 |
|
Animals and Plants |
|
Ahoy, there
mates. Smythe the
Caricature Pirate, here. And I be ready and
willin’ to act as your guide for Arts and
Entertainment. Arrrrrr!
On a
personal level, this section is an example of
savin’ the best for last. I be an entertainer.
Prior to becoming a Caricature Pirate I was
studying drama at Wichita Community College.
Back then I wanted to play Hamlet but instead
got the lead in The Pirates of Penzance.
(Foreshadowing?) Then, a few years ago, I saw
Pirates of the Caribbean and my life took a
different tack. A Caricature Pirate I wanted to
be. After performing at birthday parties and
seafood restaurant openings, I would take the
greatest step of me life — auditioning for a
part in Pirates Mutiny, the live-action
show that’s been called Cirque du Soleil with
pirates. Arrrrr!
Alas, when I
reached Miami, I saw the Atlantic for the first
time and had my fateful stroke. They said it be
too dangerous for a stroke victim to swing
around a fake ship, so I lost me big chance.
Arrrr!
Yet being a
former actor, I be cultured. In fact, I’ve been
toying with the idea of putting together a
quality dance performance, the likes of which
few have seen. Pirates Ballet! It’ll be a
beaut! Men with eye patches and peg-legs
contorting and leaping on a stage! Beat that
Miami City Ballet! Arrrrr!
So read on
and get some artistic flair into your sorry
bones or I’ll make you swab the deck with a
puffy shirt! Arrrrrrr!
Personal Best: Judy
Drucker
|
Best Local Choreographer
Octavio Campos
In dance, as in so many of the arts, local talent often
leaves town to make a mark in the larger world. After a
long and successful career in Europe, Westchester’s own
Octavio Campos returned home to found Camposition Hybrid
Theater Works, a “laboratory” where dancers, experts in
other disciplines and people off the street contribute
gestures and ideas. The results have been unsettling,
from the time bomb ticking in Luna del Pinguino (Penguin
Moon) to the artist’s deliberate corporate sell-out in
I.P.O. At this year’s Here and Now Festival, Campos
presented his most riveting piece to date, The Kitchen
Monkey, a disturbing portrait of domestic violence acted
out through break dance and Indonesian monkey chants.
Campos also enlisted a wide swath of the community in
setting his next big piece, hosting a series of
“subversive cabarets” where his dancers joined medical
experts and the audience in exploring issues of desire
and body image to generate material for his full-length
work-in-progress, Bugchasers. For Campos, dance lives in
the world beyond the stage.
Best Local Dancer
Ana Mendez
Ana Mendez smolders on stage. She is a ball of energy,
hurling herself fearlessly into motion without ever
losing control. She is a thrill to watch. The Miami
native returned home after earning a dance degree at the
University of Illinois in 2003, and has been performing
solo at local art galleries and as a member of the Miami
Contemporary Dance Company. She was a stand-out in
Giovanni Luquini’s dance poem Idalina, setting the
choreographer’s Brazilian-flavored contemporary idiom on
fire.
Best Local Dance Company
Miami City Ballet
It hardly seems fair to compare the Miami City Ballet to
other local dance companies. With legendary artistic
director, Edward Villella, plus more than 20 years of
history, 50 dancers and a $12 million budget, this
company’s resources dwarf the rest. Yet even
acknowledging these advantages, Miami City Ballet must
be celebrated for a stellar season, all the more
impressive for being staged at the grand Carnival Center
Opera House. From the stunning spectacle of the
classical story ballets Don Quixote and Giselle to
vibrant recreations of 20th Century favorites like Twyla
Tharp’s In the Upper Room to the aching, stripped down
beauty of contemporary choreographer Christopher
Wheeldon’s Liturgy — and of course, plenty of Balanchine
— the company is realizing Edward Villella’s dream of
presenting the full spectrum of ballet, as each piece is
meant to be performed.
|
If there was
ever a metrosexual pirate, Florida’s famous
Blackbeard fits the bill. Blackbeard was born Edward
Teach in the late 17th century in Bristol, England. The
name Ed Teach obviously wasn’t fabulous enough, so he
later acquired the name Blackbeard owing to the thick
black beard that covered his face (duh!). It has been
said that Blackbeard liked to twist his beard into
little tails, tie ribbons to those tails and turn the
tails up towards his ears. Fancy, Mr. Pirate.
