Press Release Announcing the 2022-2023 Season of Theater Up Close!

THEATER UP CLOSE
in collaboration with Zoetic Stage and City Theatre

The 2022-2023 season includes two world premieres by Miami playwrights, one Florida premiere and the first-ever regional production of an award-winning hit Broadway show

Co-presentations with Zoetic Stage include:

MLIMA’S TALE by Lynn Nottage – Florida Premiere!
OCTOBER 13 – 30, 2022
A powerfully haunting journey of an elephant and his tusks combining inventive storytelling, music, heartbreak and joy by a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright

AMERICAN RHAPSODY by Michael McKeever – World Premiere!
JANUARY 12 – 29, 2023
The epic tale of one family’s cultural evolution filled with unforgettable moments that bridge the past, present and future

NEXT TO NORMAL
Music by Tom Kitt, Book & Lyrics by Tom Yorkey
MARCH 16 – APRIL 9, 2023
The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning rock musical exploring a mother’s struggle with bipolar disorder and how it affects her family

#GRACED by Vanessa Garcia – World Premiere!
May 4 – 21, 2023
A Cuban woman’s trek across America brings into light her newly molded version of the American dream, however unusual that may be – from the writer of The Amparo Experience

Plus, City Theatre presents the regional premiere of

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME by Heidi Schreck
December 1 – 18, 2022
The award-winning, boundary-breaking play breathes new life into our Constitution and imagines how it will shape the next generation of Americans

Five-show subscription packages are available now
starting at the early bird rate of $190* until June 30

Miami, FL – June 7, 2022 – The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County (@arshtcenter) is proud to announce its lineup for the 11^th season of THEATER UP CLOSE, created in collaboration with Zoetic Stage (@ZoeticStageMIA) and City Theatre (@CityTheatreMIA). This season’s Theater Up Close series returns to the Carnival Studio Theater Susan Westfall Playwrights Stage with five extraordinary productions, including two world premieres by Miami playwrights Michael McKeever and Vanessa Garcia, one Florida premiere and the regional premiere of Heidi Schreck’s Pulitzer and Tony Award nominated hit Broadway play What the Constitution Means to Me. 

“The Arsht Center was very proud to present the 10th Anniversary Theater Up Close series to supportive South Florida theater enthusiasts,” said Liz Wallace, vice president of programming for the Arsht Center. “We welcome the community back for a strong, wide ranging, engaging and thought provoking 2022-2023 season.”

"We at Zoetic Stage are enormously excited to be partnering with the Arsht Center for our 11th season! Our programming for the 2022-2023 season has been carefully curated, crafted with stories about personalized American experiences igniting a wanderlust filled with moments surrounding human connectivity and moving forward," said Zoetic Stage Artistic Director Stuart Meltzer.

“City Theatre is very glad to be included in the Arsht Center’s Theatre Up Close Series for the opportunity it offers our company to bring audiences interesting full-length plays that we are excited to produce, such as the regional premiere of Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me. We expect it will resonate with South Florida audiences as powerfully as it did during its multi-award winning, sold-out run on Broadway,” said City Theatre’s Artistic Director Margaret M. Ledford.

PNC Bank is the presenting sponsor of the 2022-2023 THEATER UP CLOSE series. WLRN is the media sponsor. The THEATER UP CLOSE series gratefully acknowledges the founding support of Adrianne and Jerry L. Cohen.

TICKETS
Five-show subscription packages are available now starting at the early bird rate of $190* until June 30. Starting July 1, packages start at $215. Subscriptions can be purchased now through the Adrienne Arsht Center box office by calling (305) 949-6722, or online at arshtcenter.org. Tickets for individual performances will be announced at a later date.

