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About

Founded by playwright and director Michel Hausmann and National Medal of the Arts winner Moises Kaufman, Miami New Drama is a nonprofit professional theater company committed to artistic excellence and groundbreaking work unique to our diverse and extraordinary region.

We believe in the transformative power of theater. Theater is a tool for change, empathy, reflection, and exploration. We make theater that is ALWAYS in conversation with our unique multicultural and multilingual community and is relevant to national discourse for social change. Since 2016, Miami New Drama has been the resident company at the historic Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road.

Programming consists of world-class theater productions, co-productions in partnership with top national and international organizations, and robust educational programs. We focus on world premieres commissioned by our organization as well as others that provide partnerships with top national organizations such as Tectonic Theater Project and Asolo Rep. The first show of our debut 2017-2018 season was a multilingual version of Thornton Wilder’s classic Our Town. It was critically-acclaimed as “glorious, emotionally potent” and “inventive and touching…superb!”

Past productions include the American premiere of Ferdinand von Schirach’s Terror directed by Tony Award winner Gregory Mosher, The Golem of Havana, an original musical written (book) and directed by Michel Hausmann, Queen of Basel, a new play by Hilary Bettis, directed by Michel Hausmann, One Night in Miami, by Kemp Powers, directed by Carl Cofield, the world premieres of Fake by Carmen Pelaez, directed by Carl Andress, Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy by Billy Corben and Aurin Squire, directed by Michel Hausmann, and Viva La Parranda! by Betsayda Machado y La Parranda El Clavo in collaboration with Juan Souki, Thornton Wilder’s Bridge of San Luis Rey adapted and starring David Greenspan, world premiere of The Cubans by Michael Leon, and the world premiere of a new Louis Armstrong musical A Wonderful World by Aurin Squire and directed by Christopher Renshaw.

Miami New Drama’s 7 DEADLY SINS was the largest live professional theater production during the COVID-19 shutdown, transforming 6 vacant storefronts and the Colony Theatre loading dock into 7 unique theater spaces, and invigorating an entire block of Miami Beach’s historic Lincoln Road, one of the world’s most renowned and trafficked pedestrian thoroughfares. Its acclaimed run was extended twice, playing 54 performances.

Click here to view and learn more about our past productions.

Awards & Recognition

  • Carbonell Awards (2022):  For participating theaters, Miami New Drama topped the list with 24 nominations.

  • Miami New Times Best Theater Company (2022)

  • Drama League Award (2021):  7 Deadly Sins, Outstanding Interactive or Socially-Distanced Theater.

  • Miami New Times Best Theater for Drama (2018)

  • Knight Arts Challenge Award, Knight Foundation (2017 and 2018)

  • Knight New Works Miami Award, Knight Foundation (2018)

  • South Florida Theatre League, Member

  • Theater Communications Group, Member

  • The Drama League, Member

THE COLONY THEATRE is located in the heart of South Beach on Lincoln Road. It first opened on January 25, 1935 as a Paramount Pictures movie house. Recently, the building underwent a three-year $6.5 million renovation to restore its original Art Deco grandeur and update its stage and technical equipment. Its impressive art deco design makes it one of the crown jewels of Miami Beach.