Miami New Drama

Miami New Drama is on the precipice of doing so much more in transforming the landscape of theatre in our region and the U.S. After a year of forced closure for many professional theatres, it is a difficult time, but we’ve found a way to produce impactful live theatre that takes into account our current world circumstances both in the form of the pandemic and the racial reckoning. We’ve established a foundation for theater that is representative of our community, but we are only just being recognized for this work. With a big push from the Elevate prize, we could take our  Just recently, we’ve been noticed nationally and internationally for our transformative and innovative work. With this recognition, we want to shine as a leader in the arts and take our message to a wider audience. 

Theater creates community and transforms lives. I’ve dedicated my life to theater because I believe in its power to lift up and connect a community. I have seen the collapse of a society, and witnessed artists fighting back to try to save the soul of a country. I came of age artistically in Chavez’s Venezuela, and felt the impact of censorship and governmental pressure. I ran one of the biggest and most important theater companies in Venezuela. As every other aspect of society was discredited, we artists became a symbol of the true essence of the country. People flocked to the theater. People wanted to feel like the country we once were; a country that, though not perfect was open, socially driven and democratic. Our work was shaped by the national conversation, and the national conversation was impacted by our work.

 After government harassment and the highest wave of violent crimes in Latin America’s history, I decided Venezuela was not a place to start a family. I left with my wife for Manhattan, where I enrolled in Columbia University’s Directing MFA program and started a family. Miami became a beacon for me due to its entrepreneurial spirit and majority-minority community.

Miami New Drama is a nonprofit professional theater company that believes 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. Our most recent project 7 Deadly Sins garnered international attention and was featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, American Theatre Magazine, and more. It was the largest theatrical production across the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic and one of only a handful of productions to be approved for production by the Actors’ Equity Association. The production won the 2021 Drama League Award for our category. Since 2016, Miami New Drama has been the resident company at the historic Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road, named one of the crown jewels of Miami Beach. We take risks and are committed to giving new theatrical work for underrepresented voices a spotlight on our stages.

Miami New Drama believes profoundly in the simple idea that diversity makes us better. The more ideas, cultures, languages, foods we can share, the richer our society will be. Miami is one of the most exciting cities in the world because of our diversity. It's not really a radical idea, but it feels like one when leaders in our country dehumanize foreigners, immigrants, and asylum seekers, especially from Latin American countries. We have always been a company that uses our platform to decry injustice and raise the voices of the minority to speak to power. The Colony Theatre marquee is regularly used to highlight injustices or promote messages for social change. This isn’t typical for professional theatre companies that receive public funding. There is generally a sense of appeasement to donors to not disrupt the bottom line. We are willing to step out of our comfort zone because we know that artists can lead conversations for change rather than placate the status quo.

Theater is about stories. Stories can be empowering. When they are not inclusive; when they do not reflect the faces of the community in which they are told, they have the power to send a message to people of color that their stories are not as important or relevant as White stories, or that their presence is a token, a checked box on a White organization’s next grant application. The plain fact is that within our community those White stories represent the minority. Miami is one of the most diverse cities in America where only 13% of its citizens are White non-Hispanic. In L.A., that number is 28%, in Chicago 31%, and in New York 32%. White non-Hispanics are a minority in each of these cities, but they are over-represented in the stories that are being told on the stages as evidenced by a slew of American Theatre articles and most-produced plays lists. Miami New Drama was founded to create plays that feature diverse, multicultural voices and faces. We’ve worked to shed light on the imbalance in our community and beyond.