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    A Caribbean backdrop for ‘Antony and Cleopatra’

    Published January 9, 2014 by

    Sarah Niles as Chairman, Joaquina Kalukango as Cleopatra, Chivas Michael as Soothsayer and Charise Castro Smith as Iras in Antony and Cleopatra. Photo by Hugo Glendinning. Last January, Tarell Alvin McCraney’s streamlined version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” considered by some to be the most difficult of the Shakespearean tragedies, debuted under his direction at GableStage in Coral Gables. This year, the Miami playwright and actor directs his own adaptation of another tragedy of Shakespeare’s, the complex “Antony and Cleopatra.” Tackling the Bard’s work can be daunting for anyone, but McCraney thrives on the challenge. “Every great piece of literature should be scary, exciting, demanding,” says McCraney a few days before the U.S. opening gala (tonight at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach) of “Antony and Cleopatra.” “If it were boring, tedious, or easy, it would not be worth one’s time.” By changing the setting of the play from Alexandria and Rome to Saint-Domingue (the future Haiti) and Napoleonic France, “Antony and Cleopatra” should feel much closer to home for South Florida audiences. For the city’s theatrical community, meanwhile, it could be a watershed moment, as the spotlight focuses on a production with local roots, which will eventually move to New York after its Miami run. “This is something we’ve been working on for a couple of years,” says Joseph Adler, producing artistic director of GableStage, now in its 16th season. “As this evolved, it became bigger and bigger.”
  • Article

    Follow these patterns

    Published January 8, 2014 by

    Detail from painting of Lynne Golob Gelfman. Two interesting exhibits at two alternative galleries are opening up to kick off the 2014 season, each one in its own way dealing and working with patterning, textures and a visual outcome that can become beautifully illusionary. At the...
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    Pérez Art Museum Miami opens for kids

    Published January 8, 2014 by

    PAMM is #openforkids with Knight Schools Program from Knight Foundation on Vimeo. Some 60 third-graders were the first to participate in the Knight Schools Program this week at the new Pérez Art Museum Miami. The kids, who arrived on school buses from the Irving and Beatrice Peskoe Elementary School in Homestead, Fla., are just a fraction of the 27,000 that will have the opportunity to visit the museum each year for free, thanks to support from Knight Foundation. Knight’s Vice President of Arts Dennis Scholl and Museum Director Thom Collins welcomed them Tuesday morning. Collins thanked Knight for its support, noting it will “ensure every year, generations of kids growing up here in Miami will have the shared experience of learning about the arts and learning about the world through the arts.”   Following a booming chant of “Open for Kids!” the third-graders set off in small groups to explore the museum with the help of several teaching artists. What ensued was an hour of arts, learning, and of course, fun.  
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    “Adverse Affects Include” closes at Popps Packing

    Published January 7, 2014 by

    Saturday, January 4th marked the closing of “Adverse Affects Include” at Popps Packing, with an artist talk by sculptor Brian Nelson about his large-scale welded bronze and steel works. Several of Nelson's sculptures, which had a striking aesthetic nature independent of their meaning. The installation dealt...
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    Fiber and found art mingle at PhilaMOCA

    Published January 7, 2014 by

    Two artists seek to uncover hidden bits and pieces of the crumbling Philadelphia post-industrial cityscape, while simultaneously using these loose narratives to tell personal tales strung together with fabric, steel and found objects. At PhilaMOCA, “Resurrecting Rust” presents the work of Carolyn Perri and Amanda Lee Watkins in a montage...
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    YoungArts Week celebrates emerging artistic talent from across the U.S.

    Published January 6, 2014 by

    Above: Alumni Spotlight / Andrew Rannells and Zuzanna Szadkowski from YoungArts on YouTube South Floridians can experience the work of 171 emerging U.S. artists this week as the National YoungArts Foundation celebrates their talents. The artists from 46 states are converging on Miami for YoungArts Week, an annual opportunity to perform and work alongside leading experts in a range of fields, such as jazz pianist Shelly Berg, architect Frank Gehry, actress Rita Moreno and Miami City Ballet Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez. The finalists include 15- to 18-year-olds who work in 10 disciplines including cinematic arts; classical music; dance; design arts, which includes architecture, graphic arts and fashion; jazz music; photography; theater; visual arts; voice, which includes classical, jazz and pop music; and writing. National YoungArts Foundation spokeswoman Mabel Perez said YoungArts Week is the signature program of the foundation, which also sponsors regional programs in Los Angeles, Miami and New York. The foundation, founded 33 years ago by philanthropists Ted and Lin Arinson, is a previous winner of Knight Arts Challenge Miami to develop local programming. Events begin Monday night with performances by pop, jazz and classical voice finalists at New World Center in Miami Beach. They conclude with a presentation and discussion on Sunday at the YoungArts Campus on “Design Now + Design Futures,” with Paola Antonelli, senior curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, architect Zaha Hadid and Gehry. The finalists will receive a minimum of $1,000 and a maximum of $10,000; the foundation will determine the awards at the end of the week, Perez said.
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    Low and Lower at the Bechtler

    Published January 6, 2014 by

    With only a cello, a bass, a sense of humor and two voices, musicians Brooks Whitehouse (cello) and Paul Sharpe (Bass) deliver a musical comedy show of the classical variety. This duo, known as Low and Lower, offer performances of artistry, virtuosity and satire. Low and Lower will be performing...
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    It’s a “Mix Tape” kind of world again

    Published January 6, 2014 by

    I remember the antiquated days of making mix tapes from my ghetto blaster. “Wild Boys” by Duran Duran was always in that mix. Last week, Mad Cat Theatre Company premiered “Mixtape 2: Ummagumma Forza Zuma," which is a collection of new works by artists Jessica Farr, Elena Maria Garcia, Theo...
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    The Project [theatre] December update

    Published December 31, 2013 by

    By Jackie Rivera, The Project [theatre] At just past the one year mark of being awarded with the challenge of matching the generous $25,000 from The Knight Foundation's Knight Arts Challenge we stand humbled by our successes and grateful to the foundation for allowing us the funds to grow and...