Mondays are Dark

Lela Elam, Desiree Mora and Scott Douglass Wilson
photo shamelessly stolen from Nori Tecosky via Facebook

Hard to believe we're already three weeks into 2013!  We hope that you take advantage of the juxtaposition of the national holiday and the Presidential Inauguration to watch the ceremony.

Today's "dark" theatre photo shows Thinking Cap Theatre in rehearsal for The Rover at Empire Stage. Empire Stage is probably the smallest venue in South Florida, and yet it's home to several theatre companies; Thinking Cap, Island City Stage, Crashbox Theater Company, and Infinite Abyss Productions all share Empire's stage.



Here's your Monday reading list:

Speaking of Empire Stage
Florida Theater On Stage reports that Outré Theatre Company has scheduled a staged reading of Nicky Silver’s Fat Men In Skirts at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22 at Empire Stage

Ya Gotta Have Balls
Alliance Theatre Lab isn't holding your traditional fundraiser to come up with the funds to mount their upcoming production of Brothers Beckett at the Arsht Center.  Florida Theater On Stage reports that the company has come up with a couple of unique fundraisers; first up is Murder, Fugettaboutit!, and interactive murder mystery with an italian dinner. They follow that up with two hours of bowling at an event they're calling Super Bowl for Beckett!  After all, why do a boring old Indiegogo fundraiser when you can do that AND the fun stuff?

More Than One Way to Skin A Cat Cast A Play.
 Backstage reports on an alternative approach to casting that bypasses the traditional audition.

When director Luc Besson hired me to cast "The Professional," the only role for which we held proper auditions was the character of Mathilde (Natalie Portman s screen debut). Not unlike Woody Allen, Luc refused to allow actors to see his script. Instead he had me interview actors on tape and send the results to him in France. The entire principal cast was chosen from those video interviews. No "traditional" auditions EVER took place

Reverse Name Dropping
Zoetic Stage is doing Zach Braff's All New People at the Arsht Center - and the playwright/actor/screenwriter dropped by for a photo with the cast, which he posted on his Twitter feed.

From Page to Stage
Florida Theater On Stage tells us about Jan McArt’s Theatre Arts Guild Florida New Play Workshop.  The company is dedicated giving playwrights a place to do an extensively rehearsed reading of their new plays.

...this series involves a playwright working with a paid cast and a director for six days, frequently re-writing the script based on the rehearsals. In performance, the actors will carry scripts, but they will move about, wear some costumes, use props and benefit from minimal lighting and set design.

The series started last week with a reading of Tony Finstrom's Back Stage Story, directed by Wayne Rudisill and featured McArt, Michael McKeever, Iris Acker, Jeffrey Bruce, Patti Gardner and Kevin Reilley.

Meanwhile....
...in Coconut Grove, the Playhouse is still closed. The Miami New Times reports that a big mess has gotten messier; the county was hoping that the state, which holds the title to the property, would hand it over.  But the State wants $5.8 million for it.  Worse, a mortgage company is foreclosing on a $1.5 million mortgage on the property; not sure how that works.

...in Hollywood, the Playhouse is still closed.  But The Examiner reports that a buyer has closed on the property with the intent to produce theater, no thanks to Hollywood's largely useless city commission. 

Which playhouse will re-open first?  It seems to be a race between Hollywood and the Royal Poinciana, with the Coconut Grove more deeply mired in debt and political in-fighting than ever.