The Curtain Rises Again at Arsht Center: 10th Anniversary Season Line Up Announced
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts has announced its lineup for the 10th anniversary season of Theater Up Close created in collaboration with Zoetic Stage and City Theatre. When the curtain rises again at the Arsht Center in 2020-2021, the Theater Up Close series returns with four extraordinary productions, including one world premiere and one South Florida premiere.
In just a decade, Theater Up Close has become a showcase for Miami actors and playwrights and an opportunity for the community to enjoy critically-acclaimed new work from around the country. The series has long reflected South Florida’s vibrant theater community by its ongoing collaborations with local theater companies Zoetic Stage and City Theatre, earning 30 Carbonell Awards and 112 nominations.
“Now more than ever, we’re eager to showcase some of the incredible theater South Florida has to offer with the tenth anniversary of our award-winning Theater Up Close series,” said Liz Wallace, vice president of programming at the Arsht Center. “Even though two of our productions last season had to be rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic, we worked to ensure that those pieces will be seen by theater lovers despite the temporary disruption, and we’re excited to share the thrill of live theater with the community once again.”
2020-2021 PROGRAMMING
JACOB MARLEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL
By Tom Mula Directed by Margaret M. Ledford
December 3 – 20, 2020
Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol is, of course, spun off from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, only now the redemption story focuses not on mean, old Ebenezer Scrooge but on his long-dead business partner and chains-rattling ghost, Jacob Marley. Playwright Tom Mula adapted this holiday favorite from his own popular novella, creating a highly theatrical and entertaining twist on the old tale. Like magic a single actor performs 18 roles in this retelling of the familiar but different, spooky and funny, surprising adventure of Marley, Scrooge and the spirits of Christmases past, present and future. It’s a festive treat that makes for “a splendid and invigorating evening” (The Chicago Tribune).
GRINGOLANDIA
World Premiere!
By Hannah Benitez, Directed by Stuart Meltzer
January 14 – 31, 2021
Accompanied by his millennial children, a Cuban man returns to the country from which he escaped 50 years earlier on a quest to recover a precious family heirloom. Together, the family embarks on a journey of closure, truth and cultural connection.
This fascinating new play by a gifted young Latina playwright explores the collision of two worlds, and the importance of accepting our past in order to move into the future. Once again, Zoetic Stage takes great pride in finding and presenting exciting new work by local writers.
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Directed by Stuart Meltzer
March 18 – April 11, 2021
A Little Night Music explores the tangled web of affairs involving actress Desirée Armfeldt and the men who desire her: a lawyer by the name of Fredrik Egerman and Count Carl-Magnus Malcom. Hailed by The New York Times as "sophisticated and enchanting," this classic musical includes some of Sondheim's most lush and beautiful music including "The Miller's Son," "A Weekend in the Country" and the chart-topping "Send in the Clowns."
Zoetic Stage continues its relationship with the work of Stephen Sondheim after mounting four critically acclaimed productions of his work. Assassins, Passion, Sunday in the Park With George and Sweeney Todd played to sold-out audiences and collectively garnered 29 Carbonell Award nominations, winning a total of seven awards, including Best Musical for Sunday in the Park With George and Assassins.
OUR DEAR DEAD DRUG LORD
South Florida Premiere!
By Alexis Scheer, Directed by Stuart Meltzer
May 6 – 23, 2021
A New York Times Critic’s Pick written by South Florida’s own Alexis Scheer. In this fierce, pitchblack comedy, four teenage girls gather in a Miami tree house to summon the ghost of Pablo Escobar. Are they messing with the actual spirit of the infamous cartel kingpin? Or just each other? A rollercoaster ride through the dark and dangerous mind of the modern American teenage girl. TICKETS
Four-show subscription packages are available now starting at the early bird rate of $138* until July 6. Packages after July 6 start at $150. Arsht UTIX subscriptions for college students are available for $100. Subscriptions can be purchased now through the Adrienne Arsht Center box office by calling (305) 949-6722, or online at arshtcenter.org. Tickets for individual performances will be available this summer.