University of Miami theatre arts students are set to take audience members through a unique interactive experience during their upcoming musical, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.”
“It’s going to be a really cool, fun and collaborative show,” said Nicole Delsack, a senior bachelor of fine arts musical theatre student.
The musical, based on an unfinished Charles Dickens novel, is a murder mystery that invites the audience to vote on "whodunit" to complete the story that Dickens did not.
“It could be a different ending every night. This kind of show is a perfect opportunity for our students to work on unique material,” said Michael Bush, artistic director of the University’s Jerry Herman Ring Theatre.
Delsack thinks this is a great show to attend for those who want to be immersed in the world of theatre.
“Not only do you get to be part of this mystery which is really exciting, but you get to control it. We as actors have no clue how the show is going to end, so you get to see live theatre in its purest form,” said Delsack.
She said she looks forward to the opportunity of showcasing the hard work they have put into this musical.
“I think the casting crew is so incredible. Everybody is so dedicated. I’m so privileged to perform with other talented actors in my program,” she said.
Performances like these remind her why she decided to pursue her theatre arts degree at the University of Miami.
“The reason why this program is so unique is because it takes everybody as individuals and brings out what is unique about each person. The program makes you proud of who you are and helps you expose it and brand it as a selling point for your future career,” she said.
The musical runs from Nov. 14 – Nov. 23.
For more information, visit: https://ring-theatre.as.miami.edu/index.html
Lowe Art Museum
Through Jan. 19, 2020
Diago: The Pasts of this Afro-Cuban Present
A leading member of the new Afro-Cuban cultural movement, visual artist Juan Roberto Diago has produced a body of work that offers a revisionist history of the Cuban nation. His “history,” a term that he frequently inserts in his works using the visual language of graffiti, contradicts the official narrative of a racially harmonious nation created through the selfless efforts of generous white patriots. Diago’s Cuba is a nation built on pain, rape, greed, and the enslavement of millions of displaced Africans, a nation still grappling with the long-term effects of slavery and colonialism. To him, slavery is not the past, but a daily experience of racism and discrimination. Africa is not a root, but a wellspring of cultural and personal affirmation, the ancestors that sustain him in his journey. This exhibit examines Diago’s creative work over the course of his entire career. It traces his singular efforts to construct new pasts, the pasts required to explain the racial tensions of contemporary Cuba, the pasts of this Afro-Cuban present. Guest curated by Dr. Alejandro de la Fuente, Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics, professor of African and African American Studies, director of the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for Africa and African American Research, and chair of the Cuba Studies Program at Harvard University.
Through March 2020
ArtLab at the Lowe: Russia Unframed
Russia Unframed seeks to highlight the impact of Russia's immense cultural, ethnic, racial, and religious diversity on the arts, both within its borders and throughout the diaspora. Now in its tenth year, ArtLab @ the Lowe is an annual student-curated exhibition that provides University of Miami students with hands-on experience in the curatorial and museum fields.
Through May 3, 2020
Carlos Estévez: Cities of the Mind
The most recent project of renowned Cuban-American artist Carlos Estévez, Walled Cities features nine large-format circular paintings that reference the artist’s fascination with city plans. Inspired by the Havana of his youth, the Medieval European cities to which he has traveled extensively as an adult, and his abiding interest in symbolic cosmology and origin stories, Estévez has created in this body of new work personal maps of the human mind influenced by ancient cartography. Guest curated by Dr. Carol Damian, a former professor of Art History, Florida International University.
Nov. 26 through March 22, 2020
Claudia DeMonte & Ed McGowin: Binomial
With her deep-seated interests in globalism, identity politics, feminism, and social responsibility, Claudia DeMonte mines her autobiography as well as the stories of the countless women she has met in her extensive travels to inform her creative process. DeMonte’s artistic output reflects not only her cosmopolitan view of the world but also her sense of place within it. She is equally attuned to the plight of the overlooked, the forgotten, and the oppressed; themes that resonate in her oeuvre. Ed McGowin, with whom DeMonte has shared her travels and her life for more than four decades, is equally interested in notions of the self and interpersonal dynamics, including manipulation, corruption, exploitation, and greed. He explored these intertwined threads in his famed Name Change project(1970 and later), in which McGowin legally changed his name—and his aesthetic modality—twelve separate times. He has continued to create works under these different personas for the past fifty years. This engaging exhibition explores
Wednesday, Nov. 20 from 7 – 9 p.m.
Sip & Sketch at the Lowe
Enjoy guided artmaking, wine, and snacks while you create a masterpiece. Led by artist Jackie Gopie.
For more information, visit: https://www.lowe.miami.edu/exhibitions/index.html
Victor E. Clarke Recital Hall
Wednesday, Nov. 20 and Thursday, Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m.
