young characters on stage step into their power as activists. The show’s creators hope that what audiences see on stage will inspire them to also get involved in their community. As part of each performance on the tour, the Dear Everything Youth Council will have an information table for those wanting to learn how to get started in being a catalyst for climate change.

“Speaking from a Gen-Z perspective, something I see a lot is how a side effect of caring too much is that we all shut down because of trauma and exhaustion. But art is that tool that can reawaken people’s emotions in a way that they can help their community and give back to the earth,” the 25-year-old Penn continues.

“One of the best things about this whole ‘Dear Everything’ experience has been that it’s felt like there are all these miracles happening around it,” says V.

The writer recalls a wintertime rehearsal in a closed theater where one of her characters was on stage singing about extinction. In that moment, a swallowtail butterfly flew into the scene and landed on the actor’s shoulder. That same butterfly appeared every day during rehearsal.

“I said to my friend that the day we open, that butterfly is going to die,” recalls V. On opening night, the butterfly flew down for the last time. V took the insect home and framed it as a reminder of the miracle that is Mother Earth.

The playwright’s hope for “Dear Everything” is simple: “I hope people fall in love with the Earth,” says V. “I hope they come to understand that the Mother gives us everything… and if people wake to her, and wake to serve her, everything will change.”

WHAT: “Dear Everything” written by V (formerly Eve Ensler)

WHERE: Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33141

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28.

COST: $35 general admission, $25 for students.

INFORMATION: (786) 453-2897 or deareverythingonstage.org.

 ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

 

Miami Beach Pin-Up Photographer Profiled in Local Filmmakers’ Documentary

Miami Beach artist, model, photographer, feminist pioneer and icon Bunny Yeager is the subject of Dennis Scholl and Kareem Tabsch’s movie “Naked Ambition” opening in South Florida on Friday, Sept. 26. (Photo courtesy of Music Box Films)

She became known at one point in her career as “The World’s Prettiest Photographer.” But the accomplishments of Bunny Yeager – the Miami Beach artist, model, feminist pioneer and icon – can’t be summed up with one simple, reductive label.

“Naked Ambition,” the exhilarating new documentary by South Florida based co-directors Dennis Scholl and Kareem Tabsch, explores the life and work of Yeager, a married mother of two who began her career as a model, then progressed to walking up to random women and asking them to pose for her.

Her snaps – as well as the photos in which she appeared –  combined a virginal view of domestic goddesses who were also wellsprings of teenage rebellion. They also accomplished everything from popularizing bikinis to creating the idea of the modern-day selfie.

Among her models was the notorious Bettie Page, the S&M photo star who met Yeager during a visit to Miami Beach and became one of her most popular subjects, including a “Playmate of the Month” stint in 1955 in Playboy magazine (Yeager snapped that picture as well).

“There’s something inherently female about the way she sees her models,” says Hollywood actress and screenwriter Guinevere Turner about Yeager in the film, which opens in Miami on Friday, Sept. 26 at O Cinema Miami Beach,  Coral Gables Art Cinema, and Cinema Paradiso Hollywood.

By the time of her death at age 85 in 2014, Yeager had become one of the most influential and famous photographers in the world. Her photos – convivial images of women, often topless, caught in a joyful, sunny mood – have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world.

“Naked Ambition” is the second collaboration between Scholl, the former president/CEO of Oolite Arts, and Tabsch, co-founder of the art film haven O Cinema, who are both established filmmakers.

The duo previously co-directed the 2018 documentary “The Last Resort,” a tribute to the work of photographers Andy Sweet and Gary Monroe, which doubled as an eloquent history of Miami Beach and its 1970s heyday as a haven for fun-loving retirees from around the nation.

“Naked Ambition” is also another tale of the history of Miami Beach, where Yeager began photographing her models because she didn’t have a studio.

The pictures contributed greatly to the international appeal of Miami Beach as what Larry King (interviewed before his death) describes in the film as a “busting-loose, devil-may-care, let-it-all happen place” in the 1950s and 60s. But the sandy beaches also served as an inspiration for Yeager.

“There is a particular gaze through which Bunny looked at her models,” said Tabsch. “It was the beauty of nudity and the female form and embracing the risqué aspect of that. That’s a different lens than a super-sexed one. A lot of her models were reluctant because of the stigma of posing nude.”

Tabsch said Yeager  offered a safe haven for her subjects.

