Miami-New-Drama-Lights-Up-the-Colony-Theatre
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City of Miami Beach, 1700 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, FL 33139, www.miamibeachfl.gov
OFFICE OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS, Tel: 305.673.7575 PRESS RELEASE
Tonya Daniels, E-mail: tonyadaniels@miamibeachfl.gov
Melissa Berthier, E-mail: melissaberthier@miamibeachfl.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 9, 2020
Miami New Drama Lights Up the Colony Theatre
— Friday, Oct. 9 through Sunday, Oct. 11 from
8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Every Half Hour —
Miami Beach, FL - In collaboration with Miami New Drama and featuring music by Nu Deco
Ensemble, some of Miami New Drama’s most valued technicians and designers, Alejandro
Pérez, Yamil Charif, José Antonio Bermúdez, Ernesto Pinto, and Santiago Sharry, have
joined forces to bring awareness to the entertainment industry and all of the artists and
technicians currently out of work due to the pandemic. Every 30 minutes, between 8:30 p.m.
and 10 p.m. the facade of Miami Beach’s historic Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road will be
illuminated in a spectacular light show set to the rhythms of the Nu Deco Ensemble.
“The arts community is a key part of the fabric of Miami Beach history and culture,” expressed
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber. “It’s critical that we as a city support artists, musicians and
technicians as they strive to produce creative and engaging content under what have been
unprecedented circumstances.”
“The arts have an enormous economic impact on Miami Beach,” said Michel Hausmann,
Miami New Drama’s artistic director. “Few have been as impacted by the nearly seven-
month shutdown as the independent designers and technicians who make the magic of theater
possible. This project is important to us because it gives voice to the current plight of artists you
rarely see or hear about. The ghost light may be on inside, but outside we are lighting up the
night and sending a signal that we are here to stay.”
“The essence of this project lies in the architecture, the architecture of a space that cannot
survive without the public who give it life, or the people who work behind the scenes to make
that possible,” noted Ernest Pinto, lighting designer and master electrician at Miami New
Drama. “We built on that with an original lighting design, conceived especially for this event,
and added interactive elements. We hope that the audience connects with the essence of the
piece and the message we want to put forth.”
The designers and technicians planned the project as a response to the protracted shutdown
of their industry and collaborated with Varilite and ETC, industry leading equipment
manufacturers, to obtain the enormous amount of equipment needed to illuminate the Colony
structure. After a successful trial run the first weekend of October, the project’s second
weekend features even more music by Nu Deco Ensemble, and is sponsored in part by the
Lincoln Road Business Improvement District.
“Our industry was the first to come to a full stop, and it will be the last to return to normalcy.
This industry’s workforce has suffered through unimaginable economic and emotional turmoil,
We are committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live, work and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic community.
and we just hope our contribution will shine a small light at the end of this tunnel,” added
project organizer Alejandro Pérez. “Thanks to the support of Miami New Drama, we aim to
communicate the serious repercussions of COVID-19 on the entertainment industry.”
What: Light the Arts, a light show on the Colony Theatre
When: Friday, October 9 - Sunday, October 11
Show Times: 8:30 p.m. – 10 p.m., light show every thirty minutes
Where: Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach
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About Miami New Drama:
Miami New Drama is a nonprofit professional theater company based in Miami Beach, Florida
committed to artistic excellence and groundbreaking work, with a vision of theater as a
powerful form of social engagement. In residence at the historic Colony Theatre on Miami
Beach, the company focuses on the development of new plays and musicals in both English
and Spanish, most notably the first ever multilingual adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s
classic “Our Town,” “The Cubans” by Michael Leon, “Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy” by
Billy Corben & Aurin Squire, “Queen of Basel” by Hilary Bettis, “Viva La Parranda!” by
Betsayda Machado and “La Parranda El Clavo” in collaboration with Juan Souki, Gente
Ociosa by Karin Valecillos, and the world premiere development of the new Louis Armstrong
musical “A Wonderful World.” Miami New Drama is the winner of two Knight Arts Challenge
awards and a Knight New Works Miami award from the John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation and was the 2018 Miami New Times Best Theater for Drama.
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