Blackbeard fought for the British
navy, and once his career was over, he began attacking
ships in the Florida Straits with other pirates from the
Bahamas.
Blackbeard and his crew yo-ho’d
around the Caribbean, but eventually found a need for
something more than jewels and gold coins. Blackbeard
captured a member of the South Carolina’s governor’s
council, and ransomed him not for pieces of eight or
doubloons, but medicine to treat the syphilis that was
plaguing his crew. Naughty little pirates.
Blackbeard’s crew ruled the
Caribbean and the Florida coastline, but they, like all
pirates, and fancy boys, had a penchant for drinking,
and dancing and the ladies. Days of boozing and partying
weakened the crew during an attack from the English
Royal Navy, and Blackbeard was eventually killed by
Lieutenant Robert Maynard. Hangovers — they’ll kill ya.
— Tiffany Glick (Source: Twenty Florida
Pirates)
|
Best Dance Performance
of the Year
Natasha Tsakos, Up Wake
This was a spectacular year for Miami dance lovers. From
the month-long Merce Cunningham tribute hosted by the
Museum of Contemporary Art to an especially appealing
roster presented by Tigertail (favorite: Marie Chouinard),
the Miami Light Project (Emio Greco), and the Carnival
Center (Tamango’s Urban Tap) there seemed to be a
phenomenal touring company (or two or three) performing
somewhere in town every week. But the most impressive
tour de force came from a single local dancer, Natasha
Tsakos, in her solo performance, Up Wake. In the guise
of a clown named Zero, Tsakos explored the condition of
our digitized lives with wit and pathos. With startling
use of video animation, a magical briefcase, and a
movement vocabulary that ranged from MTV to avant-garde,
Tsakos achieved the rarest of feats: she made a profound
statement on the way we live now in an utterly original
language.
Best Artist
Gean Moreno
How is Miami-based artist Gean Moreno’s work connected
with Dieter Roth, Helio Oticica, Juan Goysisolo, Avital
Ronell, Bruce Conner and grunge music? The best clue to
this question was Gean Moreno’s Elephant, his show at
Fred Snitzer Gallery (September 2006). Moreno produced
an encompassing quasi-sculptural/pictorial experience,
part interior-decoration-and-political-billboard hybrid.
Elephant was anomalous in that it challenged the facile
show-opening hustle-and-bustle aesthetic (such as
eye-level symmetry of pieces on the wall and regular
indoor transit). The works referred to subjective
memories and/or geographical sketches one would find
amongst the detritus of a flea market: small chain,
necklaces, embroideries, felts, lace ribbons,
grease-soiled carpets, photo types of ’70s rock-albums,
buttons of all sizes, minor memorabilia; all glued to
these bungled walls, bandaged with tape and dripping
paint. One could almost imagine a familial view of
domestic chaos (with a baffle spewing distortion,
wailing guitars and drum base to counterpoint the
insipid horror of lesser B films, with anomic onlookers
gulping Coca-Cola and popcorn at hand. Elephant
established Moreno as a Miami Jodorowski, a junkie of
post-post modern collage. That is, the “disinformation”
of this global second, seen from an almighty-eye
perspective filled billions of voices, echoes of an
overloaded spectacle of banality: a disoriented
out-of-joint, falling-apart world.
Best Emerging Artist, Female
Magali Wilensky
Magali Wilensky’s coiled fabric works clung to the walls
of Brook Dorsch Gallery earlier this year, and their
complexity has deepened steadily ever since. A recent
grad of Miami International University of Art & Design,
Wilensky’s works were exhibited in China recently.
Best Emerging Artist, Male
Santiago Rubino
Whoever shows at Anthony Spinello Gallery is definitely
an artist to watch. An unassuming personage, Santiago
Rubino’s stylized drawings and street murals channel
Piero della Francesca, 19th Century Romanticism, and
low-brow culture á la Juxtapoz magazine.