For the most part, hardcore porn lacks an artistic lens, and that’s why Bunny’s work is timeless,” Tabsch said. “She was embracing nudity instead of telling her models ‘I just want you to be the hot chick. “That’s part of what makes her work interesting. It was avant-garde for its time’”

“Naked Ambition” took three years to complete, although Scholl said the gestation period was much longer than that. He first approached Yeager with the idea 13 years ago, and she politely declined.

But Scholl never gave up.

“I am nothing if not persistent,” said Scholl. “In 2014, she finally said ‘Let’s do it.’ She was going to come into the studio to be interviewed on a Thursday morning at 10 a.m. They called to postpone. Then at four o’clock in the afternoon, they called to say that she had been taken to the hospital; 10 days later she died.”

Scholl put the film on the shelf and didn’t think about it for four years. But after the national theatrical release of “The Last Resort,” someone asked what he was going to do next.

“In business, I’ve learned you never say, ‘I don’t know.’ Kareem and I had such a good time working together, I asked him if he wanted to do another one. We started and then COVID came. But we stuck with it.”

“Naked Ambition” showcases more than 300 of Yeager’s photos – culled from more a thousand. They are curated in a way that allows the viewer to experience Yeager’s career from beginning to end and show how her style, subjects, and sensibilities evolved over time.

“To shape the arc of the film, we thought in terms of both the phases of her career and her shifting role as a woman living in Miami from the late 1940s through the early 2010s,” said “Naked Ambition” editor Dia Kontaxis, professor at the Department of Cinematic Arts and associate dean for Research and Creative Activity at the University of Miami.

“We traced her beginnings as a young model, inventing herself as an artist, through the explosion of pin-up work in the 1950s and ’60s, to the decline of the genre during the era of sexual liberation and the rise of mass-market magazines. Finally, we explored the period when people began rediscovering her work and reframing her legacy,” said Kontaxis.

The result is a frank, warm and hugely entertaining film that celebrates a style of photography more often treated as kitsch than serious, timeless art.

“She believed she was doing something artistic, and she was,” said Scholl. “She is a museum artist. When she died, she was on the front page of the New York Times. She went on Johnny Carson. She was a huge star, but those times were so different.”

WHAT: “Naked Ambition”

WHEN:  Opens Friday, Sept. 26.

WHERE: O Cinema South Beach, 1130 Washington Ave, Miami Beach, and Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, and Cinema Paradiso Hollywood, 2008 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.

TICKETS: Prices vary by location

INFORMATION:  www.o-cinema.org,  www.gablescinema.com and www.cinemahollywood.org

Dennis Scholl and Kareem Tabsch will participate in post-screening discussions at 1 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 27 and 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 28 at Coral Gables Art Cinema and at 8:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 27 at O Cinema.  

 ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

Miami’s Circus School in Allapattah Puts On A Show

Experience all the ways performer Milena Straczynski can use a hotel luggage cart in “In the Heart of Miami.”  The Les Ailes du Désir Foundation (LADD), which trains aerial and circus performers, has its Soirée des Arts on Sunday, Sept. 21, at the Manuel Artime Theater. (Photo by Victor Jaramillo)

The circus is coming to Miami. Actually, the circus is in Miami. The Les Ailes du Désir Foundation (LADD), which trains aerial and circus performers, has been operating out of Allapattah since 2017.

Founded by former dancer-turned-financer Claudine Choquette, the nonprofit is dedicated to training performers in the circus arts. Choquette first moved to Miami in 2004 from London. While her career shifted to business, her passion remains in the arts.

Its teaching programs mainly skews for children under the age of 18 but they also offer classes for adults all led by circus professionals. Many of their students have gone on to perform professionally – with Cirque de Soleil, The 7 Fingers contemporary circus show, based in Montreal, and Dragone – while some return to LADD as instructors.

LADD’s upcoming Soirée des Arts is taking place Sunday, Sept. 21, at the Manuel Artime Theater.

This year’s theme and performance title is “In the Heart of Miami,” giving a nod to LADD’s home turf.  The annual showcase is an opportunity for both students and LADD instructors to share a new or old piece in front of a live audience. It’s another chance to perform on a stage.

As part of “In the Heart of Miami,” there are choreographed pieces, a new aerial pole duo act, a hair suspension artist, a flying hotel luggage cart act, and an entertaining emceeing. Audiences will be treated to performances by the best in the game — from Cirque du Soleil performers to Olympians to former America’s Got Talent participants, and, of course, current LADD instructors.

