•
Coconut Grove Playhouse drama may have a happy ending after all
Three years after it abruptly shut down with more than $4 million in debt, Miami's historic Coconut Grove Playhouse has a new operator -- the award-winning GableStage and its producing artistic director, Joseph Adler -- and plans to build a new theater.
The remaining Playhouse board, which has been focused on maintaining the 82-year-old theater building, digging the company out of debt and determining what a ``new'' Coconut Grove Playhouse should be, chose Adler and GableStage after a yearlong search.
Both theaters' boards have entered into a memorandum of understanding, with a long-term agreement still to be negotiated.
•
Miami Children's Theater looking for budding young actors
Sammy Schechter may only be 10, but he considers himself a professional.
After all, he has auditioned for at least six Miami Children's Theater plays.
``I don't get nervous at all because I know what to expect,'' said Sammy, who has played lead roles in productionsof Pinocchio and The Little Prince .
•
Florida Stage to present 'Laramie' sequel
In 2000, New York's Tectonic Theater Project presented writer/director Moises Kaufman's The Laramie Project , compiled from interviews with residents of Laramie, Wyo., where gay student Matthew Shepard was murdered in what is believed to be a homophobia-inspired hate crime.
A decade after Shepard's death, members of the theater returned to Laramie to gauge the impact of what happened there, and turned their findings into a new play that, on Monday, will be read simultaneously at theaters around the country, including Manalapan's Florida Stage.
``It's very easy to feel disconnected from other theaters in the world, and lose sight of the impact that theater can have. This is one of those moments where you get to feel connected to people all over the world who want to have some positive impact on these issues,'' Florida Stage spokesman Michael Gepner said. ``This is global. We're thrilled to have been asked to participate in it.''
•
Playwrights, actors make good company
Theater fans are bound to be uplifted by Composition Notebook , the inaugural production of the newly formed Fly Away Balloon Theater Company.
The first production, opening Friday, is a showcase of 10 plays, running from nine to 14 minutes each, written and performed by actors who are former students, teachers and friends of The Acting School of South Florida.
The showcase will be performed in the Laboratory Theater at the Hollywood school.
•
Review | The moment of being stage-struck in 'The Play That Changed My Life'
THE PLAY THAT CHANGED MY LIFE: America's Foremost Playwrights on the Plays That Influenced Them. Edited by Ben Hodges. Applause. 173 pages. $18.99.
Theater can be a transformative experience, particularly for those who choose it as a career.
The American Theatre Wing has compiled the remembrances of 19 playwrights talking about where their adoration of live performance began and what influenced their careers as writers. The book radiates an affection for the stage, celebrating the memories and inspiration that are left after the curtain has come down.
@Nyx.replyAnswerText@