‘Melt’ Boils Over with Sentiment and Hope

'Melt' Boils Over with Sentiment and Hope
By Elizabeth Amore
February 21, 2010

Have you ever met someone for the first time later to realize they had been in your “extended network” all along? This seems to happen a lot for Miamians. Everyone knows everyone. It is the Facebook and ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ phenomena combined.

True to these concepts is the work by local playwright Michael McKeever – Melt. McKeever has written over 10 plays (including Hand of God, Charlie Cox Runs with Scissors, Open Season, and The Garden of Hannah List).

Taking place in 2007, Melt centers on Miami’s development boom. While some see the advantages and opportunities of this change, many citizens are at risk of losing their homes – along with their heritage, history and hope. Three families and cultures – one African American, one Cuban, and one Jewish – undergo conflict and eventually unify amidst the landscape.

Stuart Meltzer directs a cast that includes John Felix, Teresa Maria Rojas, Nicholas Richberg, Reiss Gaspard, Javier Siut and Lela Elam. Meltzer’s recent work includes him serving as Artistic Director of City Theatre in Miami, where he oversaw and expanded the always-delightful Summer Shorts Festival for two years.

Melt tells the story of three pairs: an African American brother and sister, a Jewish father and son and a Hispanic mother and her son who find their lives surprisingly simmering together over personal issues as seen from the perspective of each culture.

Two role reprisals from the Coral Gables’ New Theatre cast (where the play first debuted in 2007 winning McKeever the Carbonell Award for best new work) are John Felix as Isaac Chasen and Javier Siut as Luis Ribada. The two actors exhibit confidence in their characters and deliver both believable dialogue and monologues. Most moving is Felix’s transformation from an able, elder father to a frail, confused stranger to the world.

Marta Ribada as the Cuban mother figure can only make one laugh inside – in realization that almost everyone in Miami knows someone like her.

Probably the most heated dialogue occurs between brother-sister characters Jackson and Adelle Thomas. Lela Elam plays the lawyer who argues with her brother regarding issues ranging from gay adoption to black identity loss. Elam’s portrayal of Adelle shows the sister’s confusion about her own place in Miami’s Overtown now that she has moved out.

Though Elam is new to the play, she still comes across as a masterful actress with poise. She is replacing Tara Vodihn, who had to leave the cast because of a medical emergency.

Making the world of these three pairs come to life is the simply designed stage. Small tables and chairs are set in an array of commonality. This gives off the impression that these people are everyday individuals – like you and I – trying to make sense of the city we live in.

The lighting helps with singling out which pair is the current focus of the scene, while the remaining cast members remain onstage in a still motion. However, the sound at times was confusing, as it ran from an audible, instrumental melody to sporadic sounds.

The staging of this play is the fruitful endeavor of a diverse group of Miami residents and Leadership Miami participants. They wanted to bring back a play they considered a poignant reflection of Miami's cultural and racial diversity.

A 2008-2009 Leadership Miami team previously presented Melt on a day proclaimed by Miami-Dade County Mayor Alvarez and the Miami-Dade County Commission as “Diversity Through the Arts Day” at the Gusman Center to almost 900 high school students. That showing raised community awareness and exposed the audience to thought-provoking art. At the conclusion of that presentation, community leaders stated that Melt should be seen by every member of the South Florida community.

And with this, I agree.

The group's effort, known as “One Community, One Play,” presents Melt one more weekend through February 28, 2010 at the Miracle Theatre at Actor’s Playhouse (280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables).

The Leadership Miami Alumni Association will underwrite a significant number of tickets in order to provide wide-spread access to the important messages of Melt and in particular to make the play available to South Florida youth.

For information or tickets, visit the Actors' Playhouse web site (www.actorsplayhouse.org) or call the box office 305-444-9293. For more information on the play, visit www.meltmiami.com.

Comedic Catechism for the Theatre Masses

Comedic Catechism for the Theatre Masses: Mad Cat Theatre Company and Shepherd’s Pie

By Elizabeth Amore
1/22/10

Some theatrical works are inspired by love, and some by tragedy or sadness. But in the recent performance by Mad Cat Theatre Company, the inspiration came from a celebrated holiday – St. Patrick’s Day. Over a decade ago, the company’s Artistic director Paul Tei - who is part Irish - found he was unable to get into his favorite Irish pubs because they were full of bandwagon jumpers who just wanted to delve in debauchery.

