For 20 years, the Miami-based nonprofit Voices United has taught tolerance, conflict resolution and cultural awareness to school children through musical theater written and performed by kids for kids.

The group's most recent production, Lost & Found, involved a cast of 90 young people drawn from 45 Miami-Dade schools. Two performances at the James L. Knight Center's 500-seat Ashe Auditorium sold out in March; an April 16 reprise at Hialeah Senior High School drew an audience of 850.

While Voices United founder Katie Christie was buoyed by the work's enthusiastic reception, she felt that its self-empowerment message should reach beyond a stage performance and hatched a plan to record an EP. The result, a four-song disc to be released Friday, was recorded at The Franchise, the studio of Voices United musical director Aaron Fishbein. It features lead vocals by Voices United performers, but Fishbein also brought in such local luminaries as bassist Brett Simons to join him in the band.

The $6 disc, available at www.voicesunited.org and on iTunes starting Nov. 17, includes the production's joyful, gospel-tinged title number with a rap written and performed by 16-year-old Chris Williams, and the bittersweet lament Dear Dad by 13-year-old Maya Hunter, Christie's daughter.

Voices United will celebrate at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Las Tias Wine & Bubbly, 2834 N. Miami Ave., Miami. Admission is $40 or $75 a couple. 305-786-4822; www.voicesunited.org.

-- THOMAS BOWKER

E.MAGINE'S ENCORE

Apparently Erika Diaz didn't get the universal memo about this being an impossible time to run a dance company, much less start one. Diaz's troupe E.magine Dance Ensemble made its debut last May and is presenting its second performance Sunday. Special guests include the Miami Youth Ballet and former Maximum Dance member Andrea Dawn Shelley. The performance starts at 7 p.m. at the Colony Theater, 1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach. Tickets are $20 at www.ticketmaster.com or the box office.

-- JORDAN LEVIN

MAM DESIGN DONE

The headlines at Miami Art Museum this week were spurred by the resignation of director Terry Riley, but there also is other news.

The design for the museum's 120,000-square-foot, $220-million facility in Bicentennial Park is complete. It is scheduled to open in 2013.

The design was unveiled on Oct. 21 to a full-house crowd at Miami Beach's Lincoln Theater. Presenting it were Pierre de Meuron, founding partner of the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, and Christine Binswanger, partner in charge of the project.

The completed design ``works with -- not against -- Miami's climate to ensure that the building is environmentally responsible,'' Riley said in a statement.

The plan for the three-story building to be situated on an elevated platform and below a canopy features galleries and other public rooms connected by spaces displaying the permanent collection.

-- Miami Herald Staff

CALLING FILMMAKERS

The Miami International Film Festival wants your short film. The festival, which is presented by Miami Dade College, has joined forces with Diesel to create the first annual Online Shorts Competition, with the winners flown to Miami during next year's festival, March 5-14.

Entries should not exceed 10 minutes or 940 MB. Preferred upload formats are Quicktime and MPEG-4. All entries will be available for viewing atfilmannex.com, although you'll have to visit a Diesel retail outlet to obtain a special uploading code. Info: www.miamifilmfestival.com.

-- RENE RODRIGUEZ

CONUNDRUM EVENT

Conundrum Stages, a group that focuses on staged readings of plays, is doing an entertainment-enhanced event at 7 p.m. Friday at Tamarac Theatre of the Performing Arts, 7143 N. Pine Island Rd. Dubbed ``The Entertaining Evening Combo,'' the event begins with a mini-concert by singer David Meulemans, who will be accompanied by pianist Jim Welles.

Then Conundrum's cast -- Sheldon Cohen, Linda Ellis, Peter Librach, Danielle Tabino, Wendi Librach, Bill Dobbins and Lory Reyes -- finish with a reading of Bernard Slade's Tribute. Admission is $10. Info: 954-726-7898.

-- CHRISTINE DOLEN

PLAY READINGS

Palm Beach Dramaworks has kicked off its third Master Playwright Series with readings from the works of Tennesee Williams. The program of scenes from various Williams plays will be repeated at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, with a staged reading of The Glass Menagerie at 7 p.m. Nov. 9-10 and Nov. 16-17.

The series continues with a look at the work of David Mamet Dec. 28-29 and Jan. 4-5, and readings of Mamet's The Old Neighborhood Jan. 11-12 and Jan. 18-19. Scenes from Noel Coward's plays will be read May 10-11 and May 17-18, with staged readings of Hay Fever May 24-25, June 1 and June 4.

A ticket to one presentation is $15, and a pass to all six is $75. Palm Beach Dramaworks is at 322 Banyan Blvd., West Palm Beach. Info: 561-514-4042; www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.

-- CHRISTINE DOLEN

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