The lineup for the 2022-2023 THEATER UP CLOSE series includes the following:

Zoetic Stage and Adrienne Arsht Center present
MLIMA’S TALE – Florida Premiere!
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Stuart Meltzer
October 13 – 30, 2022

“A beautiful, endlessly echoing portrait of a murder and its afterlife. Ms. Nottage shaped this story with such theatrical inventiveness and discipline that it never feels sensational.” – The New York Times 

Mlima is a magnificent African elephant trapped by the underground international ivory market. As he follows a trail littered by a history of greed, Mlima takes us on a journey through memory, fear, tradition and the penumbra between want and need. From Lynn Nottage, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Sweat and Ruined, Mlima’s Tale is a captivating and haunting fable come to life.

City Theatre and Adrienne Arsht Center present
WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME – Regional Premiere!
By Heidi Schreck
Directed by Margaret M. Ledford
December 1-18, 2022 

“Not just the best play to open on Broadway so far this season, but also the most important.” – The New York Times 

“Endearingly funny and deeply affecting. It would be hard to identify a work for the theater with its finger more on the pulse of America right now.” - Washington Post

Playwright Heidi Schreck's timely and galvanizing play became a sensation off-Broadway and then Broadway where it received two Tony Award nominations, the Pulitzer Prize nomination, and countless other accolades. Hilariously hopeful, and achingly human, Heidi becomes her teenage self, earning college tuition by winning constitutional debate competitions across the United States. Every amendment leads to surprising storytelling as adult Heidi traces the profound relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that shaped their lives. Theatrical, personal, and boundary-breaking, Schreck’s play breathes new life and understanding of the Constitution and imagines the impact of its evolution on the next generation of Americans.

Zoetic Stage and Adrienne Arsht Center present
AMERICAN RHAPSODY – World Premiere!
By Michael McKeever
Directed by Stuart Meltzer
January 12 – 29, 2023

Over the course of some 60 years — starting in 1969 and ending in 2032 — the Cabot family tries to keep up with the world as it evolves around them. Epic in scope yet intimate by nature, American Rhapsody weaves the lives of its main characters through the ever-changing landscape of the American zeitgeist as it speeds through the last half of the 20th century into the turbulence of today and well beyond: civil unrest, the feminist movement, the greed of the ’80s, the horrors of 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, same-sex marriage, the COVID-19 pandemic. As the family evolves into a new America, so does its cultural identity as members of other races and sexual orientations marry into and redefine what the family thought it was.

Adrienne Arsht Center and Zoetic Stage present
NEXT TO NORMAL
Music by Tom Kitt
Book & Lyrics by Brian Yorkey
Directed by Stuart Meltzer
March 16 – April 9, 2023

Next to Normal is a deeply moving rock musical that explores how one household copes with crisis and mental illness. Winner of three 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Musical Score, and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, Next to Normal was also chosen as one of the year’s 10 best shows by critics at publications across the country, including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone and The New York Times.

Dad's an architect. Mom rushes to pack lunches and pour cereal. Their daughter and son are bright, wisecracking teens. They appear to be a typical American family. And yet their lives are anything but normal, because the mother has been battling manic depression for 16 years. Next to Normal takes audiences into the minds and hearts of each character, presenting their family’s story with love, sympathy and heart.

Zoetic Stage and Adrienne Arsht Center present
#GRACED – World Premiere!
By Vanessa Garcia
Directed by Sarah Hughes
May 4 – 21, 2023

Catherine is searching for something authentic as she embarks on a “Lewis-and-Clark-esque” trip across America sponsored by Monteverde Moonshine with her new lover and colleague, Lewis. Along the way, they pick up a wayward nun named Rosalie who has just gone through deep loss, meet a queer homeschooled teenager named Blake and rummage through the layers of migration and gender inequity that make up America. As Catherine travels, she comes to more questions than answers about “the real America,” her own identity and what authenticity even means anymore.

@ArshtCenter                       #ArshtCenter

*All programs, artists, ticket prices, availability, dates and times are subject to change without notice. Visit arshtcenter.org for up-to-date information.