L’enfant et les sortileges (The Child and the Enchantments) by Maurice Ravel
This timeless masterpiece from 1925 by Ravel, with a libretto by Colette, and originally choreographed by George Balanchine, tells the story of a mischievous child who must suffer the fantastical consequences of his wicked actions. His very home comes to life in order to teach him a lesson, along with an opportunity for redemption. The opera will be sung in French with English subtitles in a chamber orchestration for two pianos, cello, and flute.
For more information, visit: https://frost-music-live.miami.edu/
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Friday, Nov. 1 at 8 p.m.
British Invasion-Latin Style
Jose Feliciano, Arturo Sandoval, Lucy Woodward, Kate Reid, Fantine, Shelly Berg, and Frost School’s Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra Hosted by Malcolm McDowell
The 12th season of the Jazz Roots series opens with a distinct international accent as the pop music and jazz of the British Invasion gets a twist of Latin flair. The cast includes singer, guitarist, and songwriter Jose Feliciano, a pioneer crossover star who has earned 45 gold and platinum records and 9 Grammy Awards; and 10-time Grammy Award winner and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval; with vocalists Lucy Woodward, Kate Reid, and Fantine; backed by pianist, arranger, producer, and dean of the Frost School of Music Shelly Berg with the Frost School’s Henry Mancini Institute orchestra. Actor Malcolm McDowell will host.
Maurice Gusman Concert Hall
Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
The Music of Melinda Wagner
Ensemble IbisShawn Crouch, Director
Ensemble Ibis performs the music of Pulitzer Prize winner and 2019 Frost Distinguished Visiting Composer-in-Residence Melinda Wagner. She has been celebrated as an “…eloquent, poetic voice in contemporary music…,” by American Record Guide. The Ensemble Ibis plays Wagner’s Four Settings for Soprano and Ensemble. The program includes works by Lansing McLoskey and Chinese composer Tan Dun.
Thursday Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Raul Midon’s Homecoming ConcertRaul Midon, voice and guitar
Described by The New York Times as “a one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus,” singer and songwriter Raul Midon returns to his alma mater for a solo appearance. Expect selections from his most recent Grammy-nominated albums If You Really Want, featuring the metropole Orkest directed by Vince Mendoza as well as Bad Ass and Blind, a showcase of his highly personal blend of pop, jazz, soul, and funk.
Tuesday Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
A Night of Sheila Jordan
Frost Jazz Vocal I, Jazz Vocal II, and Extensions
Kate Reid, director, Sheila Jordan, voice
NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan is a one-of-a-kind singer and songwriter. She studied with Lennie Tristano and Charles Mingus; called Charlie Parker her “big brother” and teacher; has performed and recorded as a leader as well as with top artists and groups; and then nearly invented a performing setting featuring just voice and acoustic bass. Jordan is a true original with an unmatched talent for reimagining standards and inventing lyrics on the fly.
Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Mahler’s World
Frost Symphony Orchestra
Gerard Schwarz, conductor
Join the Frost Symphony Orchestra as it performs Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No.7, hailed as one of the most provocative symphonic statements of the early twentieth century. In it, his innovative instrumentation and demanding writing nearly reinvents the sound of the orchestra. Igor Stravinsky’s opera suite from Le chant du rossignol (The Song of the Nightingale), based on Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, will follow. The program will conclude with a new work by the winner of the Frost student composition competition.
For more information, visit: https://frost-music-live.miami.edu/
Cosford Cinema
Showings this month include “Us,” “Everyday Rebellion,” “The Lion King,” “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and “Inglourious Basterds.”
For showtimes and tickets, visit http://www.cosfordcinema.com/
Center for the Humanities
Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 5 p.m.
Learning Commons, Otto G. Richter Library
A photography exhibition and reception will feature Rachel Fracasso, a UM student who visited Cape Town and travelled throughout Southern Africa and Egypt under the Study Abroad program during the spring 2019 semester. Rachel joined the Library Research Scholars during the 2018–2019 cohort to conduct a humanities-based research project employing photography to document her travels and experiences.
Thursday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m.
Kislak Center, Otto G. Richter Library
"Enduring Stigma: Historical Perspectives on Disease Meanings and Their Impacts"
This lecture will examine the history of disease stigma in a broad social and cultural context. Stigmatized diseases and conditions are an enormous problem for individuals and groups who are subject to prejudice, discrimination, isolation, and the violation of basic human rights. Stereotyped assumptions, beliefs, and values attached to these diseases inflict multiple harms on those who find themselves in the shadow of stigma; they also have profound effects on access to services, health care and its delivery, as well as health disparities, both here in the U.S. and around the globe. Utilizing a range of historical and current examples from cancer to AIDS, from disability to addiction, this lecture will explore the history of the social, cultural, and political production of stigma as well as interventions and policies for its reduction.
