Executive Artistic Director Carson Kievman has announced that SoBe Institute of the Arts (SoBe Arts) will present "Twelfth Night" as the first production of an annual Music & Shakespeare series. Dr. Kievman, who will direct "Twelfth Night," explains, "Our Music & Shakespeare series will explore an element of Shakespearean theater that has been lost over the years - that's the interplay between live music and drama. Music was a critical and integral part of the original productions of William Shakespeare, and 'Twelfth Night' is without question the most musical of all of Shakespeare's plays." Kievman notes that the SoBe Arts production will be integrated with Elizabethan music as it was in Shakespeare's day, and the series will include a free concert and a lecture/discussion. "As an arts education and performance institute which is home to professional musicians and actors alike, reintroducing connections between live music and classical drama is integral to our mission of making outstanding professional performance and arts education readily available to everyone." "Twelfth Night," which had its original stage production in approximately 1602, will preview at Little Stage Theater @ SoBe Arts Thursday March 18th and run for three consecutive weekends.
It is believed the title "Twelfth Night" refers to the Carnival-like festivities for a mid-winter feast of the Epiphany, which allowed for raucous behavior as an escape from the more established and sedate social order of the time. Shakespeare's consummate romantic comedy takes place in a festive environment in which three couples are brought together in topsy-turvy fashion. It begins with Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, expressing his love for the Countess Olivia. Meanwhile, the shipwrecked Viola disguises herself as a man and enters the Duke's service, who employs the young man (or so he believes) to woo Olivia for him. Viola secretly falls in love with the Duke, and Olivia falls in love with the young man who is really Viola in disguise, and the complexity of plots within plots continues, demonstrating Shakespeare at his very best. William Shakespeare was a master of illusion, gender confusion, mistaken identity, and unrequited love. "Twelfth Night," subtitled "What you will," has it all.About Little Stage Theater: The Carl Fisher Clubhouse / Little Stage Theater Complex is home to SoBe Institute of the Arts, located next to the Miami Beach Convention Center alongside the Dade Canal, in a park-like setting between the Miami Beach Botanical gardens and the Miami City Ballet. The theater, which was built in 1937 and known to South Floridians most recently as Acorn Theater, has been shuttered for many years. SoBe Arts and the City of Miami Beach have partnered to share the financial and time-consuming burden of its renovation. SoBe Arts opened the theater January 1, 2010 with a limited-run Grand Opening Cabaret (conceived and directed by Dr. Kievman) that not only enjoyed capacity crowds and was held over by popular demand, but earned SoBe Arts a 2010 Mastermind Award from Miami New Times.
About SoBe Institute of the Arts: SoBe Institute of the Arts (SoBe Arts) is a non-profit arts education 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization located at 2100 Washington Avenue, in the Miami Beach Cultural Arts district. SoBe Arts draws on a faculty of professional artists to provide high-caliber training in music, music-theater, theater, and dance. Small group and individual instruction is offered to adults and children, and full and partial scholarships are available for youth immersion classes and ensemble training. Now in its third performance season, the Institute has provided a series of acclaimed "Open Friday" concerts, multimedia events, "Art Speaks" lectures, and weekend "Music Unites!" family concerts, all free and open to the public. SoBe Arts mix of traditional, experimental, and multidisciplinary arts events has garnered it the reputation as the place to expect the unexpected.SoBe Institute of the Arts is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, and the City of Miami Beach.Videos