http://www.mosaictheatre.com/ Mosaic Theatre en-us http://www.mosaictheatre.com/images/mosaic_theatre_sm.gif http://www.mosaictheatre.com/ 100 53 http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=14 Posted on Fri, Nov. 21, 2008 Mosaic's creator started with a dream BY CHRISTINE DOLEN Richard Jay Simon is a gambler. Not the kind who spends every spare hour in a casino, though he's good enough that he once played in the World Series of Poker, and he has a Fantasy Football team in a league with other South Florida theater types. Simon's biggest gamble: He bet he could create a successful professional theater company. In Broward County -- far West Broward, yet -- not the most welcoming place for aspiring theaters. And it would be in a black-box space in his former high school. Sounds risky, right? But as the growing, enthusiastic audience at the Mosaic Theatre in Plantation would be only too happy to tell you, don't bet against a dreamer who does his homework. ''I did a year of due diligence before I decided to start the theater,'' says Simon, who launched Mosaic in May 2001 at his alma mater, American Heritage School. 'I got a grasp of the theatrical landscape. I asked a million questions. I had a map of Dade and Broward in my bedroom, with pins in it representing every existing theater, so I could figure out what was missing. There was nothing in West Broward, and there weren't many theaters doing Off-Broadway plays. So I just thought, `If you build it, they will come -- if you do good, solid work.' '' Simon's journey from idea to reality hasn't been simple or trouble free. In 2007, for example, he reluctantly dropped his planned production of the controversial My Name is Rachel Corrie, a play about a young American activist killed while trying to help Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, because of protests (to the school, his board and himself) from Jewish groups and individuals. ''In the interest of protecting the organization,'' Simon says, ``I had to pull the plug.'' But this weekend, as he opens Mosaic's 37th production -- Conor McPherson's amusing, unsettling Broadway hit The Seafarer -- he can feel himself getting ever closer to the theater of his dreams. SCHOOL DAYS The son of dermatologist Paul Simon and his wife Mimi, who retains the soft accent of her native Alabama, Simon grew up in Hollywood and got interested in the arts at American Heritage. His teacher and mentor was Jim Usher, now chairman of the school's Fine Arts Department and the man who lured Simon back to Broward. ''We had nothing then. We worked out of a cafetorium,'' says Usher, who presides over a department with 27 full-time faculty members and the $28 million American Heritage Center for the Arts, where Mosaic makes its home. 'By the time Richard became a senior [in 1992-93], we had initiated senior directing projects. We stayed in touch all through his years at Ithaca College. I kept him up on the building. After he had graduated and been working a year or so, I said, `We have a black box. I'd really like a professional company stationed there, to create a great symbiotic relationship.' '' Though Simon had charted his post-collegiate course by taking freelance directing jobs and working as an artistic associate at Chicago's Court Theatre so he could learn how a company crafts contracts and works with unions, he longed to produce and direct plays that made him feel passionate. So when Usher reached out, Simon decided to come home. At the beginning, his parents helped a lot and were happy to do it. ''He called and told us he wanted to come back and fulfill his dream,'' says Simon's father, who sits on the theater's board. 'Our answer, without any hesitation, was, `Go for it.' It was the right decision. To see his passion, and the passion of the other artists he works with, is worth supporting -- emotionally, financially, in any way possible.'' Beyond the family backing, Mosaic's presence at American Heritage has been key to its survival and growth; without it, Simon says, ``we wouldn't exist.'' Founder and president William Laurie felt the school would benefit from having professionals on campus interacting with the students. The school gives Mosaic space rent free, along with free use of equipment, lighting, storage, Internet service, phone lines and office space. Laurie, who goes to most of Mosaic's shows, says, ``I really get a great deal of pleasure from seeing the work. Richard was one of my favorite students when he went to school here.'' SUM OF THE PARTS Simon, 33, chose Mosaic as his theater's name because he liked the image of little elements coming together to form an artistic whole. He started modestly, and so did the size of his audiences. His 2001-2002 season, which included plays by John Patrick Shanley, Frank McGuinness and Lee Blessing, cost $60,000 and attracted 50 subscribers. McGuinness' Someone Who'll Watch Over Me was, he says, ''the greatest show Broward County never saw. Sometimes, we played to six or eight people.'' For the first few years, Simon didn't draw a salary, taking telemarketing and security jobs to support himself. But from the beginning, Simon stayed focused on the kind of theater he wanted to build. ''Richard was acting according to what he wanted Mosaic to be,'' says Ken Clement, a member of the Seafarer cast, his seventh Mosaic show. ``I get treated better here than at some larger theaters. This has become the anchor of Broward theaters.'' Today's Mosaic is quite different. This season, which began with a hit production of August Wilson's Radio Golf, will also feature productions of Sarah Ruhl's dead man's cell phone, Winter Miller's In Darfur and Neil Labute's In a Dark Dark House. Mosaic's budget is now $400,000 (earned through ticket sales, grants and donations), and there are 1,800 subscribers to the 2008-2009 season in the 120-seat theater. Though his audiences are still full of older theatergoers, many now come from Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties as well as Broward. And however edgy the play, they seem to embrace Simon's work. ''They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, yet Richard continually does it,'' Usher says. ``They keep coming back for more.'' Simon's success, say those who know him, has to do with much more than the backing of American Heritage and his family. They paint a picture of a tenacious, hard-working artist with a collaborative directing style, a penchant for picking strong scripts, a drive to work with the region's best actors and designers, and a vision of how Mosaic can continue to evolve. Simon cites Joseph Adler, artistic director of GableStage, as an influence and a mentor. The two now sometimes compete for the same hot scripts, something that ''keeps me on my toes. I have to move quickly,'' Adler says with a laugh. He adds: ``Richard has a rare combination of business skills and the ability to make wise aesthetic decisions. That's why he's come so far so fast.'' Other artistic directors -- Deborah L. Sherman of the Davie-based Promethean Theatre, Antonio Amadeo of The Naked Stage in Miami Shores and Paul Tei of Miami's Mad Cat -- also laud Simon's range of skills. ''Richard's work is so solid and competitive and worth leaving home to see,'' says Sherman. ``More people should look at how Richard has structured Mosaic -- how he casts, his design team, the shows he chooses. That's what a producer does. He's smart -- very, very smart. And he knows how to market his shows.'' Amadeo, whose parts at Mosaic have included the title role in The Elephant Man and the lead in Adam Rapp's provocative Red Light Winter, finds Simon ``an inspiration. ''As an actor, I love working with him,'' Amadeo says. ``He has faith in me and hires me because he trusts me. He treats me with dignity and respect.'' Tei captured two of the four Carbonell Awards that Mosaic won last spring, one for his lead performance in Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio, the other for his supporting work in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. He