THEATRE OVERVIEW
In September of 2005, our production of “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train” profiled the plight of anAfrican-American facing the death penalty, a Puerto Rican facing unjust incarceration, the woes of an Italian-American prison guard, and the trials of a female Irish lawyer coming to terms with her profession.
Our past production, “Top Dog/Underdog” examined the relationship between two African-American brothers
coming to terms with race and their place in society.
“September 10th”, the first show produced in our Workshop 2 Product program, chronicled the experiences
of an Israeli student, an African-American student and soldier, a woman trying to cope with an unfair workplace,
a struggling Italian-American artist, and other characters from different walks of life such as Wall Street
stock-brokers and janitors.
Our 2006-07 season continued with two contemporary classics: “The Indian Wants the Bronx” and
“The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel.” In Israel Horovitz’s “The Indian Wants the Bronx,” a Hindu man is
harassed by two neighborhood toughs with tragic results. “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel” by David Rabe
is an epic play set during the Vietnam era that follows a naïve recruit's feverish trip as the lines between
the chaotic war abroad and the turmoil back home become nearly indistinguishable.
And our work does not stop there … we strive to continue this tradition of diversity in our work through
our community outreach efforts such as the Beacon Play Reading Series for the Miami Lighthouse for
the Blind, and bedrock Program to support literacy and the Arts in Miami-Dade, and our Bridging the
Gap mentoring program at Miami Dade College.
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ARTISTIC COLLABORATION |
Ground Up & Rising Inc. has forged a fruitful collaborative relationship with one of the region’s most respected theatrical institutions – GableStage. As a result of this collaboration with GableStage, Ground Up & Rising Inc.
was able to bring its original play September 10th by Arturo Fernandez to more than 200 GableStage patrons
during an exclusive run during the 2006 Thanksgiving weekend.
In addition, GableStage graciously hosted special performances of Ground Up & Rising’s production of
“Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train” during the 2007 Thanksgiving weekend.
This ongoing relationship aims to combine the creative forces of both organizations to change the face of
the South Florida theatre scene.
Two formidable creative forces - Project Copernicus, hailed by the Sun-Sentinel as "the future of classical music", and "Miami's sizzling" Ground Up & Rising as described by the Miami Herald - came together to present " Story of a Soldier ", concert experiences in Miami Beach and West Palm Beach that melded visionary classical music and groundbreaking theatre.
"An envelope-pushing evening of music and theater."
- Miami Herald
WORKSHOP 2 PRODUCT PROGRAM
It is too often that playwrights have neither the venue nor the creative “nuts and bolts” (a theater, production crew, actors, director, and marketing strategy) to bring their works to fruition.
It is for this reason that Ground Up & Rising has created the Workshop 2 Product Program. Workshop 2 Product is a comprehensive, 8-week workshop giving South Florida-based playwrights the opportunity to see their work put into motion, culminating in a stage production complete with a performance venue, director, production crew, actors, and a promotional campaign. All of the aforementioned services are provided, at no charge to the playwright, by Ground Up & Rising.
The Workshop 2 Product cycle consists of two phases: 1) The Workshop Phase, in which a new play is evaluated, rehearsed, and made ready for 2) The Product Phase, in which a professional production of the rehearsed work is performed in front of an audience over a 2 to 4 week period.
"Ground Up & Rising fills a void in the Florida theater scene."
- Miami New Times
Theatre. Film. Community.
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