Best Museum
Wolfsonian-FIU
Whoever said South Beach lacks culture obviously never
set sandal into the Wolfsonian. Founded in 1986, to
exhibit Mitchell Wolfson Jr.’s considerable Collection
of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, the seven-story
former Washington Storage Company holds some of art
history’s highest hits. And if the objets de design and
industry, the paintings, the posters, the textiles and
the stained glass aren’t enough to lull you into a whole
new know, there’s film, lecture, workshop and probably
the only book club in the world that dares discuss Knut
Hamsun’s novel Hunger. Perhaps that’s because the Wolf
Pack’s diet is so vast. Location: 1001 Washington Ave.,
Miami Beach. Phone: 305-531-1001.
Best Private Gallery
David Castillo Gallery
David Castillo brings energy and professionalism to his
own corner of the Wynwood art universe. By orchestrating
meticulously curated group shows linking Miami artists
with artists producing top-notch work in other
international art centers, Castillo has raised the bar
on sophisticated gallery-going. Location: 2234 NW Second
Ave., Miami. Phone: 305-573-8110. Web site:
www.castilloart.com
Best Artist Collective
Friends With You
Friends With You, the team of Samuel Albert Borkson and
Arturo Sandoval III (the son of Cuban jazz legend),
formed in Miami in 2002 and has expanded its franchise
with the tenacity of a multinational corporation, the
unassailable craft of an old world artisan and the
cheerfulness of Hello Kitty. Their popularity has been
growing — especially with the oh-so-ironic hipster crowd
who still need an excuse to cuddle with a plush doll
when they are feeling low. In the past year, they
produced Skywalkers, a flotilla of high-flying
inflatables on the beach that proved to be the hit of
Art Basel and a playground commissioned for the Aventura
Mall. You’d have to be a real monster not to be charmed
by Friends With You’s
fantastical creatures. And their Web site,
www.friendswithyou.com, is a hoot.
Best Local Art Blog
www.thenextfewhours.com
Kathleen Hudspeth is the personable voice presiding over
www.thenextfewhours.com, Miami’s very own blog written
by an artist. Her blog breezily crosses boundaries, from
newsy posts to fired-up calls to arms, to snapshots of
her own studio and works in process. Check it out.
Best New Nonprofit
Independent Cultural Access Society
ICAS, founded by Niana Arias and Steve Pestana, debuted
during ArtBasel/Miami Beach, putting a home-grown
imprimatur on their maiden programs: pedicab service
which shuttled visitors to and from art locales in
Wynwood and a screening of a doc on artist Matthew
Barney. Can’t wait to see what’s next on the agenda.
Best Museum Show
Video: An Art, a History, Miami Art Central
The hands down, most fascinating museum experience of
the season, was Video: An Art, A History, 1965-2005 New
Media Collection, Centre Pompidou presented by Miami Art
Central from Sept. 20 to Dec. 10, 2006. The French crack
curatorial team tamed a medium notoriously hard to pin
down, while allowing it to remain fluid an in perpetual
motion, and Ella Fontanals-Cisneros lured it to South
Florida.
Best Museum Bookshop
Dynamo Cafe
The Wolfsonian’s Dynamo Café and bookshop is an oasis
for the intellect and the imagination in the heart of
South Beach, not to mention a divine café with civilized
tea service, delicious tapas and meals, provided by Lyon
& Lyon caterers. When the heat is melting the sidewalks
outside, Dynamo Café is inviting, cool and rife with
design studies and coffee table volumes, including the
latest titles and banned books from the recent past.
Location: 1001 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. Phone:
305-535-1457.
Best Museum Curator
Bonnie Clearwater
Bonnie Clearwater, the director and chief curator at the
Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, has turned
MOCA into a magnet for international artists who receive
their first museum shows there. Ambitious and
knowledgeable, Clearwater has been a persuasive champion
for Miami’s nascent art scene when other folks have
trouble agreeing on what that is.