The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is made possible by the public support of the Miami-Dade County Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council and the City of Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency, as well as the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. The Adrienne Arsht Center also receives generous support from individuals, corporations and local, state and national foundations.

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AboutUs
Set in the heart of downtown Miami, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is committed to welcoming and connecting ALL people to the arts, to the Arsht Center and to each other. Our stages are alive year-round with artists from around the world, innovative programming from our resident companies and local arts partners, free community events that reflect Miami’s unique identity and arts education experiences for thousands of Miami children each year.

 Since opening in 2006, the Arsht Center, a 501C3 non-profit organization, has been recognized as a catalyst for billions of dollars in new development in the downtown area, a leader in programming that mirrors South Florida’s diversity, a host venue for historic events and Miami’s hub for arts education.

Each year, we serve more than 60,000 young learners and offer more than 100 culturally diverse and inclusive education programs — many enhanced by the Arsht Center’s relationship with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, local teaching artists and Miami-based arts organizations.

The Arsht Center is also a home stage for three resident companies — Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet and New World Symphony — and a launch pad for local artists to make their mark on the international stage. Our 300+ events each year include the Center’s Signature Series of classical, jazz, Broadway, local theater and much more. We present a robust series of touring Broadway musicals direct from New York, the largest jazz series in South Florida, a major annual Flamenco Festival and an award-winning Miami-based theater program. In addition, our Family Fest, Free Gospel Sundays, CommuniTEA LGBTQ+ celebration and Heritage Fest are among dozens of free events that bring together people from all corners of our community. For more information, visit arshtcenter.org.

About Zoetic Stage
Zoetic Stage was founded in 2010 to create fresh, bold interpretations of contemporary plays and musicals, and is dedicated to enhancing South Florida’s national artistic profile by producing regional premieres and developing new works to become part of the American stage repertoire.

In 2020, Zoetic Stage was named the Best Theater Company by the Miami New Times. The theater has been nominated for an impressive 120 Carbonell Awards (of which 15 were for Best Production of the Year) and won 42, including six for Best New Work and four for Best Production of a Play or Musical. Zoetic Stage productions have received over thirty Silver Palm Awards for Outstanding Achievement. In 2021, Zoetic Stage premiered the annual Finstrom Festival of New Work. This season will mark 39 productions in partnership with the Adrienne Arsht Center.

Zoetic Stage is an Associate Member of the National New Play Network, a member of the South Florida Theater League and Theatre Communications Group.  

Visit www.zoeticstage.org for more information.

About City Theatre
City Theatre is an award-winning professional theater company founded in Miami in 1996 that is dedicated to the development and production of new works and programming that entertains, informs and resonates with its diverse audiences. Now among the oldest theaters in South Florida, City Theatre is distinguished nationally for being the only theater in the country producing 10-minute plays and musicals year-round and for all ages. City Theatre has made its main stage home at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts’ Carnival Studio Theatre since 2007, where its signature SUMMER SHORTS FESTIVAL recently celebrated its 25th Milestone Anniversary Season in 2022. City Theatre also produces full-length plays as part of the Arsht Center’s Theatre Up Close Series, including JACOB MARLEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL by Tom Mula in 2021 and Bekah Brunstetter’s THE CAKE in 2019.

City Theatre is an Associate Member of the National New Play Network (NNPN) and participated in the Rolling World Premiere production of Robert Schenkkan’s BUILDING THE WALL produced at the Arsht in 2018; the Theatre League of South Florida; the Florida Professional Theatre Association. In 2016, City Theatre was honored by the Carbonell Committee with the prestigious Bill Von Maurer Award, which recognizes significant contributions to South Florida theater development by an individual or group, for the company’s dedication to the short-form play and fostering new play development. For more information, visit citytheatre.com.

About PNC Bank
PNC Bank, National Association, is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC). PNC is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States, organized around its customers and communities for strong relationships and local delivery of retail and business banking including a full range of lending products; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management. For information about PNC, visit www.pnc.com.