Dancer Milena Straczynski, who has been with LADD since its inception, is one of the school’s instructors. However, for “In the Heart of Miami,” she’s wearing multiple hats: performer and the show’s creative director.

Born in Moscow, Straczynski moved to Miami when she was 10 years old. She was a ballet dancer and choreographer before she fell into the circus. She first discovered the circus arts performing scene through her now husband, an aerialist who performs with Cirque du Soleil. “I strayed into the whole circus world and became an aerialist and my husband, Hampus (Jansson), and I started working together and creating together.”

Straczynski finds working with LADD fulfills her creativity. She volunteers her time as an instructor at the school.

“It’s important to contribute to the community even if you don’t make any money with it. For me, the work is more about bringing the community together. Art is so important for everyone — for families, for dreamers, for children who want to grow up and be singers, dancers, or even circus performers.”

As the title suggests, “In the Heart of Miami” is structured as a bit of an homage to the Magic City. In her role as creative director, Straczynski ensures each performance flows neatly into the next – and they all tie back to Miami.

“Miami is an eclectic city, a world of cultures, and a lot of people have come here from different places and made Miami their home,” says Straczynski. “A lot of people in the cast share a similar story… I feel like within the cast it really does feel like we’re a little family that comes together and performs what we love for the people. The audience will be able to feel that energy.”

While the aerialists will be a sight to see, the emcee of the evening is meant to be equally as charming.

The self-appointed mouthpiece for LADD, Teresa Cesario has been hosting nearly all of their events since the nonprofit originated. A singer and actor herself, she understands the value of the arts and the awe-inspiring nature of the circus arts.

“I really love telling people that I’ve run away to the circus,” says Cesario.

Cesario first met Straczynski and her husband while they were performers at the former El Tucán nightclub in Brickell where Cesario herself worked as an event host. Straczynski one day approached the emcee and told her about LADD.

“She brought me in and I’ve been their mouthpiece ever since,” says Cesario.

Although she’s not a circus performer, she reveals she’s tried a few of the adult classes at LADD and admits they’ve been harder than anything one would find at a traditional gym. “It’s amazing all the things you do as a circus performer, it’s not a traditional fitness… you don’t realize the physical exertion that these performers are doing when you’re watching circus arts.”

And there’s one other layer, she says, that adds to the mastery.

“They’re doing this while wearing bedazzled outfits and spinning from their hair. To me, it’s one of the most incredible sights to see what the human body is capable of,” shares Cesario.

WHAT: Les Ailes du Désir Foundation’s Soirée des Arts: In the Heart of Miami

 WHERE: Manuel Artime Theater,  900 SW 1st St., Miami

 WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21.

 COST: $25 general admission, $10 for children and seniors. Tickets via eventbrite.com.

 INFORMATION: (786) 478-5891 or laddmiami.org.

 ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

International Hispanic Theater Festival Lives On With Full Slate of Plays

“Magallanes,” inspired by an episode from the life of the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, is a production by the Chilean group Tryo Teatro Banda playing Sept. 19, 20, and 21 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts Carnival Studio Theatre as part of this year’s International Hispanic Theater Festival. (Photo courtesy of Tryo Teatro Banda, Chile)

The 39th edition of the International Hispanic Theater Festival of Miami concluded its first weekend but there are still three more weekends to go until the closing night Sunday, Sept. 28.

It is the first year that the festival has been presented without Mario Ernesto Sánchez —  he founded the International Hispanic Theater Festival under the auspices of his Teatro Avante in 1986. Sánchez passed away on April 10, at the age of 78, after a long illness.

This is also the first time the festival has been staged in September, not in July as usual, due to renovations at the Adrienne Arsht Center required adjusting the dates of the program.

Sánchez’s legacy lives on. Since the festival’s opening on Thursday, Sept. 4, nine productions by six groups from Argentina, Chile, Spain, the United States, Venezuela/USA, and Mexico, are presenting programs at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts’ Carnival Studio Theatre, Westchester Cultural Arts Center, Koubek Center Theatre, and Biscayne Community Center.

Beatriz Risk continues to lead the event’s Educational Program, which includes discussions at the end of each premiere performance. The Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts Award will be presented to artistic consultant Olga Garay-English on Thursday, Sept. 25, at the Carnival Studio Theatre.