Best Independent Curator
Gean Moreno
With an inquiring mind and an aesthetic to match, artist
and writer Gean Moreno continued to make his mark on
Miami this year with exhibitions at Locust Projects and
at the Moore Space. Attuned to layers of meaning
obscured by ordinary perception, Moreno has been pivotal
in crafting the singular Miami art scene and packaging
it smartly for international consumption. Oh, and
Moreno’s an accomplished artist who was just awarded the
prestigious Cintas Award.
Best Art Supply Store
Pearl
What other? As disorganized as it may sometimes seem, if
Pearl doesn’t have it, it probably doesn’t exist. How
lucky for us transplanted New Yorkers that the Pearl
empire followed us from Canal Street to sunny,
traffic-choked South Dixie Highway. Location: 6448 S.
Dixie Highway, South Miami. Phone: 305-663-8899.
Best Interactive Show
PostSecret
Artist Frank Warren loves secrets, especially those
coming from disturbed strangers. Oddly enough these 4x5
postcards provide insight into the lives of human
beings. Serving as a sort of cathartic experience,
people send in their darkest and most personal secrets.
Example: a picture of two sweaty, muscular men, kissing
with the words “Dear Red Cross – FYI: I still donate”
above it. Readers are welcome to their own
interpretations. Last April, postcards were on display
for two weeks at the 4 Projects Sales Center. Everyone
in the place was glued to the walls, analyzing and
reading every single postcard. The only bummer was that
some of the cards were censored. To date, Warren has
published three compilations of the secrets he has
received with a fourth installment due out in October.
To join the PostSecret nation, write to: 13345 Copper
Ridge Road, Germantown, MD, 20874-3454. Web site:
postsecret.blogspot.com
Best Arts Education Program
Museum of Contemporary Art
MOCA offers our kind of summer camps — artsy stuff and
journalism workshops. Children ages 6-12 can hone their
artistic skills in week-long classes. Each week, until
August 10, there is a different class theme including
the basics of drawing and art appreciation focusing on
American, European, Asian, African and Latin American
artists. Classes are from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and
tuition is $145 per week ($125 for MOCA members and
North Miami residents). And for all those future
intrepid reporters, the free three-week Summer
Journalism Institute covers all the basics of reporting
plus guest appearances by Pulitzer Prize winning
reporters like photojournalist Carl Juste. Participants
receive 100 community service hours and their work is
published in the museum’s MOCA’zine. MOCA also offers a
program called Women on the Rise! for at-risk teenage
girls. Location: 770 NE 125th St., North Miami. Phone:
305-893-6211.
Best Unexpected Gallery
Ritz-Carlton,
South Beach
Leave it to art to leave a little treasure for you in a
congregation of debris. Down at the forsaken end of
Lincoln Road, where the hobos meet the sidewalks and a
McDonald’s meets CVS lies the Ritz-Carlton South Beach.
Inside the completely restored building designed by
Morris-Lapidus is now a posh resort where members of the
world’s upper class come to blow piles of money that
could be better spent feeding the hungry or curing some
disease that plagues children. And inside the “lobby” of
this posh resort is over $2 million in original art, the
likes of which create a dream world of symbolism and
form by some of the world’s greatest artistic minds.
There are works by Argentina’s Juan Lecuona, Spain’s
Dario Basso, France’s Alexis Gorodine and Valerio Adami,
Italy’s Sandro Chia, Roberto Sebastián Matta, Alexis
Gorodine, Valerio Adami, Tulio de Sagastizabal, Hernán
Dompe, Horacio Sapere, Antoni Tapies and Xawery Wolsky.
And you can’t throw a dead cat without hitting a Miró,
but we don’t recommend trying that. The collection is
reportedly on permanent loan from Diana Lowenstein Fine
Art Gallery, and Lowenstein herself selected the pieces
after years of study, putting together an Art Moderne
themed arrangement. If you’re lucky enough to be able
to afford a stay at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, be
sure to visit the impromptu gallery. Location: 1 Lincoln
Road, Miami Beach. Phone: 786-276-4000.
