Mary Damiano Photo by David Vance

Mary Damiano’s Arts Scene

Spring Into Fall, South Florida Style
To my friends who live up north or in the Carolinas, Spring is the season of newness and rebirth.  Having lived in South Florida for most of my life, where we get a touch of winter for about 20 minutes in February, Spring has never held much for me.  I’m a city girl and an arts lover, so to me, Fall is the season when everything becomes new again.  Let’s start with the clothes.  The September issue of Vogue is nearly 900 pages, each bursting with fashion’s new imaginings---clothes in shades of gray and black punctuated with bursts of purple, cobalt blue or fuschia.  And what better place to wear all those delectable new clothes than at the many events that this season brings to South Florida?  Fall is the season for the serious arts lover, bringing a full slate of theatre, art, dance and music. There are also important movies jockeying to be remembered at Oscar time and new TV shows, both series premieres and new episodes of returning favorites.  My calendar, like yours, is already filling up, those little boxes holding the promise new adventures in the South Florida arts scene.   That’s what I call a change in season.  Of course, to keep informed of all that’s going on, check out each issue of MiamiARTzine.com.  We’re back on a biweekly schedule and eager to help our readers make the most of everything the South Florida arts community has to offer. 

Christopher Schram, Michael Spring and Rem Cabrera, at the ‘Monday in Miami with Rem’ party Photo: Harvey J. Burstein

Monday in Miami with Rem
The South Florida arts landscape is poorer today now that one of its most pleasant and ardent supporters is moving north.  Rem Cabrera, Senior Cultural Administrator of Miami-Dade County, is moving to Chicago to join his partner of 11 years, Christopher Schram, who took a job as executive director of the Redmoon Theatre in July.  Rem was feted at the Miami Science Museum Monday, September 10, with a theatrically inspired party that took a cue from Stephen Sondheim and was dubbed ‘Monday at the Museum with Rem.’ An arts lover from a young age, Rem dedicated his career to helping artists in various disciplines.  He founded the Theatre League of South Florida, which named their annual awards the Remys in his honor, and in March received the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  He also founded Downstage Miami, a mentoring program for new and emerging playwrights.  Rem has helped countless artists and arts organization, in turn enriching the vibrancy of Miami-Dade and beyond. Legions of arts lovers attended the party Monday to says farewell to their colleague and champion, including Mayor Don Slesnick of Coral Gables, GableStage Theatre Artistic Director Joe Adler, Tigertail Executive Director Mary Luft, New Theatre Managing Director Eileen Suarez, City Theatre co-founders Stephanie Norman and Susan Westfall, Friends of WLRN Senior Corporate Marketing Representative Michael Peyton.  Director of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs Michael Spring playfully toyed with the idea of kidnapping Rem in an effort to keep him here, but decided to let him exit gracefully.  Rem hasn’t yet decided what he’s going to do in Chicago, but one thing’s for sure: he’s left some very big shoes to fill here in South Florida.

Free Dance Classes for Children with Special Needs
Karen Peterson & Dancers will present  a 20-week after school dance program for students with special abilities at the Excello Dance Space, 8700 SW 129th Terrace (near the Falls).  Classes begin October 22. Children with special needs are invited to participate in this dance and music workshop, which aims toward creating a performance in March 2008.  Classes are free, although there is a $25 registration fee.  Classes will be held Monday for ages 5-7, Tuesday for ages 8-11, Wednesday for ages 12-15 and Thursday for ages 16-18.  All classes will be at 4 p.m. to 5:20 p.m..  To register, call 305-298-5879 or e-mail kpdance@bellsouth.net

Doug Williford and Alex Danyluk in Rising Action Theatre Company’s production of Some Men, opening September 28 in their new location in Oakland Park

Theatre Openings
Broward County is the place to go during the next two weeks for new theatre.  The Mosaic Theatre in Plantation kicks off their sixth season tonight with Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio, about a controversial radio personality on the verge of syndication.  Talk Radio runs through October 7. www.mosaictheatre.com.  At the Sol Theatre in Fort Lauderdale, there’s the provocatively titled Two Boys in a Bed on a Cold Winter’s Night by James Edwin Parker.  The play follows two men who meet and have sex, examining the expectations each have about intimacy and relationships.  The show runs through October 21, and just in case the title didn’t give it away, don’t bring the kiddies to this one.  Let’s face it: It’s part of the Sol Theatre’s charm that if you sit in the front row you run the risk of getting your eye poked out.   www.soltheatre.com.  The musical revue Thank You Dan Rather makes its world premiere at Sixth Star Studios in downtown Fort Lauderdale beginning September 26.  The show was created and performed by Neal Fox, the composer of the “CBS Evening News with Dan Rather” theme song, and follows what happened when Rather left and the network got a new anchor and new theme.  Sixth Star Studios is located at 505 NW 1 Ave., Fort Lauderdale.  For more info call 1-800-473-1928.  Rising Action Theatre Company christens their new Oakland Park venue with its production of Terrence McNally’s Some Men.  Set against the backdrop of a gay wedding, the story traces the moments the wedding guests found true love.  Some Men runs September 28 through November 18.  www.risingaction.com.  And if you want to have a raucous time at the theatre, check out Stomp, which runs September 25-30 at Carnival Center in Miami.  www.carnivalcenter.org.