Neher Jacqueline Briceño and Melissa Messulam, of Conecta Miami Arts, two individuals who have already earned their places in the South Florida theater scene, are now at the helm of the Festival.

In fact, the program closes with “Lear,” directed by Briceño, inspired by Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” Each of these four performances will open with a tribute to Sánchez under the title “UMPA! The Present Voice”.

Between Thursday, Sept. 4, and Sunday, Sept. 7, the festival presented “Las Delicadas Lágrimas de la Luna menguante” (“The Delicate Tears of the Waning Moon”), a production by the Chicago-based Venezuelan group Water People Theater, and “Viento Blanco” (“White Wind”), by the Argentine company Teatro Futuro.

The following is the lineup for the next three weekends. All the shows will be performed in Spanish. Only “Lear” will be presented with supertitles in English.

“El Brote” (“The Outbreak”), Argentina

8:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 11, Friday, Sept. 12 and Saturday, Sept. 13, Carnival Studio at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

A one-man show, featuring Roberto Peloni, who plays the character of an actor who begins to confuse reality with fiction. As a result, he starts to distrust “those who write him.” A play written and directed by Emiliano Dionisi, from the Buenos Aires-based Teatro del Pueblo.

“Los Que Sobran” (“The Ones That Are Left Over”), Mexico

8:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 12 and Saturday, Sept. 13, 5 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 14, Westchester Cultural Arts Center.

Five young people who met during their teens have become life partners. This is, as per the program, “a story of friendship, youth, humor, rebellion, courage, passion, violence, cruelty, survival, and love.” Written and directed by Adrián Vásquez, the cast features Fátima Favela, Quetzalli Cortes, Lariza Juárez, Paula Zepeda, Mónica Vega, and Iván Carbajal.

 “Palaboda,” Spain

5 p.m., Friday, Sept. 12 and Saturday, Sept. 13, 8:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 14, Koubek Center Theatre.

In this comedy by Rocío Sepúlveda, Juan Sebastián Domínguez, and La Tirana, directed by the latter, Begoñita wants to marry Juanmanué, but he is not excited about the prospect. While she’s hoping for a grand ceremony, he refuses to even wear a ring because he wants, quote, “it all over soon so I can go fishing.” Featuring Susana Rosado and Jay García.

“Magallanes,” Chile 

8:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 19 and Saturday, Sept. 20, 5 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 21, Carnival Studio at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

Acting and music in the style of ancient minstrelsy blend in this show by Tryo Teatro Banda and Francisco Sánchez, directed by Sánchez and Eduardo Irrazábal. Disease and misery are the main obstacles to the expedition on which the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan attempts to reach the Spice Islands (or Morujas Islands) in eastern Indonesia.

“Protocolo,” Spain

8:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 19 and Saturday, Sept. 20, 5 p.m., Sept. 21, Westchester Cultural Arts Center

A Cuban playwright based in Spain, Abel González Melo, authored the piece, which the Madrid-based group La Belloch Teatro brings to the festival, featuring performances by Beatriz Argüello and Ernesto Arias. According to the program, it is “a shocking human map where civic duty collides with intimacy.”

“Comicopicos,” (Argentina)

5 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 20, Key Biscayne Community Cetner, 5 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 21, Koubek Center Theater, both with free admission.

In its traditional celebration of International Children’s Day, the Festival brings the Fugaz Company from Argentina with two performances of “Comicopicos” by Osqui Guzmán and Leticia González de Lellis. The idea is to interact not only with children but also with adults. The Koubek Center performance is preceded from 2 to 5 p.m. by face painting, stilt walkers, snacks, and carnival games and painting, puppetry, dance, and percussion workshops from 3 to 4 p.m.

 “Lear” (USA)

8:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 25, Friday, Sept. 26, and Saturday, Sept. 27 and 5 p.m., Sept. 28, in Spanish with English supertitles, Carnival Studio Theater in Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

Neher Jacqueline Briceño, one of the festival’s directors, wrote this piece based on Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” It features Julio Rodríguez, Claudia Valdés, Claudia Tomás, Laura Alemán, and Daniel Romero. The four performances are preceded by “UMPA! La voz presente,” a tribute to the memory of Mario Ernesto Sánchez featuring Alina Interián, Marilyn Romero, Gerardo Riverón, and Yani Martín.

WHAT: 39th International Hispanic Theater Festival of Miami, featuring nine performances by six companies from Argentina, Chile, Spain, the United States, Venezuela/USA, and Mexico.