has also directed at Simon's theater and says frankly that outside of running his own company, ``If it weren't for Richard, I wouldn't be working a lot. These are all choice parts. Dream roles. I've been thankful to do them.'' Despite his relative youth, Simon sometimes comes off like a focused old soul. Mary Becht, director of Broward's Cultural Division, worked with Simon while he served as chair of the Cultural Executives Committee. She goes to his theater and says of his style as a cultural leader, ``He takes things so seriously. He always follows through.'' PLAY TIME He's not all work, though. Tei says Simon is a great practical joker, someone who will give you ''a bottle of Jack Daniels that he's emptied out and filled with fire water.'' Simon's ''roommate'' at his Plantation home is Suzie-Q, a Greater Sulphur Crested Cockatoo that (unfortunately for Simon and his girlfriend) ''doesn't like women.'' Besides poker and Fantasy Football, Simon plays a fierce game of Ping-Pong. For all he has accomplished, Simon isn't done dreaming. His long-range plans include trying to attract an elusive younger audience, hiring a development director, having his own 200- to 250-seat theater, and continuing to elevate his work by surrounding himself ``with people who are better than me, because it is a collaborative art form.'' Ultimately, he says, he'd like Mosaic's work to matter on a national level, like the theater at Chicago's Steppenwolf or Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage. An impossible dream? Maybe so. But Simon's admirers wouldn't bet against him.   http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=16 Congratulations Mosaic Theatre!!! Proud Recipient of 6 Carbonell Awards! Best Production of a Play: The Seafarer Best Director: Richard Jay Simon, The Seafarer Best Actor: Gregg Weiner, The Seafarer Best Supporting Actor: Dennis Creaghan, The Seafarer Best Supporting Actress: Kim Morgan Dean, A Body of Water Best Set Design: Sean McClelland, The Seafarer http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=18 Mosaic Theatre Season Auditions will take place on Sunday, June 28 (1-5) and Monday, June 29 (5:30-9). Please prepare two contrasting monologues not to exceed a total of three minutes. Singing auditions for our musical will be announced shortly. Please call Jon at (954) 577-8243 or e-mail jsaldivar@mosaictheatre.com with your name, telephone number, preferred audition date/time and he will confirm your audition appointment. Please bring two headshots and resumes to your audition. Thank you and good luck! http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=20 Ambitious Mosaic Theatre recreates challenging Tom Stoppard play By CHRISTINE DOLEN cdolen@MiamiHerald.com Tom Stoppard's smart, provocative plays are magnets for audiences who crave theater that sparks both thought and emotion -- and for artists who relish the bottomless challenge of bringing the playwright's rich worlds to life. When the Czech-born British writer's plays cross the Atlantic, they become must-see, much-honored theater in New York and at major companies around the United States. Those works include the nine-hour Coast of Utopia trilogy (about Russian intellectuals and the roots of radical politics), Jumpers, Travesties, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Thing, The Invention of Love and Arcadia. Yet those meaty plays are rarely produced by South Florida's professional theaters, doubtless for reasons ranging from cast size to the plays' intellectual heft. Stoppard's work has been neglected here since GableStage revived The Real Thing at the start of 2001. That drought ends this weekend as Plantation's Mosaic Theatre kicks off its season with the playwright's most recent Broadway hit, Rock 'n' Roll. Rehearsals for the play, which travels from Cambridge to Prague between 1968 and 1990, have been a frenzy of hard work, intellectual investigation, moments of illumination and occasional bouts of fear. ``I'm not smart enough for this,'' jokes Antonio Amadeo, who plays Stoppard's sort-of-alter ego Jan in Rock 'n' Roll. ``But this was written by someone who knows what he's doing. It's a joy to go home with my brain oozing out of my ears.'' A VAST CANVAS Rock 'n' Roll is, in fact, daunting for everyone involved. Parts of its vast canvas include the Prague spring of 1968, when the Soviet Union brought a brutal end to the attempted reforms of Czech leader Alexander Dubcek; the Velvet Revolution of 1989, with the nonviolent overthrow of Gustáv Husák's repressive government and election of playwright/dissident Václav Havel as president; the Czech band Plastic People of the Universe; the music of Pink Floyd and founding member Roger ``Syd'' Barrett; Marxism; the poet Sappho -- well, there's more, much more. Mosaic's artistic director, Richard Jay Simon, knew that Rock 'n' Roll would be a challenge for him, his cast, his designers and his audience. At first, he was put off by the size of the cast: Though the script's 19 roles can be played by a dozen actors, that's still a large and expensive company. But having worked hard since he founded Mosaic in 2001 to build it into the kind of theater that won six Carbonell Awards in April, and having fallen in love with the play, Simon felt ready for a challenge that would make his brain tingle. ``I don't remember a project where I had to cram so much into my brain,'' he says. ``Communism, Sappho, mythology, politics, all of the political figures in Czechoslovakia -- I hardly knew anything. You worry whether the audience will get it, even if you have a guide in the program. But if we tell the story and make the relationships compelling, then it's OK. His plays are a little bit dense, but they're meant to be seen, not read. . . . The storytelling is incredibly rich.'' Anchoring the cast are three Carbonell Award-winning actors: Gordon McConnell, Laura Turnbull and Amadeo. Simon says he chose them because he knew -- beyond their obvious talent -- the discipline, thirst for research and depth of understanding they could bring to their roles and to the play itself. McConnell plays Max, a prickly British professor and unrepentant Communist who's angry that his protegé Jan has decided to return to Prague to fight for reform. In the first act, Turnbull plays Max's wife Eleanor, a classical scholar who's dying of cancer; in the second, she's their daughter Esme, an ex-hippie who once fancied Jan. WHAT IF? Amadeo sees the music-loving Jan as the celebrated Stoppard ``in an alternate universe, asking what if he had gone back to Czechoslovakia.'' (He didn't, though he became a translator of Havel's work.) None of the actors has ever done a Stoppard play. Turnbull has done research about Eleanor's academic field, focusing on people she knows who have fought cancer and refused to give up, developing a different personality and voice for Esme. It is, she says, ``very exciting. I'm happy to come to rehearsal.'' McConnell has used a bit of family history -- his uncle Kenneth McLachlan was a passionate Scottish communist -- to find his way into Max. ``He's a hard-line ideological communist who has no idea that the practical application of this great idea is not working,'' says the actor, who likens Max's personality to the prickly lead character on TV's House. And all those references, all that history? ``The bottom line is characterization,'' says McConnell. ``We all have our characters solid. The history is an overlay.'' Christine Dolen is The Miami Herald's theater critic. http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=21 Congratulations Mosaic Theatre!!! Proud Recipient of 9 Carbonell Award Nominations for 2010!   ·     Best Production: Why Torture is Wrong and the People Who Love Them ·     Best Director: Richard Jay Simon, Why Torture is Wrong ·     Best Actress: Barbara Bradshaw, Why Torture is Wrong ·     Best Actress: Laura Turnbull, Rock 'N' Roll ·     Best Supporting Actress: Miriam Wiener, In a Dark Dark House ·     Best Supporting Actor: Erik Fabregat, Why Torture is Wrong ·     Best Set Design: Sean McClelland, In a Dark Dark House ·     Best Lighting Design: Suzanne Jones, In a Dark Dark House ·     Best Lighting Design: Jeff Quinn, Why Torture is Wrong   http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=22   TEN QUESTIONS WITH CHRISTOPHER SHINN, AUTHOR OF PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST, DYING CITY   Thank you so much for spending a few minutes with us. We are incredibly honored and very excited to be working on your play, Dying City. Crafting some questions for you without giving too much away about the play is a bit of a challenge as we don’t want to spoil the play but here we go.   Q. As I am just starting to crack open Dying City it has become apparent, as a Pulitzer Prize finalist, that your brain should be placed in formaldehyde. What was the impetus for this specific play and how different, if at all, might Dying City be had you written it under the Obama administration?   A. President Obama is committed to keeping US troops in Iraq and he has increased the number of troops in Afghanistan. He has also significantly increased the use of unmanned drones along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Many Bush era anti-terrorism policies remain in place. What’s different is that there hasn’t been a scandal like Abu Ghraib under his watch (an event which was the impetus for my beginning the play in 2005), and his rhetoric is much different than Bush’s. There doesn’t appear to be the love of violence that Bush at times seemed to convey. So I think if I were writing the play today I might explore how violence works in psyches less prone to idealize it, and I might not emphasize the links between sexuality and violence as much (although in mainstream pornography this link remains strong and worthy of interrogation). But the core of the play – the apparent allure and inevitability of violence for the individual and the collective – would remain more or less unchanged.    Q. Did you ever consider a different title for this piece to make it more attractive to producers? Colleagues told me they were afraid to include this piece in their season because they thought the title would scare folks from purchasing tickets. Clearly, I disagree. What would you say to audiences who might hesitate to buy a ticket because of the title, Dying City?     A. I’m afraid I agree with your colleagues! At one theatre, despite excellent reviews tickets did not sell enough to warrant an extension. When the artistic director told me he couldn’t extend the play he felt the need to apologize. I told him, “If I had wanted a big audience, I wouldn’t have put the word dying in the title of my play.” I knew it was not the way to build an audience. But in a time of war, when people were actually dying, I felt like the least I could do was favor representing the truth of my play in the title over attracting audiences.   Q. I recall taking playwrighting classes and one credo always preached is to write what you know. Dying City tackles a mosaic of themes and raises important questions about the human condition. How much of the play is drawn from your personal well versus your imagination and research?      A. I did speak to one soldier on inactive duty who had gone through Harvard ROTC, but most of the play came from my direct experience. It all gets disguised, of course, but if the subject of a play didn’t come from my unconscious or my actual lived experience, I don’t think it would feel authentic onstage.    Q. You told me in a previous discussion that you feel the greatest American play of all time is Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night. What influence did that play have on you and the crafting of Dying City?   A. I just thought about how brave O’Neill was to write such a dark play. I thought, “I want to be in that tradition. If he can do it, so can I.” And sometimes I get nervous about writing characters who are actors (worrying it’s self-indulgent). Whenever I do that, Long Day’s Journey Into Night always give me permission to forge ahead!   Q. Is there is one tangible or intangible thing you hope audiences leave with, after experiencing your play?    A. No.   Q. Please walk us through how you found out that your play, Dying City, was under consideration for the Pulitzer Prize.   A. Well, you usually get submitted by whatever theatre you’re working at and they tell you they’re doing it. Then you wait!   Q. Your career as a playwright really got a jumpstart in London instead of the US. How did that happen and how has your association with the Royal Court influenced you as a writer and made your work more accessible in the US?   A. It happened because I submitted my work to the Royal Court and they produced it! As simple as that. I think what the Court gave me is faith in myself. They didn’t put me through a developmental process, they just did the work. When I saw that my plays worked with audiences there, I had greater confidence in New York to stand up for myself and resist any kind of developmental pressure to change what I knew had worked onstage before.   Q. What playwrights inspire you and why?   A. I like playwrights who try to represent the human psyche in all its depth and complexity. Obviously Shakespeare did that really well, as did Ibsen and Chekhov. Among my contemporaries I think Keith Bunin and Itamar Moses are both doing incredibly deep work.   Q. If you didn’t have a life in the theater, as playwright and teacher, what occupation might you pursue other than being a psychiatrist?   A. I’d love to be an artistic director of a theatre, and I have a pretty elaborate fantasy about the kind of theatre I’d run if I won the lottery tomorrow. I wouldn’t mind being an English professor because I’d get to read a lot, which I don’t have enough time to do. Increasingly I’m interested in anthropology and theology. If I could find a job that would just let me do research all day, that would be ideal!   Q. What are you currently working on? Is there anything in the news that you plan to rip down from the headlines and tackle as a writer?   A. I’m always trying to push myself past my resistances into whatever is most pressing in my unconscious. I follow the news very closely so that what’s inside of me can resonate with what’s happening in the world.   http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=23 THEATER Review | 'Dying City' brilliantly shifts plot to make powerful drama /* * Tell JavaScript how much of each type of content there is */ storyVideoCount = 0; storyVideoBoxCount = 0; storyVideoOldTypeCount = 0; storyAudioCount = 0; storyPhotoCount = 1; storyPhotoGalleryCount = 0; storyGoogleMapCount = 0; storyMapBoxCount = 0;   What: `Dying City' by Christopher Shinn IF YOU GO Where: Mosaic Theatre production at the American Heritage Center for the Arts, 12200 W. Broward Blvd., Bldg. 3000, Plantation, through May 9 When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday Cost: $37 ($31 seniors 65 and older, $15 students) Info: 954-577-8243 or www.mosaictheatre.com BY CHRISTINE DOLEN cdolen@MiamiHerald.com Christopher Shinn's Dying City is a play full of shifting perspectives, both for the characters and for those observing them. Shinn studs his mesmerizing drama with hidden IEDs, plot points that suddenly explode, blowing up your assumptions about a soldier, his widow and his twin. Yet there is nothing improvised about the intricately crafted Dying City. A finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for drama, Dying City has just opened at Plantation's Mosaic Theatre in an absolutely gripping production. Director Richard Jay Simon and his two-person, three-character cast expertly keep the pendulum of the play's action swinging back and forth from one long night in 2004, when a Harvard Ph.D. candidate is about resume his life as a soldier in Iraq, to the summer of 2005, when the soldier's twin makes an unwelcome visit to his brother's widow. The structure is tricky to navigate: As the widowed Kelly, Erin Joy Schmidt must shift