In Miami, making live theater work during the pandemic | PBS NewsHour

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Miami is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States and has been hit hard by the COVID and travel suspension. Officials at Miami International Airport said traffic has been cut by more than half, affecting hotels, restaurants and hot spots in Miami Beach. But somehow, live drama is happening. In fact, Miami is now home to the largest live performance in the country. Jeffrey Brown reports.

We now want to open the curtain of experimentation to keep the theater alive while supporting the local economy during the pandemic.

Miami is one of the most important tourist destinations in the country and has been hit hard by the COVID and travel suspension. Officials at the Miami International Airport, where about 90% of tourists arrive, said that the traffic flow has been cut by more than half. This will affect hot spots such as hotels, restaurants and Miami Beach.

But somehow, live theater is happening. In fact, Miami is now home to the largest live show in the country.

Jeffrey Brown is looking for our ongoing art and cultural series "Canvas".

He said that he has taught you that money is more precious than everything else.

Making plays during the pandemic is one of the goals of Miami's new theater company. The project is called "Seven Deadly Sins". It is a seven 10-minute script performed by actors in an empty storefront to a limited outdoor audience.

Venezuelan-born Michel Hausmann is the co-founder and artistic director of the company.

This is an important moment for the entire industry, but it is also a moment when we realize, well, what are we doing, right? Are we filling the space for people, or are we telling stories on the spot?

I think the paradigm shift opens the way for us to see the possibilities we can still do.

This 5-year-old company is described by Hausmann as a colorful theater that proudly represents this diverse city, usually in Colonial Theater (which was restored in Miami Beach in 1935). Art Deco gems) vividly blend new scripts and classic works.

When the COVID forced closure, Hausmann discovered a revelation while cycling along nearby Lincoln Road, a pedestrian street of Miami Beach’s famous shops and restaurants.

I saw all the vacant stores on Lincoln Road. I think, well, there might be something there.

The empty storefront, the impact of the pandemic and earlier economic changes, and the current new theater performed twice in the evening.

The audience gathered in an outdoor bar, aptly called Purgatory. They are divided into groups of no more than 12 people, each group has a guide, and transfers the storefront to the storefront through social distance seats and earplugs that can be connected to wireless receivers, and play. It involves a screen, but Hausmann wants to go beyond the virtual experience.

I think it is as close to the real thing as possible. Actors see the audience, they see the audience's reaction to the work. I think this is a theater with a capital T.

This is also an artistic outlet and source of income for artists who need both.

Hausman commissioned seven famous playwrights, five Latinos, and two blacks to write a short play with two actors.

When Michel Hausmann called me to introduce this idea for the first time, I was like it was.

Yes?

Yes. Yes, register me.

Those who emerge in memory, those who cut you to the core.

Playwright, filmmaker and actor Carmen Pelaez is a Miami native who performed in a play "Memory in Blood" written by Dael Orlandersmith.

They said that I will be placed in the center of learning.

She also wrote another book titled "Binding".

I am very happy to gain my creativity again. Therefore, I think it is quite clever. And I think this is a great comfort for me, not only because I am able to solve some of the things that are happening and have an artistic feel, but also know that I will be paid.

Follow strict protocols, including weekly COVID testing.

In the background, the actors use their own ventilation system to prepare the pods. Those who performed in pairs were also isolated.

If you have been to the red zone at this time, there must be a need.

The writers chose one of the classic seven deadly sins and created some miniseries, some more personal, such as "Latitudes of Amsterdam" by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz.

You only need a broken storefront to be convicted.

Others directly resolve the current incident.

Carmen Pelaez chose pride as his sin and wrote the works of Stephen G. Anthony, one of the 19th-century statesman John C. Calhoun (John C. Calhoun) The statue of) was enslaved and defended, and when he was overthrown, he survived.

Now, you gathered here today, trying to bring me down. Okay, go ahead. My foundation is 400 years thick.

You are watching the news report that all of us have seen, these monuments were demolished, and then the playwright among you thought, if so-what if one of these statues could now speak?

Yes, because if one of these statues can defend themselves and concentrate, we will actually see what they are defending.

Therefore, when you see the mediocrity and cruelty they actually defend, are you still willing to see that statue?

Artistic expression is also an economic engine. The performances whose tickets have been sold out (tickets are $60 and $75 respectively) cover the cost of this non-profit theater company, and for Lincoln Road, it is a high-end business integrating shopping and cultural experience Center, this is a new sign of life.

Miami’s mild climate is certainly helpful, but Michel Hausmann pointed out that theaters are constantly adapting and changing.

My opinion is that the theater has existed for 2500 years. Even in the most terrifying moments of mankind. There are many different ways of telling stories, and they don't necessarily mean that we all need to gather in a building with dim lights before an intermission.

Theater, which is a very large art form, very generous and large. We just need to continue to explore its outer edge.

I hope that this experiment and other experiments can be carried out successfully in the live theater without any sin.

For "PBS NewsHour", I am Jeffrey Brown.

It is great to see that this epidemic has brought some benefits, and in this case, it is creative.

Thank you Jeffrey Brown.

January 25

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