Ten years later, the play that Tei and creative partner Ivonne Azurdia wrote as Shepherd’s Pie, came back, as a one-night only (Jan. 20) production at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach. It was prestigiously part of the South Beach Comedy Festival presented by Comedy Central.

The scripted version of Shepherd’s Pie audiences at the Colony Theatre viewed was quite modified from the first one (to also include jeering South Beach references). The new version went just over an hour long with no intermission. The evening also included a performance by an Irish duo before the show.

The cabaret-like play was presented by “The Velvet Shamrocks,” a fictional Irish acting troupe who put on a play that illustrates the true story of St. Patrick.

As the audience came to learn, it's not just about green beer and shamrocks. It is really about non-Irish Maewyn Succat (a.k.a. St. Patrick). He was born somewhere near the end of the fourth century and took on the name Patrick, after he became a priest. At the age of sixteen Succat was kidnapped from his native land of Britain by a band pirates, and sold into slavery in Ireland. Maewyn worked as a shepherd and turned to religion for solace and redemption.

Mad Cat veteran Todd Allen Durkin portrayed the grotesquely enchanting narrator, while Azurdia stole the stage with her “Di O’ Bolical” character. Especially noteworthy was the set design (riddled with mock rainbows, sheep and shamrocks). Simple accents made the performance seem as it was being performed in your living room – much like many other Mad Cat productions. Props melted into the background and were only really “seen” when they became part of a character costume. Overall, it was a hilarious journey from the likes of Britannia to France to Ireland – all the while featuring pirates, sheep, angels, and pagans.

The cast for Shepherd’s Pie also included Mad Cat Theatre regulars Sofia Citarella, Erik Fabregat, Betsy Graver and guest performer Amy McKenna – with Tei as director.

This is a fresh twist for the South Beach Comedy Festival – now in its fifth year. The festival doesn’t usually have a theatre piece. However, the Miami Light Project (where many Mad Cat performances have been housed) has presented individual performers at the festival in the past.

This festival performance took place at the Colony Theatre, which has over 400 seats. Mad Cat had no problem filling the seats – even with those who saw the play first time around years back. It was as if the usual crowd at an Irish bar was all there in the audience – cheering and crooning. Towards the close of the play, the cast invited audiences to sing along to “The Wild Rover” - a popular folk song and a staple for artists performing live music in Irish pubs. And, if you purchased VIP tickets you got to really continue the merry disposition with a cast after-party at a local Irish bar.

The production was co-presented by Mad Cat with the South Beach Comedy Festival. All ticket proceeds benefited the Miami Light Project and Mad Cat Theatre Company.

Visit www.madcattheatre.org or call the box office at 305.576.6377 for more information on future productions.

Upcoming Mad Cat Theatre Company production:

'BroadSword' by Marco Ramirez at the Arsht Center from April 26th to May 9th.

REVIEW: FARRAGUT NORTH at Gables Stage

After seeing FARRAGUT NORTH by Beau Willimon at the Gables Stage, it is even more difficult to imagine a clean-cut politician has ever existed. Regardless of their public promises, behind-the-scenes glimpses prove that campaign managers host the dog fights we all imagined but were afraid to acknowledge.

This off-Broadway hit now showing December 26 - January 24, 2010 (and directed by the incomparable Joseph Adler) is a Southeastern Premiere. Farragut North plays out as a fast-paced show with a tight second act.

Nick Duckart who plays press secretary Stephen Bellamy unravels right before our eyes along with the aid of Gregg Weiner’s Paul Zara. Weiner, as usual, brings stellar energy to his politically-seasoned character.

Deborah Sherman who plays a go-getter writer following the campaign trail shows us the cut-throat world of journalism – reporters are not your friends.

The set and cast worked well together and made the issues portrayed all the more hit home. We love to hate politicians and their teams, but who else is willing to fight in these dog-eat-dog death matches?

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