from playing a wife on a life-altering night to a woman steeped in traumatized mourning, making that shift over and over. Ricky Waugh has an even larger challenge, portraying the tough soldier Craig and Craig's gay actor-brother Peter, the latter on both fateful nights. It's easy enough to differentiate the brothers through costume choices, as designer K. Blair Brown does. But Waugh digs much deeper, creating two distinct human beings. Writing about Dying City is a challenge, too. So much of the play's impact depends on the sudden detonation of secrets, and it would be unfair to reveal those things outside the context of seeing the play. But here's what you can know, going in. Kelly is sitting in a chic, nearly barren Manhattan apartment (the set is by Douglas Grinn), settling in to watch yet another episode of Law & Order, when someone presses the buzzer outside her building. She takes forever deciding whether to respond, then another forever deciding whether to ask her brother-in-law to come up (hesitancy is one thing, but Schmidt pushes these moments into beyond-rude territory). Peter, we soon learn, is a movie star who has been in town for months, starring in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. Yet this is the first time since Craig's funeral that he's come to visit. And it's clear from Kelly's nervousness and body language that the unexpected reunion isn't something she wants. But why? Piece by piece, the puzzle gets assembled. Kelly is a psychologist, no stranger to family abuse, whose clients include a man who relishes describing his conquests to her. Peter, though in a long-term relationship, has voracious sexual appetites. Craig, on the morning he shipped out, was a mental mess struggling to hold it together as his eyes glistened with tears welling from the deepest, darkest place within him. One could quibble about certain moments or choices in both the script and Mosaic's production of Dying City. And yet, when this drama works -- particularly as you watch a marriage implode -- there isn't a whiff of make-believe. Just one brilliantly powerful play. Christine Dolen is The Herald's theater critic.     BUY TICKETS NOW http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=24 Dying City at Mosaic Theatre: A Deep, Dark Drama By Brandon K. Thorp published: April 22, 2010 Details: Dying City, written by Christopher Shinn; directed by Richard J. Simon. Presented through May 9 at the Mosaic Theatre,12200 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation. 954-577-8243; click here.   Be advised, dear reader: On opening night, Mosaic Theatre's Dying City was so gripping that this reviewer forgot to take a single note. Therefore, anything I say about the show is reconstructed from memory and from conversations with other people who were there. Not that they're much help. Because Dying City is a show that dazes you, like a truncheon to the head. It's the kind of show for which people can barely applaud, even if they know that what they've seen is worthy of a standing ovation and multiple curtain calls. Leaving the theater after a performance of Dying City at the Mosaic feels like waking up, half-stoned, in a tub full of ice water and realizing you've got a fresh scar just beginning to heal on your abdomen, right over the place where one of your kidneys should be. So it's not an easy play to see or think about, and my impressions are all over the place. I suggest you see it for yourself. Now, to the review:  I don't envy Erin Joy Schmidt. In Christopher Shinn's virtuosic doom-and-gloom extravaganza, she is almost never allowed to leave the stage, whereupon two men are subjecting her to degradations so weird, subtle, and awful that even the misogynists in the audience can't predict what will happen next. This continues for 90 minutes or so, and then it stops. The play closes with Schmidt watching The Daily Show in the stillness of her New York apartment, laughing. That laughter is the one part of Schmidt's performance that looks like acting. It's probably intentional, but I doubt she could change the situation if she tried. Laughing at the end of Dying City would be like giving in to a giggle at the end of a one-woman show by Lars Van Trier. Here's what happened: She has just bid adieu to her dead husband's twin brother, Craig (Ricky Waugh). It had been a while since they'd seen each other: Schmidt's character, a therapist named Kelly, seemingly disappeared after her husband's death in Iraq. (He was an officer, and he accidentally shot himself in front of his men.) She put in an appearance at the funeral, and then, shortly after receiving a letter from Craig, changed her phone number. We never learn much about that letter, save this: In it, Craig offered to have a baby with Kelly, since she and her husband never got around to it.  Craig is gay, a newly famous actor of stage and screen. He's a nervous man and spends most of the show projecting a terrible, unspoken loneliness. This is expressed by Waugh as an intense preoccupation with his own inner monologue. He casts his eyes down during line after line, as though he's reading from a script on his lap. He lingers over reports of his own feelings, which he shares with Kelly like gossip. Here is a man used to the company of his own thoughts. We'd like to pity him, and we'd like to like him. The idea that a lonely, successful gay man might have a baby with his lonely, grieving sister-in-law — a baby, moreover, who would be genetically identical to the one she might have had with her husband — ought to please us. It doesn't. Despite the seeming innocence of Kelly and Craig's reunion, just after curtain up, we almost immediately sense there is something wrong. We sense it even before Waugh takes the stage. The play begins with Kelly on her couch, watching Law and Order, and the series' ambient music clashes so violently with Dying City's background piano noodlings that I, at least, felt the first stirrings of a fight-or-flight response in my gut. The discord becomes torturous when Kelly's intercom buzzes, signaling Craig's arrival downstairs. Kelly must be feeling some of our own unease: It takes her a long time to get to the intercom and find out who's come calling, and as she makes her way there, the terror on her face is so out of proportion to what's going on that I half-assumed she would open her door to find not her ex-brother-in-law but a raven astride a bust of Pallas. That would be better than the truth, though "truth" doesn't reveal itself for a while. In the meantime, we cut from present-day scenes of awkward conversation between Kelly and Craig — conversations that seem to be groping toward sweetness, but never quite make it — to scenes from over a year earlier, on the night before Kelly's husband, Peter, was to fly to Camp Benning and then to Iraq. You'd think these flashbacks would be happier than the present-day scenes, but you'd be wrong. There has been a sendoff party for Peter (who, like Craig, is played by Waugh), and it's over now. As the hour grows late and we see more and more of Kelly and Peter's nighttime patter, unpleasant things begin floating up through the soft surfaces of their talk. At least superficially, Peter is very different from Craig: Whereas Craig seems gentle, introverted, and mealy-mouthed, Peter is gruff — and, we see, cruel. He makes lightning-quick moral judgments on people of all kinds, from his wife to his brother to people he's only ever heard about. It's boorish and offensive, and only Kelly seems not to notice. She's used to it. The nightmare that is Dying City has yet to begin for her; the men have lived there a long time. As they talk about the war, about children, and about love, it seems that they're speaking to each other from different worlds: She from the world of domestic tranquility, he from some filthy corner into which he's been backed by something evil and unseen. She is languid; he is full of hate. They do not truly understand each other until later — when Peter delivers a piece of news, which for