The New York Times: As the final performance of Miami New Drama’s “Seven Deadly Sins” ended Sunday night, the actors streamed onto Lincoln Road, thanking the company’s artistic director, Michel Hausmann. They had spent months performing separately, inside adjacent vacant storefronts on this South Beach pedestrian mall, to an audience that watched and listened from a distance.
2 comments:
The words of the seven deadly sins depicted are very strong images coupled with the almost trapped feeling of each person in the store fronts. It is a unique and effective way of socially distanced performance or performance art. Hugging each other at the last performance though is less of a covid responsible decision. Either way, it is a good inspiration for moving forward with performance while still under many restrictions. I personally think this piece might have made me uncomfortable to watch, but I think that to some extent, this was the goal. The production quality given the setting is stunning. While many companies create stunning storefronts, the first that come to mind for me are the more basic mannequins. I think that connotation plays into this piece really well and the attention to detail in the set design brings the best of both high end and typical store fronts. Everything in this piece seems to have been well planned and while it is always sad when a performance closes, I am glad it could last as long as it did, especially given the circumstances.
I was an intern for Miami New Drama for two years and love their production. Living only a few blocks away, I frequently passed by their socially distant storefront stages while walking and it was so enamoring. Working with Michel Haussman for that long, I knew his work would be fantastic. Sadly, I could not participate in this little piece of history due to my travel schedule but I did get to see a bit of it. As per usual, the Colony’s work was visually stunning, diversely cast, and overall great theater. I feel as though this was the perfect show for the times we are currently living in. Having the setting spread across a whole city block pulled the real world into the scenes yet the glass separations still made it feel like insight into a new world. Had this been done on a regular stage, during a normal year, I do not think the production would be as impactful. Live theatre is something really needed right now and this was the perfect, safe way to do it. Props to them!!
Post a Comment