Best Reggae Group
Black Chiney
Spinning the hottest dubplates and the latest “riddims”
in South Florida’s reggae clubs is Black Chiney. The
group comprises Supa Dups, Bobby Chin, Willy Chin and
Walshy Killa. Black Chiney has worked with several
artists including Rihanna, Sean Paul and Elephant Man.
Supa Dups, along with DJ Cipha Sounds, even produced the
dancehall mix to Nina Sky’s “Turning Me On” featuring
Baby Cham. Influenced by Stone Love, Black Chiney has
toured worldwide in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Uninitiated and curious? You’re in luck. Black Chiney is
scheduled to play live on Tuesday, July 3 at Spirits
nightclub at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in
Hollywood. Web site: www.blackchiney.com
Best Reggae DJ
Selecta Renegade
With 13 years of DJing experience under his belt, it’s
no wonder that Selecta Renegade is sure to get the crowd
hyped. Known as “Johnni Nutron” to the South Beach
scene, Selecta Renegade spins the best in reggae,
hip-hop and dancehall music. He has worked alongside
many artists including Sizzla, Wayne Wonder and Junior
Reid. Originally from the Cayman Islands, Selecta
Renegade has toured Canada, Belize and Jamaica. So, why
is Selecta Renegade the best reggae DJ in South Florida?
“I sleep on turntables and eat music.” Enough said. Web
site: www.selectarenegade.com
Best Band Line-up
Bang! Music Festival
Not many things happen during November except the end of
the hurricane season and Thanksgiving sales. Thank
goodness Bang! Music Festival gives us concert-goers
something to do before getting sucked into holiday
shopping and office parties. With a great line-up two
years in a row (The Killers, Brazilian Girls, Tiesto and
Gnarls Barkley, Common and Damien Marley included),
Bang! is definitely becoming an anticipated event in
South Florida. Just one word of advice for the concert
organizers: Next time you’re having technical
difficulties, don’t turn off the power in the middle of
Modest Mouse’s set just so Duran Duran can take the
stage on time. Web site: www.bangmusicfestival.com
Best attempt at a
Music Festival
Ultra’s Two-day Festival
Ultra Music Festival has been one of the biggest one-day
events since its 1998 inception. As the saying goes, “if
it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but that doesn’t mean you
can’t improve something that’s already pretty darn good.
The promotion specialists in charge of Ultra finally
gave the people a two-day concert and mixed it up a bit.
The 2007 Day One headliners were none other than ’80s
rockers The Cure. Day Two brought back good ol’ Ultra
regulars Paul Van Dyk, Sasha and John Digweed, Goldie
and Benny Benassi. Concert-goers had the option to
attend one day (about $60 per ticket) or both days
(roughly $120) of the festival. Let’s hope that the
festival gets even more diverse in the years to come.
Web site: www.ultramusicfestival.com
Best Musical
I Love You Because, Actor’s Playhouse
Actor’s Playhouse produced this musical about a guy and
girl who bond as friends over their respective
heartbreaks but end up falling in love. The clever set
design, which cast New York City as a co-star, the
sparkling direction by David Arisco, and the exuberant
ensemble, turned what could have been one big cliché
into the musical gem of the season.
Best Production of a Play
Animals and Plants,
Mad Cat Theatre
The Mad Cat Theatre’s production of Adam Rapp’s Animals
and Plants had it all: a killer set, sound and lighting,
and superb performances by Joe Kimble and Erik Fabregat,
who dropped trou and showed a whole lot more than their
considerable acting chops. Director Paul Tei conveyed
the desolation in this quirky story about two drug
dealers holed up in a North Carolina motel room in the
middle of a snowstorm. The play was a great match for
the edgy personality of Mad Cat, and the result was a
nearly perfect production.
Best Director/
Theater MVP
Paul Tei, Animals and Plants, Mad Cat Theatre
Paul Tei is cool personified, and he brings that
attitude to everything he does. As Mad Cat Theatre’s
artistic director, Tei selects edgy material that
challenges his actors and designers to do their best
work. Tei is also an actor, and delivered a sensational
performance earlier this year in David Mamet’s Glengarry
Glen Ross at the Mosaic Theatre. And he’s a terrific
playwright, as he proved with last year’s Terminal
Baggage, a series of shorts he wrote with Ivonne Azurdia.