Deadline Approaching for youngARTS™
High school seniors are urged to apply for youngARTS™, the core program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts that identifies and rewards talented young artists with cash prizes and several additional national recognition opportunities. The deadline is for the 2008 program is October 1.  To find out more about the guidelines of the program visit the Arts Opportunities section in this issue of MiamiARTzine.com.

Kate Clinton

MGLFF Screens Kate Clinton Film
The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival will screen a documentary of lesbian comic Kate Clinton Wednesday, September 19, 7:30 p.m. at the Byron-Carlyle Theatre in Miami.  In 2006, to mark her silver anniversary as a performer, comedian and commentator Clinton embarked on a 50-city "It's Come to This!" tour, sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Her performances are interspersed with a variety of personal moments along the tour route, including backstage banter with her 18-year partner Urvashi Vaid, a public reading from her new book What the L?, and cameos from Lily Tomlin, Melissa Etheridge, Billie Jean King, Marga Gomez, Vickie Shaw and other lesbian comics.  For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.mglff.com.

Cruise Through Time
Sail into the past with the Miami Beach Architecture Cruise, a 90-minute guided tour in a 30-seat tour boat which glides past Roaring 20s Mediterranean Revival estates, the majestic Art Deco resorts of Middle Beach, MiMo landmarks such as the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels, and cutting edge contemporary architecture including Regatta, Aqua and 6000 Indian Creek.  The cruise takes place Fridays at 5:30 p.m. and leaves from 65^th Street and Indian Creek Drive.  For more information, call 305.865.4147 or visit www.gonorthbeach.com.

David Hemmings and Verushka in Antonioni’s Blow-Up

Film Org Salutes a Master
Miami Beach Cinematheque continues their salute to filmmaker Michaelangelo Antonioni with a screening of his 1966 film Blow-Up, about a London fashion photographer who believes he has photographed a murder. The film starred David Hemmings and Vanessa Redgrave and has achieved iconic status for its style, both in content and technique.  Blow-Up will be screened Sunday, September 16, 8:30 p.m. at Miami Beach Cinematheque, 512 Espanola Way.  Miami Beach Cinematheque is also saluting filmmaker Ingmar Bergman; both filmmakers died on July 30.  For more information, visit mbcinema.com.

Wolfosonian-FIU Unveils New Exhibition
The Wolfsonian-FIU will present a special preview of “Agitated Images: John Heartfield & German Photomontage, 1920-1938,” Thursday, September 20, 6:30-8:30 p.m.  John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld, 1891-1968) was a pioneer of modern photomontage and helped transform it into a powerful form of mass communication. His agitated images forecasted and reflected the chaos Germany experienced in the 1920s and '30s as it slipped toward social and political catastrophe. This exhibition has been organized by the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.  The preview is free to all members; guests $10. RSVP is required.  Call 305-535-2645 or rsvp@thewolf.fiu.edu.

Playwright Arthur Miller in the 1960s

Attention Must Be Paid
The Ghostlight Series will present a staged reading of Arthur Miller’s timeless classic, Death of a Salesman Monday, September 24, 7:30 p.m., at the Collins Community Center, 3900 NE 3 Ave. in Oakland Park.  Death of a Salesman tells the story of the iconic Willy Loman and his downward spiral. Once a success at his company, he finds himself longing for the days of his conquest of the “American Dream”. Through his eyes, we see his strained relationship with his long suffering wife, Linda; his indifference to his younger, ambitious son, Happy; most of all, the broken tie to his older son, Biff. Mostly a memory play, Salesman travels between past and present to bring Willy to a climatic future.  Not only did Death of a Salesman win the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, it also won the New York Drama Critics Circle and Tony awards for best play the same year, making Arthur Miller a world renowned playwright. Almost 60 years later, Salesman still holds up as one of the greatest works in American literature today. The play epitomizes the mission of the Ghostlight Series, which brings to life classic plays to new audiences.  Admission is free.  For more information, e-mail ghostlightseries@yahoo.com.