New Theatre will produce its most ambitious season yet, with a line up of seven productions that will run from June of 2003 through May of 2004.

The Shakespeare Project: Othello and Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare
June 20 – August 17, 2003
Director: de Acha/Designers: Schomsky/Neff/Reimer/Ganon/Vrancovich
Cast: Randolph/Orizondo/Reid/Sherman/Clement/Martinez/Freundlich/Madurga
Rivas/Losada/Conrad

New Theatre’s 18th Anniversary Season will begin in the summer of 2004 with The Shakespeare Project, sponsored again, as New Theatre’s production of Hamlet was last year, by The Funding Arts Network. Othello will alternate with Twelfth Night, running in rotating repertory, from June 20 through August 17, 2003. A multi-racial company of twelve actors will play over thirty roles in both plays. Returning to New Theatre after a long absence, Carbonell-winning actor James Randolph (Angels in America) will play the title role in Othello and Feste in Twelfth Night. New Theatre veteran Carlos Orizondo (Anna in the Tropics) will move back and forth from Iago in Othello to Orsino in Twelfth Night. Ursula Freundlich (Anna in the Tropics) will be Viola in Twelfth Night, and Deborah Sherman (Anna in the Tropics) Olivia in Twelfth Night and Emilia in Othello. Tara Reid (Tom Walker) returns to play Desdemona in Othello and Maria in Twelfth Night.

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The company is rounded out by Gonzalo Madurga (Polonius in Hamlet) as Brabantio and Malvolio, Euriamis Losada (New Theatre debut) as Cassio and Sebastian, Ricky Martinez (On the Verge) as Rodorigo and Andrew, Carbonell winning Ken Clement as The Doge and Toby, Ray Conrad (New Theatre debut) as Fabian, and Odell A. Rivas (New Theatre debut) as Sebastian. Composers M. Anthony Reimer and David Ganon will provide the all-important music for the plays. Howard Schomsky (New Theatre debut) (sets), Estela Vrancovich (costumes) and Travis Neff (lighting) will design. Leslie Ann Timlick is the text and diction coach, and Kimberly Daniel the vocal music coach. Ken Clement is the fight director. Margaret Ledford is the production stage manager. Rafael de Acha is the director of both productions.

Long Day’s Journey Into Night – Eugene O’Neill
September 19-October 19, 2003
Director: de Acha
Cast: Levine/Felix/Cassidy/Hoffman

South Florida will see one of the very few productions of a play by Eugene O’Neill this season when New Theatre brings to its stage Long Day’s Journey Into Night. The revival of New Theatre’s landmark, Carbonell Award-nominated 1994 production of Eugene O’Neill’s greatest play will star Carbonell-winning actor John Felix in his New Theatre debut as James Tyrone and New Theatre veteran Sally Levin, also nominated for a Carbonell Award, as Mary Tyrone. The reviews of New Theatre’s production in South Florida’s press were absolute raves: “Meticulousness, intelligence, taste…The New Theatre effort is a triumph for director Rafael de Acha.” (The Miami Herald, 11/17/94), “The evening packs an emotional wallop.” (Miami New Times, 11/24/94) “…A mesmerizing, dramatic pinnacle…the season’s theater triumph.” (Sun-Sentinel, 11/23/94) Rafael de Acha will direct a stellar cast that also features Euriamis Losada as Edmond and Keith Cassidy in his New Theatre debut as Jamie Tyrone, Jr.

Times Like These – John O’Keefe
November 14 – December 14, 2003
Director: de Acha
Cast: Rajala/Kelts

Based on the real-life story of Nazi-era German stage stars Meta Wolff and Joachim Gottschalk, whose marriage was itself the stuff of drama, Times Like These is, in the words of The New York Times, “a riveting, kinetic, astounding” play about the love and lives of two great artists whose tragic fates were intertwined with the political storm of the times in which they lived. John O’Keefe is a noted playwright who lives and works in the West Coast and whose play Times Like These is the winner of the 2002 prestigious Los Angeles Drama Circle Critics Award for Best Play of the Season.