Kelly marks the beginning of her own long nightmare and which for us provides an explanation. And what is that nightmare? What might turn a play about a farewell party and a reunion into a horror show? I don't think I should say. Dying City is about the hidden parts of people, about how corruption can live in the hearts of those we love as well as those we hate, and the only appropriate response is surprise. It doesn't really matter what brought about Kelly's undoing anyway: The interesting question is why she was undone — by Craig, no less than Peter. The two brothers are very much the same, despite their superficial variances. There is a window in Kelly's apartment through which, in 2001, she and Peter watched the Twin Towers burn and fall. Both Peter and Craig come back to that moment, again and again — talking about what it meant, how it felt. When they do, they stand in front of that window, looking out, as though they could see the towers burning still, and the same funny look comes into their eyes. Not grief, necessarily, so much as curiosity. It's worth noting that the window isn't part of the set at all. It is affixed to the fourth wall — the invisible wall through which the audience views the play's action. Craig and Peter are looking out at the audience when they see those flaming husks. They look at ordinary people, and they see a disaster.  BUY TICKETS NOW http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=28 For audio, adjust volume control above. http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=30   June 8, 2010   JERRY LAYTON'S CURTAIN CALLS   'GROUNDSWELL," A BLAZING MASTERPIECE   by Jerry Layton      In the perilous days before the abolition of apartheid, South African writers like Athol Fugard and Alan Paton carried on the fight for the removal of the rotten and repressive social system. However, since nominal black/white equality has been achieved. scribes have been strangely silent in describing the realities of the new order.    Until now. Ian Bruce has taken up the mantle of his predecessors and is now the award-winning voice of new South Africa.    "Groundswell", now in residence at the Mosaic Theatre, is the perfect way for you to get to know this important new dramatic talent.    This production is a blazing masterpiece. It sizzles, sparks and pulsates. Sometimes it's even too hot to handle.     "Groundswell" is the story of how misplaced dreams and greed can destroy the finest of men.    Thami and Johan are strange bedfellows. The former is a black man, whose father was one of the last mysterious victims of the old ways. Thami is the new black South Africa. He is educated; he has hopes. He wants wealth and success. He visualizes himself as the future master of an agricultural empire.    He also wants revenge for the evil that had been done to his people and his family.    He has a core of intense blue fire.    Johan is a loose cannon, in the most dangerous sense of the word. He is insane, keeping only the most tenuous hold of reality and his emotions.    Madness blazes out of his eyes, and you know, every minute, you must walk cautiously with him.    Johan is a former police man who killed a black man, because it was allowed. He served two years for that crime, and he seethes with resentment at the supposed injustice.    As with so much else in South Africa, the action revolves around diamonds. The government is offering for sale leases on played out rive diamond claims (a scam). To the two men this spells opportunity. It is the means to overcome all the wrongs that have been done to them. They fool themselves into overlooking the hopelessness of the situation, and focus on the dream.    They have the chance; they have the skill.   All they need is the money, 200,000 rand.    They propose to get it from a mysterious Mr. Smith who just happens to show up at the remote hotel where they both work.    To them he is providence, and they immediately cast him in the role of their benefactor, willing or not.    From his very arrival, they begin to acquaint the puzzled Mr. Smith with his role in the night's drama. There are broad hints, then no so subtle implications. At first, the mood is light, but it rapidly darkens when Johan, a drunk, starts in on the wine    When Smith refuses to finance them, Johan whips out a wicked looking knife and begins to menace Smith. After that, it's off to the races with action ricocheting all over the stage, and the audience hanging on every word.    Johan becomes the mouthpiece for every injured group in South Africa. He chides Smith for being born rich and living unconcerned about poor blacks and whites. He tries to convince Smith that he owes a debt to the disenfranchised of any race.    Smith is not buying. In a powerful speech, he points out that he has earned his living, has not stolen from anyone and he has lived a good and charitable life. If anything, he has been a victim of his society.    However, to save his life, he signs a check and flees. Johan realizies that he can countermand it the next day and report him to the police. To save his neck, and as a final surrender, he plans to kill Smith.    When Thami objects, Johan turns the blade on him.    The audience sits riveted wondering how all this menace will play out.    Richard J. Simon has chosen this well-made play with great sagacity, and he directs with a fist of iron. His production is turbo-charged and kinetic    As Johan, Gregg Weiner is a mesmerizing actor. You can see no sanity or salvation in him His brooding and menace is palpable and threatening.    His is an incandescent performance.    Chales Marckenson, as Thami, is a remarkable theatrical discovery. Just recently graduated from the New School, this is his professional debut, but he shows the polish and control that many veterans take years to achieve. He has a presence, a quiet dignity and shows great promise for a long career. Peter Haig, as Smith, is the old master showing the young boys how much attention you can attract by a quiet, seasoned and controlled performance.    Douglas Grinn has created a dynamic and opulent setting of the comfortable hotel. It is a rich canvas against which to mount a powerful production. http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=31  Now, About Those Diamonds by Roger Martin on June 08, 2010 Peter Haig, Gregg Weiner, and Marckenson Charles. Richard Jay Simon's Mosaic Theatre is playing with the big boys. What was once a black box with barren sets and scant audience has now, over the years, become professional with every good meaning of the word. The production values and the direction and acting demonstrated in Mosaic's current show, Groundswell, are the equal of any regional theatre in this area. Simon runs Mosaic as a business, evident in the packed houses watching his shows. Evident, too, in the people he hires and the shows he selects. The people he hires: Douglas Grinn, scenic designer and technical director; John D. Hall, lighting designer; Matt Corey, sound designer; K. Blair Brown, costume designer; Luann Cardinal, properties master; Naomi Zapata, production stage manager; Marckenson Charles, actor; Peter Haig, actor; Gregg Weiner, actor; and Richard Jay Simon, director. Throw this gang together and you get ninety minutes of really good theatre. Groundswell, set on an isolated beach on the west coast of South Africa, is playwright Ian Bruce's rage against the politics and injustices of his home country. But it is not all strident posturing here as Gregg Weiner, menacing but you gotta love the guy, Peter Haig, forever the gentleman and Marckeson Charles, slyer than you first suspect, strive to survive. Marckeson Charles is the perfect black servant, Thami, opening a luxury lodge off-season to guest Smith, a wealthy businessman played by Peter Haig. Gregg Weiner is Johan, an ex-policeman, fired unjustly, he believes, and now living in a cottage on the lodge grounds. He's a handyman and earns extra money diving in the sea for diamonds scattered in the sand. Thami and Johan want Smith to