Educational theater is one of South Florida's underreported cultural assets. Schools colleges and universities throughout the tricounty area regularly produce an array of solid, sometimes boldly innovative work that sadly lacks much media attention or public awareness. Yet, educational theater may be the key to reviving the struggling performing arts scene in the region.
Some of the reasons are obvious. Schools are breeding grounds for new artists, who continually replenish the stock of professional actors, directors, writers and designers. These student artists work for free, allowing schools to mount the large costume dramas and experimental projects the pros dodge. And the lower ticket prices assure that people with modest means have access to affordable live performances.
But educational theater also provides hidden assets to the local environment, a creative biosphere that bears some resemblance to the natural world. Kill off the plankton and you wipe out the bigger fish that eat it. The plankton of show biz is the many small jobs that often go unnoticed by the general public -- acting in commercials and corporate training films, the once-in-awhile jobs that keep actors and directors going in between the sexier stage and film work. It's no coincidence that the major centers for theater in the USA -- Chicago, New York, Seattle, Minneapolis -- all have healthy commercial and manufacturing sectors (and the corporations that drive them), attracting and holding a community of professional artists. South Florida lacks this source of support. But educational theater provides another, modest alternative, as many actors, designers, and directors rely on teaching posts to balance out their professional engagements.
Academia is also an arena for artists to develop their chops. Certainly the bigger budgets afford more creative vistas for designers and composers, and directors can think about sweep and scale in their productions, often working with a freedom that most local professionals can only dream about.
One hotbed of theatrical activity is Miami's New World School of the Arts, which is an unusual academic combination of a magnet high school run by the Miami-Dade school system and a four-year BFA program that's part of the University of Florida but administered by Miami-Dade Community College. New World is the region's answer to Juilliard, offering extensive training as well as study in dance, music and visual arts. Dean of Theatre Patrice Bailey has a teaching staff that includes many top local pros: David Kwiatt, Bob Rogerson, James Randolph, Octavio Campos, Paul Tei, Suzie Westfall, Heath Kellts, Cynthia Caquelin, and Carlos Orizondo among them. There's also a healthy flow between the NW faculty and the students. Tei's own company, Madcat Productions, often draws from New World students to fill out the younger roles in its productions. And New World graduates crop up in professional casts all over the region. In addition, NW requires that each graduating college senior write, produce, direct and perform a one-person show. "We want our students to think about creating their work, not just performing that of other people" says Bailey. The strategy has had a decided impact beyond the boundaries of NW's nine-story building in downtown Miami. Raquel Almazan's multimedia piece on feminine archetypes, She Wolves, went on to a professional run. So did April Henry's Jazz Like A Drug, which snagged her a Carbonell Best Actress award.
The rich world of educational theater is not confined to downtown Miami. In Boca Raton, Florida Atlantic University has initiated an aggressive new push in advancing arts education. The program, headed by Jean-Louis Badet, has been bringing in internationally acclaimed performing stars for master classes and productions. Local lights David Mann and Bridget Connors are on staff to direct some of the student productions this season.
The University of Miami is another academic beehive, the oldest college program in the region. UM's musical program has long been an institutional strength, but recent seasons have also included strong showings in the classics and contemporary drama. Stephen Svoboda's Twelfth Night, set in a John Cheever-like 1950s, wasn't just a time transposition but articulated the play's themes of sexual confusion and homoerotic desire with more clarity than usually seen in professional productions.
The line of educational mainstage offerings for the upcoming fall season certainly bears attention from South Florida playgoers. Here's a look at what's ahead at some of the area's educationals:
Barry University (305-899-3398) in Miami Shores offers the comic operetta The Pirates of Penzance and the grand opera La Bohème.
Florida International University (305- 348-3789) presents Steve Martin's comedy Picasso at the Lapin Agile, plus As You Like It, Cabaret, and a new AIDS drama, Before It Hits Home.
Florida Atlantic University (561-297-3810) serves up Alfred Jarry's absurdist classic Ubu Roi, followed by Peter Weiss' hard-hitting take on Auschwitz, The Investigation, and then Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and Much Ado About Nothing.
New World School of the Arts (305-237-3852) offers Poor Murderer, Anything Goes, and Yukio Mishima's Madame de Sade, plus an array of new works.
The University of Miami (305-284- 3355) starts off with Noises Off, the British comedy hit, followed by the strange, intriguing musical Violet, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Jane Martin's send-up of Chekhov, Anton in Show Business, and the classic musical Sweet Charity.
This selection of shows is a lot livelier than most of what the pros are offering, and many of the student performers offer a lot of talent and creative juice. Just the thing for a jaded playgoer with an attack of the gripes.
