Greed. Sloth. Envy. Lust. Pride. Gluttony. Wrath.
Sounds like just another day in Miami Beach, but come November the 7 Deadly Sins: Temptations in the Magic City – according to Christianity – will be a live site-specific, socially distanced theatrical event presented in seven vacant storefronts along Miami Beach’s historic Lincoln Road.
Taking advantage of the closing of large theaters and the empty storefronts, unfortunately, cropping up along Lincoln Road, the Miami New Drama will present short plays by award-winning playwrights Hilary Bettis, Nilo Cruz, Moisés Kaufman, Rogelio Martinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Carmen Pelaez, and Aurin Squire, each of whom will take on a sin.
Theater has had to adapt, with some companies going digital, using outdoor spaces, drive-in productions, or filming the productions for television.
Miami New Drama with Michel Hausmann, Artistic Director, and Nicholas Richberg, Managing announced the productions will be presented from November through December. They have tapped a diverse group of nationally recognized, award-winning playwrights who will premiere seven newly commissioned short plays, each focused on one deadly sin. The shows will happen in rotation over 90 minutes, as groups of ten theatergoers at a time will sit in spaced out rows, maintain social distance, listening through headphones while actors perform the short plays all safely behind the windows of the vacant Lincoln Road storefronts.
Kind of like window shopping but with theater.
The ongoing pandemic has hit Miami hard as tourism is the main source of income in businesses there. It forced a spike in business closures on Lincoln Road, with 66 of the 200 storefronts now vacant along one of the most expensive retail streets in the nation. The once lively street is usually packed this time of year as temps cool down in the north and the art fairs, usually slated for December, have now all been canceled.
The Lincoln Road Business Improvement District (LRBID) and Mayor of Miami Beach Dan Gelber, collaborated with the Miami New Drama and worked on additional restaurant and retail partnerships to bring commerce, culture, and commercial activity back the road.
“This pandemic has shown in stark light the fragility of our world,” says Artistic Director Hausmann. “But theatre has survived for thousands of years and through many world catastrophes. We must find new ways to present live theatre until we can gather indoors again, and 7 Deadly Sins is a safe, socially responsible way forward. We are also thrilled to work with these seven superb playwrights and to bring much-needed life back to Miami Beach’s great Lincoln Road.”
“Miami New Drama is one of our street’s most vibrant arts organizations, so we are excited that they are bringing this visionary production to Lincoln Road, the civic and cultural hub of Miami Beach,” said Steve Gombinski, President of the Lincoln Road Business Improvement District.
“Lincoln Road is a world-famous landmark of Miami Beach,” says Mayor Gelber. “Miami New Drama continues to raise the bar, and a return to live performance in such an innovative way not only benefits the street’s cultural life. It bolsters the crucial economic recovery of our city after months of devastation and loss. Never have the Seven Deadly Sins been more welcome.”
Founded by Michel Hausmann and Moises Kaufman, Miami New Drama is a non- profit professional theater company that presents new work that is unique to the diverse city of Miami. Miami New Drama is the resident company of the historic Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road, Miami Beach.
Among the playwrights is Hilary Bettis (Envy). She is the writer of the Emmy Award-winning series “The Americans (FX)” and the Miami New Drama world premiere Queen of Basel, which has been produced around the country.
Nilo Cruz (Lust) won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play, “Anna in the Tropics,” The PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award winner. His plays include “The Color of Desire,” “Hurricane,” and more.
Moisés Kaufman (Greed) is a 2016 National Medal of the Arts recipient under former President Barack Obama. A Broadway director and playwright, he has earned multiple Tony and Emmy Award nominations. His writing credits include “The Laramie Project,” “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde,” and “33 Variations.”
Rogelio Martinez (Gluttony) is a two-time Edgerton Foundation New Play Award winner, a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, and a New Dramatist Alumnus. His plays include his Cold War trilogy: “Ping Pong,” “Born in East Berlin,” and “Blind Date;” and his Cuba trilogy: “Illuminating Veronica,” “Arrivals and Departures,” and “All Eyes and Ears.”
Dael Orlandersmith (Wrath) is a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama for her play, Yel- lowman, an Obie Award winner for Beauty’s Daughter, and a PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award winner.
Carmen Pelaez (Pride) is the winner of the 2012 HBO New York International Latino Film Festival Short Film Competition. A contributor for NBC Latino and an advisor on Netflix’s “One Day at a Time,” her credits include the Miami New Drama World Premiere, “Fake.”
Aurin Squire (Sloth) grew up in Opa Locka and is a writer for the award-winning hit NBC series, “This Is Us.” He has been a producer and writer on the hit shows “The Good Fight,” and “Evil” (CBS). He is the writer of Miami New Drama’s world premiere productions, “A Wonderful World and Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy” which chronicled the men and women who ran the largest cocaine cartels into Miami.
Tickets can be purchased at Colony Theater Box Office—(305) 674-1040—or at Ticketmundo Customer Service: (800) 211-1414.
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The “7 Deadly Sins” coming to Lincoln Road