 WHERE: Westchester Cultural Arts Center, 7930 SW 40th St. (Tropical Park), Miami; Koubek Center Theatre, 2705 SW 3rd St., Miami; Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami; and Key Biscayne Community Center, 10 Village Green Way, Key Biscayne.

WHEN: Through Sunday, Sept. 28

COST: $32.96 and $35.10 (includes fees)

INFORMATION:  www.teatroavante.org/programa2025

 ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

New to Miami, NVISION Festival Zooms in on Latin American Cinema

Sebastián Lelio’s “La Ola,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, will screen at the NVISION Latino Film and Music Festival at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6 at Silverspot Cinema in downtown Miami. (Photo by Diego Araya)

A new player is joining Miami’s film festival scene, and it’s showing a spotlight on cinema from across Latin America.

Taking over Silverspot Cinema in downtown Miami on Friday, Sept. 5 and Saturday, Sept. 6, NVISION Latino Film and Music Festival will showcase and celebrate movies and creators from across the Latin world. With a program including nine feature films, 10 shorts, and seven panels on subjects such as music scoring and film production financing, the event is a one-stop shop for anyone looking for inspiration and insight.

The festival is the brainchild of photographer Danny Hastings, who has shot some of the most iconic rap album covers of all time for the likes of Nas, Eminem, and Wu-Tang Clan. Hastings, who was born in California to Panamanian and Mexican parents and lived in Panama until he was 16, started the festival as a way to address the lack of Latin representation in the film industry.

“I knew that there were some challenges that we were facing, and I felt like maybe the community was feeling the same way I was feeling. So I created the festival in 2015 to try to solve that problem,” he says.

Originally known as the Official Latino Film and Arts Festival, the festival launched in 2015 in New York and focused on short films. It moved to Palm Springs, Calif., five years later, coaxed by investment from the neighboring city of Coachella and by a less competitive environment. A rebranding to NVISION came last year – the festival’s 10th anniversary – along with a new partnership with music producer and entrepreneur Lex Borrero, who convinced them to come to Miami.

Borrero, who heads up the music management firm NEON16, is also the main force behind the festival’s increased emphasis on Latin music. The opening night presentation, the concert film “Kenia OS: La OG,” focuses on a superstar of Mexican pop music. A question-and-answer session with Kenia follows the film on Friday night.

Music is also a prominent theme in the festival’s other centerpiece, “La Ola” (“The Wave”). Directed by Sebastián Lelio, who won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for “A Fantastic Woman” in 2018, the film is a musical inspired by a series of feminist protest actions in Chile in 2018 that has been compared to the #MeToo Movement in the United States. It follows Julia, a student at a performing arts university in Santiago, who unwittingly becomes a central figure in a feminist protest that explodes on campus.

Lelio says he was interested in making a movie musical because of the challenges it presents, such as the fact that the stage musical genre is not as common in the Spanish-speaking world as it is in the United States.

“Here (in Chile), women, when they protest, they combine rights and celebration in a certain way. So it felt like a really natural territory for a musical to develop,” says Lelio. “And then as a filmmaker, I love cinema and I’m interested in many genres, but in this case, I think what was more appealing to me was precisely the risk of combining contemporary politics and political themes and challenges with the splendor and the scale and the dreamlike quality that a musical requires. I thought that that contradiction was really interesting to walk through, to try to survive it, and to try to think about what happened to all of us after the Feminist May.”

The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May. NVISION is hosting its North American premiere, an honor typically reserved for larger events such as the Toronto International Film Festival or the New York Film Festival. Lelio will be in Miami to show the film and participate in a post-screening question and answer session.

“They invited us and we accepted, it’s as simple as that,” says Lelio. “I’m looking forward to showing the film there, since there is such a big Latino community, and seeing how it’s received.”

Other films in the NVISION lineup include “Esta Isla,” a crime drama set in Puerto Rico; “Serious People,” following a music video director in Los Angeles torn between work and missing the birth of his child; “Cuerpo Celeste,” a coming-of-age film set during the waning years of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile; and “The Wailing,” a horror film set between Argentina and Spain. Shorts such as “Pavilhão” from Brazil and “Papota” from Argentina will also screen in blocks and ahead of features.

(See the full schedule here.)

