2022-2023 SEASON
A love letter to our community, our city, and our home.
Three World Premieres and a Pulitzer Prize Winning Play. Extraordinary stories await!
2022-2023 SEASON
A love letter to our community, our city, and our home. Three World Premieres and a Pulitzer Prize Winning Play. Extraordinary stories await!
About The Season
Miami New Drama is proud to announce an incredibly fierce lineup for our 2022-23 season at the Colony Theatre. We will feature brilliant AWARD-WINNING artists such as Lileana Blain-Cruz, Aurin Squire, Nilo Cruz and Rogelio Martinez. We will produce THREE WORLD PREMIERE plays- ELIÁN, Defacing Michael Jackson and Create Dangerously. And, present the 20th anniversary of a PULITZER PRIZE winning work, Anna in the Tropics, directed by the author himself. This season is a love letter for our community, for our city, and for our home. It reflects on our past, honors our multicultural immigrant experiences, and takes us into our collective future.
Oct 27-Nov 20, 2022
Elián
A shocking, fast-paced, and emotionally charged World Premiere play by Rogelio Martinez.
In 1999, a young boy was found on the shores of Florida clinging to life. ELIÁN is a story of hope that soon falls under the watchful eye of the 24-hour news cycle. We know the story ends with a boy in a closet, a gun pointed at him; but few of us know how it got to that moment. With explosive real-life personalities, gripping moments, and great compassion, ELIÁN pulls back the curtain and reveals how American democracy really works.
Why Elián?
ELIÁN is a story based on a very Miami event that had both national and international consequences. It helped define the 2000 elections and changed global history. It is a very personal story that resonates with our Cuban-American communities, whom at that time, the rest of the country did not understand. This work is an exploration of that moment from the perspective of some of the protagonists of this conflict and will reveal new information that the public has never been made aware of. It will be shocking, fun, funny, and emotionally charged. We are thrilled to continue our collaboration with Rogelio and I feel a great responsibility to be directing this story that is so close to our community. – Michel Hausmann, Artistic Director
Jan 12-Feb 5, 2023
Anna In The Tropics
A stunning and evocative Pulitzer-Prize winning drama by Nilo Cruz.
It’s 1929 and we are in Florida at a Cuban–American cigar factory; cigars are still rolled by hand and “lectors” are hired to educate and entertain the workers. When a new lector enters the scene and begins to read aloud Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, he unwittingly becomes a catalyst in the lives of his avid listeners and suddenly the lives of the workers begin to parallel the novel. Old traditions and new ways collide while longing, love, and betrayal spark a volatile flame that signals the end of an era.
Why Anna in the Tropics?
Anna in the Tropics is a Pulitzer Prize winning play that belongs to this city. It was written by a Miami playwright, it first premiered at the New Theater in Coral Gables, and now, we have the honor of having Nilo Cruz himself direct the play here at Miami New Drama. Nilo and his achievements bring a huge sense of pride to our community, and we are honored to continue collaborating with him and call him a dear friend. Anna in the Tropics is a beautiful balance of a strong story with poetic storytelling that is moving, sexy, heartbreaking and spectacular. – Michel Hausmann, Artistic Director
Mar 9-Apr 2, 2023
Defacing Michael Jackson
A world premiere dramedy by Aurin Squire.
Thriller, the Pepsi fire, cocaine cowboys, and a white family moving into a black neighborhood: it’s 1984 and we are in Miami Dade County’s Opa-Locka and life is about to get a whole lot more confusing for a group of kids who want to be the ‘gloved one.’ Defacing Michael Jackson is about growing up, hero worship, and how we see ourselves.
Why Defacing Michael Jackson?
Defacing Michael Jackson will be our fourth world premiere with Aurin Squire. He is not only a Miami native who is an extremely sought after screenwriter and playwright, he is a flagship for Miami New Drama and an essential part of our DNA. This play is all about Miami in Aurin’s native Opa Locka and blends a coming of age story and sexual discovery with a backdrop of social and racial unrest. It is deeply moving, spectacular with masterful storytelling. We are extremely proud to be doing the world premiere of this play and continue our commitment to Aurin Squire as an artist. – Michel Hausmann, Artistic Director
May 4-May 28, 2023
Create Dangerously
A world premiere play by Lileana Blain-Cruz based on Edwidge Danticat’s book of essays, Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work.
An exploratory journey through an artist’s mind. Moving between memory and fiction, recollection and contemplation, joy and despair, we follow a woman reconciling with what it means to be an artist from a country in crisis. Journeying between the mountains of Haiti, the beaches of Miami, and the skylines of New York City she wrestles with the chaos of the world and memories of what other artists have done in the midst of political turmoil. Create Dangerously is a compassionate and brave look at what it means to make art in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Why Create Dangerously?
Create Dangerously is a dream come true for Miami New Drama. We have the opportunity to work side by side with Miami native, Lileana Blain-Cruz, a Tony nominated artist, hailed as the future of the American theater. From the company’s founding it was my mission to collaborate with Lileana since we were both Artistic Fellows at New York Theater Workshop. Now, we have the opportunity to do so with a spectacular artist whom we admire and adore, a Haitian Miamian and National Book Award Winner, Edwige Danticat. Her work is piercing, unbelievable, and like open heart surgery. Create Dangerously is a celebration ALL about the immigrant artist, an experience our company knows and feels deeply. – Michel Hausmann, Artistic Director