Tei’s work on Mad Cat’s production of Animals and Plants
easily cleared the high bar that Tei has set.
Best Local Playwright
Michael McKeever
When it comes to local playwrights who regularly get
their work produced, you need the fingers of both hands
to count them, which is a rarity in many areas and one
of the things that has made South Florida a top theater
region. Davie playwright Michael McKeever is one of the
most prolific playwrights around, with more than a dozen
produced plays in about as many years. Melt, which made
its world premiere at New Theatre in April, is one of
his best, a valentine to Miami’s diverse flavor. But
with Melt, McKeever achieved something else,
transforming himself from a playwright who writes
entertaining plays to a playwright who writes
entertaining plays that say something about the world we
live in.
Best Comic Performance, Female
Lela Elam, Just a Kiss,
New Theatre
Lela Elam’s turn as a bed-hopping lesbian with an
unrequited passion for her straight best friend added
sass and class to New Theatre’s Just a Kiss. Almost
always cast in supporting roles, Elam is an actress with
an amazing talent of completely inhabiting her
characters and consistently turns in one stellar
performance after another. Somebody please find this
actress the leading role she deserves.
Best Comic Performance, Male
Matthew Glass,
Romance, GableStage
As the flaming, put-upon boyfriend of a low-key lawyer
in David Mamet’s farcical courtroom comedy Romance,
Matthew Glass wasn’t onstage for very long, but he did
make quite an impression. A frenetic ball of energy,
Glass performed a balancing act between the ludicrous
stereotype of his character and the real insecurities
everyone experiences at one time or another. In a
production full of fine comic performances (honorable
mention to David Kwiat as a spaced-out judge with a
penchant for porn) Glass brought a gleeful disorder to
the court.
Best Curtain Speech
Paul Tei, Mad Cat Theatre
The curtain speech serves several purposes: welcome the
audience, thank the sponsors, recognize the bigwigs and
get the cell phones turned off. They’re filled with
earnestness and gratitude and in some cases, photo ops.
But the Mad Cat Theatre’s artistic director Paul Tei
takes the curtain speech to a whole new level. Tei’s
cool, laid back vibe turns the standard housekeeping
duties of the curtain speech into an opening act,
setting the mood for the play. This was especially true
at the Good Friday opening of Animals and Plants, when
Tei did a freewheeling riff involving Catholicism and
how he came to his decision to serve ham over fish
sticks. It’s that kind of impromptu fun that makes the
Mad Cat the hippest theater in Miami.
Best Showstopper
Gary Marachek Singing “I Am What I Am,” La Cage Aux
Folles, Actor’s Playhouse
Gary Marachek’s performance in La Cage Aux Folles was
insightful, hysterical and provided the biggest
showstopping moment of the year. Pouring all of his
character’s angst and resolve into the first act curtain
number, “I Am What I Am,” Marachek sent thrills and
tingles through audiences who knew they were witnessing
something great.
Best Dramatic Performance, Female
Lisa Morgan, Golda’s Balcony, GableStage
GableStage artistic director Joseph Adler said he would
only do Golda’s Balcony if Lisa Morgan was available,
and anyone who’s ever seen Morgan onstage can understand
why. A beautiful, bawdy woman in person, Morgan has a
talent for transforming herself into frumps and shrews
and always finding the character’s heart. As Israeli
Prime Minister Golda Meir, Morgan was alone onstage for
90 minutes and was riveting for every single second.
Best Dramatic Performance, Male
David Perez-Ribada, The Pillowman, GableStage
As a mentally challenged man who suffered unspeakable
abuse at the hands of his parents, David Perez-Ribada
delivered the most stunning dramatic performance of the
year in the GableStage production of Martin McDonough’s
The Pillowman. Perez-Ribada’s combination of childlike
innocence and psychopathic violence kept the audience
guessing about his character’s actions, all the while
sympathizing with him.
