2024-2025 dates and information coming soon!
Synopsis:
I am Me begins as a traveling play designed to be performed at every high school in Miami-Dade County. In the mixed-media theatrical work, six young people share what it’s like for them to be teenagers in 21stcentury Miami. Delivering lyrical monologues against a backdrop of oceanic images and vibrant music, the characters express their fears, frustrations and triumphs as they navigate the rough terrain of adolescence in a city whose future is as uncertain as their own. Anxious about climate change, parental expectations, societal pressures and their burgeoning identities, these young people find hope and comfort in one another, in art and ultimately within themselves. Created by a group of established and emerging Miami artists commissioned by the Arsht Center, I am Me features an all-local cast and is directed by award-winning Miami artist Teo Castellanos.
About the project:
Imagined, produced and presented by the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, I am Me will resume its tour of Miami-Dade County high schools on January 16, 2024. Focused on teen mental health and wellness, the new initiative includes a world premiere play created especially for teens that will travel to local high schools and a series of artistic self-expression workshops for teens. The first arts-driven mental health initiative of its kind, I am Me is the culmination of the Arsht Center’s 16-year partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) and is provided by the Arsht Center at no cost to every 9th grade student and teacher in Miami-Dade County public schools.
About the Creators of I am Me
The play I am Me was imagined, created and executed by a team of local arts educators, theater professionals and performers who understand Miami’s unique community. The play is directed by Teo Castellanos, an award-winning Miami-based actor, director and writer and recipient of the Fringe First Award at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The creative team also features Seth “Brimstone” Schere (Sound Designer); Keena Blair Brown (Costume Designer); Jerel Brown & Shamar Watt (Choreographers) and playwrights Teo Castellanos, Maylin Enamorado, Rudi Goblen, Alejandra Nuñez, Christell Victoria Roach, Giovannai Garced-Rosa and Samantha Turner. The cast consists of Miamians Inez Barlatier, Thiana Berrick, Diana Buitrago, Dayron Leon, Katlin Svadbik, Kyran Wright and Krystal Millie Valdes.
Meet the Cast
Inez Barlatier (IAMME)
Inez Barlatier is a Haitian-American multidisciplinary performer and teaching artist. Since the age of 12 years old, Inez has been performing in Miami and abroad. Inez produced a children’s show entitled Ayiti: Stories & Songs from Haiti which has been featured in international conferences and children’s theaters across the U.S. Inez's work has been featured on CVM Television (Kingston, Jamaica), CBS 4 News Miami, Channel 39 WSFL-TV, NPR, WLRN, WDNA, PBS, Complex TV, Island TV, The Miami New Times, The Miami Herald, The Ringling, MOCA, FundArte, Madame Pipi by Rachelle Salnave & LUDI by Edson Jean, both Haitian independent filmmakers.
Inez is currently a teaching artist with Guitars Over Guns. Inez is acting in F/Punk
Junkies by Teo Castellanos; I am Me, a traveling production by the Adrienne Arsht Center; and Sharing Grandmothers directed by Carlos Caballero of FundArte. More about Inez can be found at www.InezBarlatier.com.
Thiana Berrick, Actor 2 & Understudy for IAMME
Thiana Berrick is immensely grateful and thrilled to be reprising the role of Madeline for this 2022-2023 relaunch of I am Me. Her most recent credits include Mouse King 2022 (Mandelstam Theater), Where or When (Lost Girls Theatre / Incomparable Radio Theatre) and NCPLab Short Play Festival 2022 (New City Players). She is an actor and musician who achieved a BFA theatre degree from New World School of the Arts and has worked in South Florida for companies such as City Theatre, Juggerknot Theatre, Faena Theatre, Thinking Cap Theater, Mainstreet Players and several more. She continued her acting training at The Green Room Acting Studio and has worked on a few short films, as well as a tv series “Shiny New Things” playing on The Fantasy Network. If you’d like to keep up with Thiana, follow her on Instagram @thianaberrick
Diana Buitrago, Actor 4
Diana Buitrago is a recent graduate of Florida International University holding a bachelor's in fine arts for theatre performance. She is a Miami native and of Nicaraguan descent. This is her second year reprising her role as Yameli in I am Me and she is very excited to keep sharing this story of ancestral knowledge, family, and love.