finance them into a small diamond mining operation. It is the only way they'll escape their desperate lives. Richard Jay Simon directed the old pros Haig and Weiner and Charles, an old pro in this, his first professional production. There's not a mis-step to be seen here. I had the pleasure of seeing Charles recently in his original one-man show: Ballad Of A Child Soldier. Impressive. A young actor with a large future. You know the old semi-witticism “exiting the theatre singing the set”? It's generally used when nothing else resonates, but in the case of Groundswell you'll be singing the set and the lights and the sound regardless of the excellent performances on stage. Fog rolls, the warning bell tolls on its offshore buoy, bushes bend in the blustery winds and I swear I saw the shadow of his dog following Johan on his first exit. It's good stuff. Groundswell plays at The Mosaic Theatre through June 27. The Mosaic Theatre, 12200 West Broward Blvd., Plantation. For tickets call 954.577.8243 or visit www.mosaictheatre.com. http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=32   IT’S AFFIRMATIVE FOR THIS MOSAIC PRODUCTION – AS WEINER, HAIG AND CHARLES SHINE ON STAGE By Ron Levitt Florida Media News / ENV Magazine Tackling a subject right out of a social upheavel usually makes for high drama and --- thanks to a trio of unusually gifted actors., superb direction and an exceptional  script – Groundswell,  the current production at Plantation’s Mosaic Theatre does not disappoint. In fact, it provides another opportunity for Mosaic’s founder/artistic director Richard Jay Simon, to claim the title as Broward’s home for significant drama. The historic level, in Groundswell’s case, is the still-memorable time after South Africa went from apartheid to democratic rule – all too familiar in our lifetime. But playwright Ian Bruce takes on the subject with a thriller level plot – how change affects individuals in the evolving South Africa, including relationships  between blacks and whites, and asks   the many questions as to one’s debt to society and the lingering (and familiar) subject of  affirmative action. Bruce allows his audience to feel the individual reaction of those most affected by social change – a hearty task for any playwright. But, Bruce’s script  is not a story of the change from white to black rule. In the Florida premiere of his intense drama, of course, the history of South Africa after the end of apartheid   is what ignites the story,  but it is much more! It is a look at whether   individuals have a right to compensation  for past injustices,  the  extent of discrimination in the larger society, and who is responsible for righting the wrongs of a past era. Bruce does all of the above  - including questioning  injustices,  responsibility, and morality -- and yet it is mostly  an audience-applauding drama of three men. It details relationships in South Africa before and after the end of  apartheid and how choices affect individuals  personally. Groundswell is the tale of those in an evolving South African society. Gregg  Weiner and Marckenson Charles are caretakers of a small town beachfront  guesthouse, but their real hope is to find an investor which will allow them to mine an ocean-side setting as a diamond concession as a means to  provide them and their families a better life. Peter Haig is the retired businessman who has lost his career position and shows up as a guest at the lodge – a guest whom the caretakers envision as the one person who can make their dreams of riches come true. This is solid drama, which will keep you on the edge of your seats, not only because of the script and direction. Here is an example of the finest in South Florida acting.   Gregg Weiner, who collects Carbonells and other awards  for acting prowess like some of us do baseball cards, is exceptional,. His South African dialect (thanks to coach Kathryn Johnston ) is only  one reason to praise Weiner.   His performance is filled with vigor, reality and thunderous rage. When Weiner speaks, we are spellbound! The brilliant Peter Haig   (another  Carbonell collector )-- as the widower/business executive – also shines and as he cowers in fear after threats by the other men.  One  can feel the intensity, desperation, sensitivity and panic  of his character.  Haig, too, is marvelous! Not to be outdone, theatre newcomer Marckenson Charles – holds his own with these two veteran actors, Charles displays the faith and honesty which brings this thriller to a close. He is an actor with a future! Technically, Groundswell is A-One. The set by Douglas Grinn  is picture perfect, the kind o beachfront guest house one can imagine is frequented in season by well-heeled visitors.  Sound by Matt Corey also plays a significant role, and  lighting by John Hall is a key to the reality of this production A special congratulatory note to executive artistic director/Mosaic founder Richard Jay Simon who somehow or other seems to get the Florida rights to a widening number of topical and thrilling plays. There are theatre insiders who say that Simon in Broward and Joseph Adler in Miami-Dade are  two individuals who have special  contacts giving them the ability to produce extremely worthwhile, thought-provoking drama. Or, perhaps it is their reputation for stellar productions which entice so many to find a temporary outlet in their theatres. In any case, we – the audience – are the beneficiaries.   This particular play is not just about vicious, desperate men but about self-examination. It is – a word so often used nowadays but, in this case, well-deserved – “compelling.”. Groundswell run through June 27 at the Mosaic’s site in the American Heritage Center for the Arts, 12200 West Broward Blvd,  Plantation. It should not be missed. Call 954 577-8243 for tickets or learn more at www,mosaictheatre.com, http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=33 Review | Mosaic Theatre's 'Groundswell' provides a rare treat By CHRISTINE DOLEN cdolen@MiamiHerald.com GEORGE SCHIAVONE / GEORGE SCHIAVONE Gregg Weiner and Marckenson Charles play scheming South Africans in Groundswell at Plantation's Mosaic Theatre. Except when the International Hispanic Theatre Festival unfolds each July in Miami, South Florida isn't exactly a mecca for world drama. Sure, some companies here stage works from the Spanish-speaking world, and as in New York, British and Irish plays get a fair number of productions. But theater from, say, South Africa? That hardly ever gets done locally. Plantation's Mosaic Theatre has found an intense, compelling South African script to kick off its summer -- and no, the play isn't by the country's great Athol Fugard. Ian Bruce's Groundswell has been compared to the plays of both Fugard and David Mamet. Like Fugard's work, it is grounded in the interplay between black and white South Africans, both rooted in the legacy of apartheid. Like Mamet's, it brings together manipulative men determined to achieve an end, even if the cost of the prize is violence. Groundswell isn't as riveting or accomplished as the best work of either playwright, but it delivers insight, laughs and suspense in Mosaic's fine production. AN ISOLATED LODGE Set in an isolated tourist lodge stuck between the sea and the desert, Groundswell focuses on two different dreamers who have become unlikely allies.   