Such a diverse list of films from around Latin America speaks to the potential that NVISION hopes to unleash in its new home. Hastings says that the move to Miami will enable the festival to reach a true plurality of Latin demographics, avoiding the regional tendencies of both Southern California, where Mexican and Central American nationalities dominate culturally, and New York, which favors Caribbeans.

“Miami got everybody, you know what I mean?” he says. “I feel like the festival is going to feel like home. I feel like we’re going to be able to offer the international community an easier place to come in and visit and hang out with us. It’s only a hop and a skip, from Colombia, from Mexico, from everybody.”

Hastings also says that Miami is more accessible than where the festival previously played and that is already making a difference.

“To try to get to (California) from Argentina, was (like) traveling half of the world, you know? So coming to Miami, it’s more accessible, and it’s already showing proof in that a lot of those filmmakers are coming to the festival.”

WHAT: NVISION Latino Film and Music Festival

 WHEN: Various times on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 5 and 6. Check the full schedule.

 WHERE: Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE 3rd St., Miami

 COST: $49.99 for one day passes; $84.99 for two-day passes; $129.99 for VIP two-day passes

 INFORMATION: nvisionfestival.com

 ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.

 

Urban Film Festival Paves Way For Aspiring Filmmakers, World Premieres

A scene from the movie “Water Girl,” featuring actors Moriyah Faith Jackson (Kamsi) and Oliver Haeden. The movie will be screened at the Urban Film Festival on Saturday, Aug. 30. All screenings are free.  (Photo courtesy of Florida Film House)

The 10th Annual Urban Film Festival (UFF) brings three days of film screenings, master classes, and networking events to Miami. 

The festival, founded in 2015 by Florida Film House co-founder Marco (Mall) Molinet, was created to highlight urban storytelling after he found that Black filmmakers were underrepresented at traditional film festivals.

“I launched the Urban Film Festival because we saw a gap for filmmakers telling raw, independent urban stories,” says Molinet. “Florida Film House submitted our work to several festivals that we believed aligned with our message; none accepted us. It was clear there was a void in the industry for our kind of storytelling.”

All film screenings, workshops and discussions are free admission.

This year’s schedule includes narrative and documentary features, shorts, and international projects from professional filmmakers, in addition to youth showcases and educational panels.

Some of the highlights of the lineup include Nnamdi Kanaga’s “Water Girl,” which will be screened on Saturday, Aug. 30. The film was an official selection at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival (MVAAFF) in 2025. A supernatural drama rooted in Nigerian mythology set in Montana. The film’s plot concerns the joys of motherhood overshadowed by agony when lead character Nkechi discovers that her daughter, Kamsi, is bound to the cyclical existence of the Ọgbanje—a spirit child trapped in the maze of life, death, and rebirth. 

“Smiling with a Stranger,” director Diamos D’Merit Demerritt’s film set in Miami, is getting its world premiere at UFF.  Detroit-based Grand Rising Productions is bringing its film “The Return of the Mack,” which received Best in Fest at the 2025 Virginia Black Film Festival.  Set in Detroit, a man released from struggles to rebuild his life only to discover his daughter’s involvement in a human trafficking operation. 

While giving a platform for Black filmmakers, the festival has evolved into an educational and professional resource for aspiring filmmakers. Through workshops, master classes, and programs like the 1st Take Youth Film Program, the festival aims to provide a hands-on learning environment where young creatives can develop their skills and explore opportunities in the film industry.

 “We’ve helped filmmakers launch careers, secure distribution, and build industry relationships,” says Molinet, describing UFF as a platform that supports Black and urban creatives from youth development through professional growth in the film industry.

UFF was first held in 2015 in Historic Overtown. According to organizers, it attracted more than 1,500 participants during its inaugural year and was named a Top Ten First-Year Festival by Withoutabox, an online platform that once helped filmmakers submit their work to festivals worldwide before shutting down in 2019. The festival now reports, according to Molinet, an average of 3,000 attendees each year and screens close to 200 films. 

This year, in addition to film screenings, the festival includes master classes, industry panels, and networking events. A new screening location will be Silverspot Cinemas, which offers IMAX screens, among others. The addition is intended to enhance the viewing experience for filmmakers while maintaining the festival’s base in Overtown.

“Filmmakers deserve to see their work on the best possible stage, and we’re giving them that without ever forgetting where we came from,” says Molinet.