Best Costume Design
Ellis Tillman, White Christmas, Actor’s Playhouse
The Actor’s Playhouse’s White Christmas was a giant gift
box of holiday schmaltz tied up with the perfect red
ribbon of Ellis Tillman’s costumes. The veteran designer
created about 200 costumes for the musical, a dazzling
array ranging from sleek 1940’s gowns to glorified Santa
suits. Tillman’s designs were the best thing about the
production, which overdosed on terminal sweetness.
Best Sound Design
Natan Samuels, Animals and Plants, Mad Cat Theatre
A snowstorm? In Miami? The setting was actually North
Carolina, but Natan Samuels, who designed the sound for
the Mad Cat Theatre’s Animals and Plants, certainly made
Miami audiences feel like they were in the middle of a
snowstorm. The ominous howling wind that swirled through
the theatre was practically part of the cast and was
essential to the mood of the play.
Best Scenic Design
Sean McClelland, Animals and Plants, Mad Cat Theatre
Sean McClelland has developed a reputation as one of the
best scenic designers in South Florida, known for his
attention to detail and ability to transform a space. He
outdid himself with the Mad Cat Theatre’s Animals and
Plants with his design of a North Carolina motel room.
From the dated wood paneling to the tacky western-themed
décor, McClelland’s set conveyed the claustrophobia of
the play and made the audience feel not like they were
watching the characters, but like they were right there
in the motel room with them.
Best Lighting Design
Sevim Abaza, Animals and Plants, Mad Cat Theatre
From the dim lighting of a motel room to the blinding
white of a snowstorm, Sevim Abaza’a lighting design for
Animals and Plants at the Mad Cat Theatre was dead on
and enhanced the desolation of the story.
Best Theater
Scenic Design
Jeff Quinn, White Christmas at Actors’ Playhouse
It’s not easy to make it snow in South Florida, but Jeff
Quinn’s scenic design in White Christmas was the epitome
of wintry holiday cheer. Add to that a great score and
musical direction by Kevin Wallace and what the audience
has is a brightly colored, effervescent Vermont Inn —
Irving Berlin style — smack in the middle of the Miracle
Mile in Coral Gables. And when the snow fell as the
audience joined the cast in singing White Christmas at
show’s end, the magic of the holiday never felt more
real.
Best Opening-Night Party
Mad Cat Theatre
Whether it’s a catered affair, cookies and coffee or a
couple of deli trays from Publix, the opening night
party generally fits the personality of the theater.
Comparing them and picking a favorite is like comparing
apples and oranges, but heck, let’s do it anyway. There
are a couple of reasons the Mad Cat Theatre is the
winner in this category. First, the Mad Cat party starts
before the show, a boon to folks who didn’t have time to
grab a bite between work and a Friday night curtain.
Second, artistic director Paul Tei’s mom and dad are
there to ensure that everyone is well-fed and has a good
time, making the party feel more like a family
gathering. Third, Paul’s mom Anne makes these bite-size
Thanksgiving sandwiches of turkey and stuffing. Carbs be
damned—-those babies rock.
Best Theatrical Tradition
Summer Shorts
Summer Shorts consistently lives up to its own hype as
the cool thing to do on a hot summer night. Now in its
12th year, City Theatre’s annual celebration of short
plays has seamlessly moved from Coral Gables to downtown
Miami, and has produced a festival with the usual
panache. By presenting short plays, City Theatre gives
audiences a fresh alternative to traditional theatrical
entertainment, and introduces them to new and
established playwrights. Summer Shorts is also a primer
for South Florida theatre, because they assemble the
very best actors, directors and designers from all over
the region, thus giving audiences a compendium of talent
no other theater can boast.
Best New Theater Work
Melt by Michael McKeever at New Theatre
The story of mothers and fathers and sons and lovers
whose lives intertwine in both horrific and humorous
ways made Melt a riveting play to watch. But it is
playwright Michael McKeever’s ability to hold the Miami
of yesterday up to the city of today, complete with
racial prejudices, the intolerance of sexual orientation
and the Cuban-American experience that made it great.
Solid performances and direction aside, the real star of
this show was the city of Miami, imperfections and all.
Comments?
E-mail
letters@miamisunpost.com.