Thami (Marckenson Charles) is a reserved black gardener whose wife and children live hundreds of miles away in primitive, impoverished conditions. He works as the lodge's off-season manager, saving, sending money home, dreaming of a better future for his beloved family. Johan (Gregg Weiner) is a wild-eyed white man, an alcoholic former cop who did time for manslaughter after the intended arrest of another black husband and father went terribly wrong. Thami, accepting Johan's story that the killing was accidental, has been coaxed into his friend's dream: Get one of the diamond concessions the government is offering, get rich relatively quickly and move into a brighter future as landowners. Trouble is, neither man has the money to make that dream come true. Enter the third point of the triangle, a white former investment banker named Smith (Peter Haig). Conveniently, Smith is a widower whose children and grandkids have moved away from their altered homeland. No one knows where he is. The phone is out. And Johan is prepared to go the distance to make sure Smith becomes their investment ``partner,'' willing or not. Yes, the plot is a bit contrived, but the play's exploration of racism, guilt, self-justification and bedrock decency keeps the audience constantly engaged. Director Richard Jay Simon and his artful design team -- particularly Douglas Grinn, whose handsome lodge set suggests both Africa and the seaside, and Matt Corey, who contributes the sounds of waves and a haunting bell -- vividly help bring the play's world to life. ACE ACTING But truly animating the relationships and tensions in Groundswell falls to Mosaic's gifted trio of actors. Haig, who sounds more British than South African, expertly crosses the lines from self-confidence to defensiveness to bald fear. Weiner makes Johan a quick-thinking, volatile con man who would be at home in any Mamet play. And Charles, who only recently graduated from Miami's New World School of the Arts, gives such a powerful yet nuanced performance in his professional debut that he splendidly -- sometimes hauntingly -- holds his own against two powerhouse actors.     Christine Dolen is The Miami Herald's theater critic. Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/06/v-print/1665812/mosaic-theatres-groundswell-provides.html#ixzz0qMagg8LW   http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=35 Following the record-breaking run of The Irish Curse, Award Winning Mosaic Theatre is proud to announce that Stephen Belber's Dusk Rings a Bell will feature a member of "Chicago's Elite 8," Jenny McKnight in the lead role of Molly to star in the first production of this play outside of New York. "We are incredibly fortunate to bring down the talents of Jenny McKnight coupled with multiple Carbonell Award Winning Actor Gregg Weiner," Executive/Artistic Director Richard Jay Simon said. "We are continuing to push the envelope to leverage a national identity. Jenny has worked at major theaters in Chicago and the midwest that are national models including Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, Milwaukee Rep, Indiana Rep, and Jeff Daniels' Purple Rose Theatre. This is a very exciting time for Mosaic Theatre and all South Florida audiences." To accomodate the schedule of Ms. McKnight, the dates of this production will be moved one week with a new opening of April 8 and the production will now close on May 1. Subscribers and/or ticketholders affected by this change (those with reservations for opening weekend 3/31-4/3) will be contacted shortly. For convenience, those individuals with opening weekend reservations can click here to change their selected dates. Dusk Rings a Bell runs April 7 - May 1, Thursdays through Saturdays @ 8:00 with a Saturday matinee at 3:00 and a Sunday matinee at 2:00. The play tells the story of Molly and Ray who unexpectedly meet 25 years after a one-afternoon adolescent fling. She has a successful media career; he owns a small landscaping business. Both begin to romanticize their chance reunion, but a renewed connection is disrupted and their encounter reveals two vastly different paths taken and two lonely souls attempting to reclaim a moment of possibility, when they were young and perhaps at their very best. http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=36 Mosaic Theatre is proud to announce exciting news regarding its Eleventh Anniversary Season and it is a tremendous honor to welcome both familiar faces and new ones to Mosaic Theatre. We are thrilled to announce three of our five outstanding productions for the new year!  The dates are all set and the exact order will be announced soon.  The final two shows are currently in negotiation and will be revealed shortly. There might be a work stoppage in the NFL but that won’t stop the greatest coach in its history from gracing our stage. Lombardi by Eric Simonson tells the story of legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi and his wife Marie. The play takes place mostly in November of 1965, when a young journalist from New York City, Michael McCormick, comes to live with the Lombardi family in order to write a story. Ten Chimneys by Jeffrey Hatcher is a lavish, new comedy where we discover what every Broadway star already knows – that the real drama not on stage, but behind the scenes. It is the late 1930s, and Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, the two most revered stars of the Broadway stage, have decided to perform Chekhov’s masterpiece The Seagull. But first they must retreat to ‘investigate’ the play at Ten Chimneys, their legendary Wisconsin estate, where they are surrounded by actors, family and hangers-on. When a young actress named Uta Hagen arrives, a romantic triangle begins to mirror the events in Chekhov’s play about passion and art. The result is a funny, poignant and revealing look at the private lives of great artists who never really leave the stage. The Edge of Our Bodies by Adam Rapp was a tremendous hit at this year’s Humana Festival and features Bernadette, sixteen, on the train from her New England private school to New York City to give her boyfriend some big news. Achingly articulate about all she can’t know or control, this play captures a young woman at the threshold of vulnerability and experience. Show #1: September 15 – October 9, 2011 Show #2: November 10 – December 4, 2011 Show #3: March 8 – April 1, 2012 Show #4: April 19 – May 13, 2012 Show #5: June 7 – July 1, 2012 Ultimate Flexibility Subscription Prices – You get five vouchers to use any way YOU want! Redeem your subscription based on YOUR schedule! Adults $167, Seniors $145, Students $64.  For each season subscription purchased by May 31st, you will receive one complimentary ticket for Sam Shepard’s Ages of the Moon (June 2-27). Already have a ticket to the show? Treat a friend or loved one to the gift of theater and bring them with you!  Individual tickets for next season are not yet available.  Buy Subscriptions here. http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=39  MOSAIC THEATRE (Best Theater Season of 2011 - New Times) proudly presents the Broadway Hit "LOMBARDI" starring Ray Abruzzo (The Sopranos, The Practice, Dynasty) Scoring TD's until December 4 BUY TICKETS   SPECIAL TAILGATING EVENTS     TAILGATE WITH JIM BERRY Friday, November 25 following the 8:00 performance – BUY TICKETS Jim Berry is the weeknight Sports Anchor for CBS4 News. He also anchors CBS4′s Miami Dolphin coverage and Sports Rap.  Jim joined CBS4 in August, 1996 from WBBM-TV, the CBS owned station in Chicago.  Jim is a three time Best of Miami winner, and has won five Emmys. He is also a recipient of the Silver Circle of Excellence award for a distinguished journalism career from the Suncoast chapter of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences.    TAILGATE WITH WILL MANSO Sunday, Nov. 27 following the 2:00 performance - BUY TICKETS Will Manso came back home to South Florida when he joined Local 10 in March of 1999. During his time here, Will has kept busy by working in sports, news and he's even dabbled in entertainment. He is now Local 10's Sports Director and also enjoys the chance to serve as host for special shows on Local 10.  TAILGATE WITH GREG COTE Saturday, November 26 after the 3:00 performance Greg Cote has been a Herald sports columnist known for his wit and sharp insight since 1995, after previously covering the Dolphins, University of Miami football and major events including Super Bowls, the World Cup and Barcelona Olympics. Greg and his infamous 'Upset Bird' present the ever-popular NFL predictions page every Friday during football season. TAILGATE WITH ANDREA BRODY Friday, Dec. 2 following the 8:00 performance Brody joined the Local 10 Sports team after an Emmy award-winning career split between covering news and sports. Her career began as anchor and producer of an ACE award-winning Public Affairs show in New York City. Brody returned to South Florida in 1997 as a general assignment reporter, and was named sports reporter in 2001. A year later, she was tapped to co-host “The George Michael Sports Machine” interviewing NFL greats like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Ray Lewis, to name a few.   