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Now still in a successful open run in Los Angeles, the play will receive its Florida premiere at New Theatre, directed by Rafael de Acha, with a cast made up of Finnish actress Annemaria Rajala in her American debut as German-Jewish actress Meta Wolff. Returning to New Theatre after a few seasons’ absence, one of South Florida’s busiest actors, Heath Kelts, will play the role of Oskar Weiss, the Aryan actor married to Meta.

Beauty of the Father – Nilo Cruz
January 16 – February 15, 2004
Director: de Acha
Cast: Freundlich, Losada, Rojas, Orizondo

The loving and chaotic world of a family is transformed by the belief that miracles are possible. In his new Beauty of the Father, playwright Nilo Cruz renews his relationship with New Theatre, scene of his earlier triumphs Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams (Carbonell nomination 2001) and Anna in the Tropics (Steinberg Award 2003). The world premiere of this humorous, tender, and magical play will be directed by Rafael de Acha and feature a cast with New Theatre company members Carlos Orizondo and Ursula Freundlich, newcomers Euriamis Losada and Teresa Maria Rojas, and the South Florida debut of a Hispanic star still under negotiation. The production at New Theatre is made possible by the generous support of theatre producer Jay Harris.

Blind Date – Mario Diament
March 12 – April 11, 2004
Director: de Acha
Cast: Kwiat/Gladstone/Morgan

A chance encounter between a man and a woman… another one between a sighted and a sightless man… life changing events happen everyday…we just don’t see. These are but a few of the themes and images that flow through the compelling and poetic Blind Date by the Argentine-born playwright Mario Diament. Commissioned by New Theatre, the play is another original work in yet another world premiere by the author of The Book of Ruth (Carbonell nomination 2001) and Smithereens (Carbonell winner for Best New Play 2002). Directed by Rafael de Acha, the cast will feature David Kwiat and Lisa Morgan, both multiple Carbonell nominees and veterans of countless New Theatre productions, Steve Gladstone in his New Theatre debut, and a fourth cast member yet to be announced. The production has the generous support of The National Endowment for the Arts.

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The Diaries – John Strand
April 30 – May 30, 2004
Cast and Director to be announced

John Strand, winner of Washington’s prestigious Helen Hayes Award and author of New Theatre’s 2002 hit production Tom Walker gives New Theatre, and by extension, South Florida audiences the gift of a brand new play, The Diaries. The Florida premiere of this powerhouse drama will feature a cast of New Theatre members and a director to be announced. In The Diaries, John Strand looks at how we deal with past guilt and retribution in the context of a gripping yarn involving a famous American scientist who is revealed to have a conflicted past.

New Theatre’s Artistic Director Rafael de Acha comments on New Theatre’s 2003-2004 eclectic line up of classics and new works: ''The Shakespeare Project was amazing for us and helped us in redefining our mission and our vision. But New Theatre continues to have a commitment to a core group of playwrights whose works we love. They've given us wonderful plays, and we want to give them a stage. My perception is that our audiences are starved for new stories.''

Season flexi-passes are now available. For information call (305) 443 5909

New Theatre gratefully acknowledges the following 2003-2004 Season sponsors: The City of Coral Gables Department of Cultural Affairs, The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Funding Arts Network, The Burstein Family Foundation, Jay Harris, Nancy and Melvin C. Morgenstern and The Manny and Ruthy Cohen Foundation, FPL, The Norman Shulevitz Foundation, The Bank Atlantic Foundation, The Miami Salon Group, Citizens Interested in the Arts, The Joseph H. and Tina Rosenberg Foundation.

New Theatre is a constituent member of Theatre Communications Group and is affiliated with Actors Equity Association, The Drama League, The Theatre League of South Florida, The Greater Miami Conventions and Visitors Bureau, and The Dade Cultural Alliance.

Abril 2003