A fundraiser, readings, short plays enrich South Florida’s theater week
A moveable arts feast, a new play about a Hollywood mirror that comes to life, nine short works by South Florida playwrights and free readings in the swanky lobby of Miami’s Olympia Theater are on the bill for next week in theater.
▪ Shira Abergel, a New World School of the Arts theater grad, won a Knight Arts Challenge grant at the end of 2013 to create a “gypsy wagon” that will travel around Miami-Dade County offering original dance, music, film and multimedia performances. But with that win comes the responsibility of raising matching funds, so Abergel and her collaborators are kicking off their efforts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with a special concert at Miami Theater Center, 9806 NE Second Ave., Miami Shores.
Those performing to make the “Baba Yaga Gypsy Wagon” a reality are Shira Lee (Abergel); Jean P. Jam Acoustic Vibes, led by Jean “Pokito” Almatas; the French Horn Collective, and the Kazmarikstan Turkish Jazz Project. The music will include folk, gypsy, jazz, African, Caribbean and Middle Eastern sounds. Tickets are $20 ($15 for students). Call 305-751-9550 or visit www.mtcmiami.org.
▪ Playwright and Carbonell Award-winning director Michael Leeds will debut a new work at 7:30 p.m. Monday when his play Mira gets a staged reading as part of Jan McArt’s New Play Reading Series at Lynn University. About a mirror that comes to life at a Hollywood studio in 1928, the comedy may evolve further into the book of a musical.
Andy Rogow, artistic director of Fort Lauderdale’s Island City Stage, is directing the reading, which features Todd Bruno, Clay Cartland, Ken Clement, Lindsey Corey, Elizabeth Dimon, Laura Hodos, Ann Marie Olson and Stephanie White. Tickets are $10, and the reading will take place at the Wold Performing Arts Center, 3601 N. Military Trail, Boca Raton. Call 561-237-9000 or visit www.lynn.edu/tickets.
▪ Nine short original plays are on the bill of Short Cuts 5, a program presented by The Playgroup at the Showtime Performing Arts Theatre, 503 SE Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton. Joyce Sweeney and Brian Reeves have staged the plays, all by South Florida playwrights.
The program features Is It a Dream? by Marnie Bauman, She’s Off Her Rocker by Donna Warfield, Romance a la Medicare by Joe Feinstein, Blind Date by Stuart McIver Jr., Turnabout by Todd Caster, Eighth Chair by Tyler Leeps, The Last Step by Shep Wolsky, Silent but Deadly by Brian Reeves and Rebecca at Midnight by Diane King. Performances are 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through April 26. Tickets are $25. Call 954-592-0226 or visit www.theplaygroupllc.com.
▪ In the Lobby Lounge … WORDS! is a free theater event taking place the fourth Wednesday of each month in the lobby of Miami’s Olympia Theater at Gusman Center, 174 E. Flagler St. April’s program is at 6:30 p.m., and it features play readings by City Theatre, improv from the Front Yard Theatre Collective, and fiction readings by Jude Parry and Terrell Fritz. A cash bar is part of the evening, and the audience is invited to tour the historic theater at intermission. Visit www.olympiatheater.org for information.
This story was originally published April 17, 2015 at 3:50 PM with the headline "A fundraiser, readings, short plays enrich South Florida’s theater week."