Stay tuned to our website at www.mosaictheatre.com for more details on our Guest Speakers.   http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=40 » Click here for tickets http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=42 http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=43   PLANTATION--Award-winning Mosaic Theatre is excited to announce that Ariel Dorfman's Olivier Award winning play and recent London hit, Death and the Maiden, will replace Conor McPherson's The Birds as the third show of the company's 2011-2012 season. Executive/Artistic Director Richard Jay Simon said, "Playwright Conor McPherson requested that we delay our premiere and we will open our next season with The Birds in September. Selfishly, I'm excited about the switch because that gives me an opportunity to direct the piece which I absolutely love. Death and the Maiden is a modern classic that has always been a favorite of mine and I'm excited that we have the opportunity to do it. It's only a matter of time before this play is revived on Broadway and I'm pleased that we can do it first." Tony Award winners Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss and Gene Hackman starred in the original Broadway production of this political thriller. Set in an unnamed country that is, like the author's native Chile, emerging from a totalitarian dictatorship, the play explores the after-effects of repression on hearts and souls. This white knuckle thriller is a riveting intellectual and emotional tug of war. Guest director Avi Hoffman will direct a stellar cast featuring award-winning actors Stephen G. Anthony, Laura Turnbull and Oscar Cheda. The extraordinary creative team includes Set Designer Douglas Grinn, Lighting Designer Suzanne B. Jones, Sound Designer Matt Corey (2011 Carbonell Award Winner), Resident Costume Designer K. Blair Brown, Production Stage Manager Linda Harris and graphics/photography by George Schiavone. Death and the Maiden runs March 8 - April 1, Thursdays through Saturdays @ 8:00 with a Saturday matinee at 3:00 and a Sunday matinee at 2:00. All performances are at Mosaic Theatre located in the American Heritage Center for the Arts at 12200 West Broward Boulevard in Plantation. Ticket prices are $39.50 for adults, $34 for seniors, $15 for students. Group rates are also available. Tickets may be purchased by calling (954) 577-8243 or visiting www.mosaictheatre.com.   http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=44 PLANTATION--Award-winning Mosaic Theatre is excited to announce the winners of the "Jack Zink Spirit Award" to be presented at the “Dial M for Mosaic Theatre – Gala & Auction 2012” on Saturday, March 10. Award winners have demonstrated excellence in the areas of leadership, creativity, commitment and passion for the arts. This year Mosaic is thrilled to bestow the "Jack Zink Spirit Awards" upon Bill Hirschman and Publix Super Markets Charities. Mosaic Theatre renamed its annual "Spirit Awards" in August of 2008 to honor legendary theatre critic Jack Zink. The prestigious "Spirit Awards" recognize extraordinary souls who help drive forward the mission of the Mosaic Theatre and cultural arts in Broward County. It is only fitting that the magnificent sculpture should bear the name of a true cultural arts leader and advocate such as Mr. Zink. Wm. F. “Bill” Hirschman is the editor and chief critic for Florida Theater On Stage which he began with his wife, Oline H. Cogdill, in August as the latest act in a life that has intertwined journalism and the arts for more than 40 years. He has been a professional journalist since interning during high school in 1966 in Westchester County, New York. He began reviewing theater for the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 1998 and has written about the arts and reviewed books for several decades, especially books. His arts coverage has appeared in Variety, American Theatre magazine, Playbill.com, A & E magazine, the Miami Herald among many other outlets. His work as the founding critic for the South Florida Theater Review won him first place for arts criticism in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sunshine State Awards. He serves on the executive committee of the American Theatre Critics’ Association, treasurer of its Foundation and the chairman of its new plays competition which presents the Steinberg/ATCA Award.  Publix Super Markets Charities has a longstanding tradition of support for the mission of Mosaic Theatre and the arts in South Florida.  Publix is a privately-held company operating stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee, and was founded by George W. Jenkins in 1930 in Winter Haven, Florida. Jenkins founded Publix with the spirit of giving in mind. He was once asked, "If you hadn't given away so much, how much do you think you would be worth today?" His response, without hesitation: "Probably nothing." In tribute to his shining example, Publix Super Markets Charities continues to be a corporate giving leader and its philanthropic efforts continue to have a significant impact on youth, education, literacy, and the arts.               Tickets to join the winners at “Dial M for Mosaic Theatre – Gala & Auction 2012” or tribute ads may be purchased by calling Mosaic Theatre at (954) 577-8243 or online at www.mosaictheatre.com.    http://www.mosaictheatre.com/news_detail.php?id=45 STOP! THE VIOLENCE Video Contest Made Possible by Funding Arts Broward/Knight New Work Award Mosaic Theatre is excited to produce its first world premiere play as the theater has commissioned famed playwright Joe Calarco.  A Measure of Cruelty (April 19-May 13) is inspired by actual events of 2009 where a 15 year old boy, was doused with rubbing alcohol and set on fire by four teenagers, a tragic event that impacted South Florida’s local community and touched a nerve in our nation’s conscience, A Measure of Cruelty will address the ongoing problems of teen violence and bullying which continue to make national headlines. Mosaic’s STOP! THE VIOLENCE Video Contest encourages students to stand up and express their feelings about the increasing problem of bullying.   WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT We are looking for creative and innovative videos (2 to 5 minutes in length) from students that best communicate themes and issues associated with anti-bullying. Videos can be in ANY style you choose, so be creative! It can be a monologue, scene, song, illustration, animation, collage, dance – whatever medium YOU want. You are free to be as original as you want! Celebrity judges will select three finalists who will receive great prizes and the audiences who attend A Measure of Cruelty will vote for the top prize. Final results will be announced Monday, May 21, 2012.   WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE This video contest is open to any student in grades 9 – 12. Each student may submit one video submission and must have teacher approval. All videos must be the original work of the student and not infringe on the rights of a third party. Any video submitted may be used or reproduced by Mosaic Theatre without further consent.   WHEN IS THE DEADLINE You may submit your video between 9:00 AM EST January 23, 2012 and 9:00 AM EST April 2, 2012.   HOW DO I ENTER Send an email to videocontest@mosaictheatre.com with attached video file (or URL link to YouTube video) containing your full name, school name, school teacher, and a paragraph summary of your video entry.   Questions? Email videocontest@mosaictheatre.com or call (954) 577-8243.