The festival remains focused on youth and emerging filmmakers. Through the 1st Take Youth Film Program, UFF has worked with 150 to 200 students this year. Participants come from nine partner organizations, including Overtown Youth Center, Touching Miami with Love, Honey Shine, Mexican American Council, Skill Society, Carter Foundation, and the Boys & Girls Club of Broward. The students’ work, which includes documentaries, short narratives, and music videos, will be showcased during the festival.

“We believe in investing early,” says Molinet. “By focusing on youth, we’re not just creating filmmakers. We’re building leaders, entrepreneurs, and storytellers who can change the narrative for their communities.”

“The next great filmmaker is already out there,” Molinet adds. “They just need access and mentorship.”

One notable UFF alumnus, Kamal AniBello, credits the festival’s educational focus with helping him move from acting roles in films such as “Moonlight” and television series “David Makes Man” to directing his own short films.

AniBello recalls his time attending the Urban Film Festival and “being in the crowd of kids learning from all these amazing producers and filmmakers that would be invited to speak.” “From that experience, I told myself I had to be on that stage.”

He eventually got on “that stage.” Now he comes, not just as an actor but also a director. His latest short film, “Shelle,” is scheduled to screen during this year’s festival. It is inspired by his mother, a burn survivor, and explores the idea that resilience can stem from visible and invisible scars. The project follows his first film, “Pound Cake.”

“It’s a blessing honestly, I never saw this route for myself. This means a lot, just another testament to keep exploring this route that Jesus keeps opening for me,” says the young actor-director who credits UFF’s emphasis on professionalism and preparedness for helping him balance acting and directing.

AniBello has recently portrayed Commissioner Kionne McGhee in the feature film “The Reject.” The Liberty City teen says he approached the role by researching McGhee’s work and translating the story into a performance that felt personal. “I did it as myself but allowed his story to be my story and live through that in real time as we shot.”

For emerging filmmakers, AniBello advises creating their own projects. “One day I just didn’t feel like waiting for someone to see my value or talent. So, I started writing. Then creating. Then ultimately started to end up at the same tables I was overlooked at just with my own power,” he says.

Another young filmmaker connected to UFF is Kyla Holmes, whose film “The Pad Hustle” was featured at last year’s festival. The short, which addresses period poverty, or the lack of access to safe and hygienic menstrual products, was developed through Black Girls Film Camp and screened as part of UFF’s programming.

“I was extremely happy to see my team and I’s hard work being displayed on the big screen,” says Holmes. “It was a point in my life that made me realize all of the amazing things I am capable of accomplishing if I put my mind to it.”

Following her positive experience, she joined the festival’s educational initiative as an instructor. Holmes will not showcase a new film at this year’s event, but she contributed to the student projects that will be presented. Her focus has been on helping younger filmmakers understand the production process and build their technical skills.

“As a high school graduate, being able to teach kids about film has been the highlight of my days. Not only have we worked hands-on with film equipment but just seeing the creativity these kids have at such a young age was mind-blowing,” she says, adding that teaching the kids about film helped her embrace and gain confidence in herself.

“Being involved in UFF and 1st Take has significantly boosted my confidence in public speaking, particularly when it comes to teaching kids. It makes me feel more professional in my field of film directing, as I am able to share my knowledge and experiences with eager learners,” says Holmes.

The 18-year old is scheduled to begin film studies at Columbia College Chicago in the fall, where she received a full-tuition scholarship.

The festival is free to attend, supported by the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, and various local organizations.

Molinet emphasizes that accessibility remains at the heart of the festival’s mission. “Offering the festival for free ensures accessibility, no one is left out,” he said. “It keeps the doors open to creatives and community members who might not otherwise experience a festival of this caliber.”

Organizers expect attendance to reflect the festival’s continued growth while staying grounded in its founding mission. Molinet said the message to audiences is simple. “Come witness the future of filmmaking. These students are bold, talented, and speaking their truth.”

WHAT: The Urban Film Festival (UFF)

WHEN: From 2:45 p.m., Friday, Aug. 29 to 9 p.m., Sunday, Aug 31. See  Complete Schedule

WHERE: Overtown Performance Arts Center, 1074 NW 3rd Ave., Miami (1st Take Youth Film Program Empowerment); Silverspot Cinema, 300 SE 3rd St., #100, Miami (film screenings); Red Rooster Overtown, 920 NW 2nd Ave., Miami (youth showcases, welcome party, and after party)

COST: Free. Register at urbanfilmfestivals.com  

INFORMATION: urbanfilmfestival2025.eventive.org/welcome

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.