Dayron Leon, Actor 1
Dayron Leon is a recent alumnus of Florida International University’s theatre program where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. Dayron was born in Havana, Cuba and moved to Miami when he was eight. Having not spoken a word of English, the initial transition was tough but full of lessons in resilience. He attended Mater Lakes Academy High School where his interest in theatre began in ninth grade. After graduating from FIU in 2021, he has been working in the Miami theatre scene ever since and is extremely grateful and excited to be returning for his second year in the cast of IAMME.
Kyran Wright, Ensemble & Understudy for Actor 1&2
Kyran Wright graduated with a BFA in Acting from FIU in 2020 during the quarantine. He is really excited to be working with the Arsht center for the first time and to be a part of the IAMME project. This is a cultural story about acceptance and understanding. He is glad to be spreading this to the youth in which it so closely relates to. He hopes that you all enjoy watching it as much as he has enjoyed working on it. Thank you for being a part of this experience with him.
Krystal Millie Valdes, Actor 3
Krystal is so grateful to return to the cast of I Am Me as Jodi! You can find her on screen in 93 miles (Cannes Film Festival), Three Bedrooms, and Pompano Boy (Amazon Prime). 2023 Feature Films: Summoning the Spirit, The Friend, and Thank You Places. Theatre: Kitty Hawk(Arsht Center), Murder on the Orient Express, One Man Two Guvnors (Actor's Playhouse), Brighton Beach Memoirs (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), Amparo (Bacardi), The House of Blue Leaves (Palm Beach Dramaworks), Peter and the Starcatcher (Slowburn), As You Like It (Tour: Paris, France), Little Montgomery, The Glass Menagerie, Proof, Clybourne Park (NCP), Safe House (Urbanite Theatre), Tar Beach (Theatre Lab). Voice over: Detective Conan: Case Closed, Anpanman, and Sweeva among others. She is a bilingual folk musician, and you can find her music on Spotify and Apple Music. She’s like to express gratitude for Teo Castellanos and her amazing cast and crew mates for believing in her and helping her grow as an artist and person during this project. An AEA member, NWSA BFA graduate, and NCP founding member, she's proudest to be a newlywed to Ian. For more info check out Krystalmillievaldes.com
Support Arts Education
Arsht Culturists members, especially at the $2,500 level, support the production and post-show mental health program that will remain throughout select schools after I am Me premieres across Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
You can support I am Me as it reaches 60,000 students across Miami-Dade County Schools. Gifts of $2,500 or more create an opportunity for children to heal with the collective trauma endured as a result Marjorie Stonewall Douglass tragedy and the uncertainty and disruptions brought on from the pandemic.
For more information, please call Laura White at 786-468-2035 or lwhite@arshtcenterfoundation.org.
Support this important initiative today by becoming an Arsht Center Culturist Member or by making a financial gift.
Questions?
Please contact iamme@arshtcenter.org
Click here to view the resource guide
Testimonials:
“Fantastic show! I think the kids really enjoyed it.”
– teacher from Miami Palmetto Senior High School
“Everything was really cool and emotional. I loved the part where it was talking about the struggles of women and girls especially in the latino Caribbean cultures. I’m Latina myself and Muslim. I saw a lot of what I’ve grown up with in the play. It was very comedic at times and very personal and serious at others. It was often hilariously relatable.”
– 9th grader from New World School of Arts
“It was interesting, and it lets you know that you’re not the only one struggling.”
- 12th grader from Westland Hialeah Senior High School
“10/10.”
– 9th grader from iPrep Academy
“I absolutely loved the production and also the team- crew and cast. The fact that they cared about the space and the students made a difference. They were professional and kind.”
– teacher from Felix Varela
“I really like the play, it was very relatable not only for me but also for others I know. I wish more of my friends would have been able to see it.”
– 11th grader from Mater Lakes Academy
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