From Scratch: New Plays from Miami
A Festival of Readings
The Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the South Florida Theatre League and the Deering Estate are excited to present From Scratch: New Plays from Miami. For the past three years, local playwrights Andie Arthur, Chris Demos-Brown, and Juan C. Sanchez have been developing work in the Playwright Development Program with Master Playwright Sheri Wilner. During the weekend of August 22 and 23, you have the chance to witness three new plays in progress.
Such Tremendous Faith
By Andie Arthur
Saturday August 22 at 5:00 PMat the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami
7701 SW 76th Ave, Miami, FL 33143
Abigail Parker, daughter of the celebrated, late Rev. Nathaniel Parker, is returning to her hometown in Ohio after attempting suicide. Back at home, she finds herself attending services at her father’s old Unitarian Universalist Church, where she is drawn to the new minister, Rev. Miriam. However, the congregation hasn’t warmed up to Rev. Miriam in the same way Abigail has. As the congregation tears itself apart over its relationship with their minister, Abigail is forced to make a choice between an idealized past and an uncertain future. Andie Arthur’s Such Tremendous Faith is a drama about issues of power and privilege in congregational life, chosen family, depression, and Christmas Eve Services that are too Jesus-y.
A Gray Divide
By Juan C. Sanchez
Sunday August 23 at 3:00 PM
at Area Stage Company
1560 S Dixie Hwy, Coral Gables, FL
When Jason starts a conversation with Anna Maria about the book she’s reading, the classical play Medea, there’s an imme-diate connection between them. One thing leads to another and they end up at her place, discovering each other in be-tween bouts of heavy kissing and petting. When she suddenly remembers meeting him two years earlier at a party — and the circumstances of that meeting — the romance comes to an abrupt end. With elements of the Medea myth woven into the story, the play asks if we have the right to decide who we are and want to become, or whether we are only the sum of our experiences and forever tied to them.
Wrongful Death
By Chris Demos-Brown
Sunday August 23 at 5:30 PM
at Area Stage Company
1560 S Dixie Hwy, Coral Gables, FL
When a plane crashes shortly after takeoff killing all aboard, struggling personal injury lawyer, Laura Mendes, scampers to sign up the case of her life. Wrongful Death takes a wry, satirical look at the crude ways our legal system places value on human life.
The Playwright Development Program, an initiative from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs in conjunction with the South Florida Theatre League and The Deering Estate at Cutler, is a series of weekend workshops over the span of two years led by nationally renowned playwrights. Started in 2001, the Program provides intensive support for cultivating new work from Miami’s growing and diverse community of playwrights. It has successfully served as an incubator for new works that have been produced by major theatres nationally, including Vanessa Garcia’s The Cuban Spring at New-Theatre, David Caudle’s “Visiting Hours” at the Rising Shiners Theatre Company and Juan Sanchez’s “Buck Fever” at the Blue Heron Arts Center in New York City.
