Playwright celebrates Coral Gables Centennial with a personal story about the city
The year was 1925 and Miami looked very different — fewer buildings, a lot more marshy wetland. Prohibition was in full effect and there was a land boom that could put today's real estate market to shame. It was also the same year the City of Coral Gables was incorporated.
In celebration of the City Beautiful's centennial, the Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre is hosting 'Greetings From Paradise,' a limited five-night engagement theatrical experience by June Thomson Morris that will transport audiences back in time.
The play, opening on Tuesday, tells the story about Miami's development and the land boom of the 1920s that changed the city's landscape forever. It parallels the stories of developers George Merrick, who established Coral Gables, and Carl Fisher, who built the Miami Beach we know today.
Behind the plot of these two real estate titans is a love story about a young girl from Indiana who boards a train to meet a boy in Miami. As Lucy and Robert's relationship progresses, so does the city around them.
The story is particularly personal for playwright Morris. The characters of Lucy and Robert are based on her grandparents.
'As a little girl, I heard the story [about Miami's development] directly from my grandmother's lips. She would tell me how she got on a train at age 19 back in 1924 and left her small town in Indiana and rode Henry Flagler's East Coast Railroad down to Miami… all to meet a man that she had met at a dance in Indianapolis.'
While Morris has always dreamed of writing the story of how her grandparents met and fell in love, she has also been fascinated by Florida's history.
'I've been intrigued with the story of the great Florida land boom of 1925,' says Morris. 'And I love the fact that my grandparents are part of that history.'
A journalist by trade (she earned a master's degree from Northwestern's University's Medill School of Journalism and worked in broadcast news at television stations throughout the country as an anchor and reporter), Morris knows the importance of facts and research. She spent nearly a year gathering information on Miami's history and would pore over books and archives. After she'd collected ample material, Morris says when she sat down to write, the story came to her effortlessly.
'I could hear the characters' voices in my head,' Morris says, a bright smile crossing her lips. 'What I really want to do [with this play] is bring Florida's history to life. We're talking about the Magic City, and I'm surprised as to how many people have never heard the history of Miami or know very little about it.'
Thomson knows a bit about Coral Gables. Her mother, Dorothy Thomson, made history as the first and only female mayor of Coral Gables in its first 100 years.
David Arisco, artistic director for Actors' Playhouse, who is directing 'Greetings From Paradise,' applauds Morris' storytelling. He recalls that when she first approached him two years ago with a rough script, he knew that he was reading something special.
'I thought it was a really interesting project, and I really wanted to be involved, especially with the Miracle Theatre being right in downtown Coral Gables and the centennial,' says Arisco.
Over the next two years, the pair would workshop the script and the timing for its premiere on April 29 would align perfectly – it was the exact day the City of Coral Gables was incorporated in 1925.
'It's a good play,' says Arisco. 'I think it's a story that needs to be told.'
He describes it almost like watching a dramatic documentary. 'It has elements that are a bit like a documentary but at the same time it's a play. We've got a great cast to tell this story.'
Arisco continues, 'We're meeting characters like George Merrick and Carl Fisher and Doc Dammers [Edward 'Doc' Dammers was the first mayor of Coral Gables]. And though the story is more specific to Coral Gables, because Merrick and Fisher were kind of doing their thing at a similar time, we thought it was fun to include a bit about the Miami Beach story and to show Merrick and Fisher as these dual visionaries who did incredible things.'
Actor Gregg Weiner, most recently seen in Miami New Drama's 'Lincoln Road Hustle,' plays Fisher and describes the man as an adrenaline junkie. In addition to developing Miami Beach, Fisher also helped to build Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500. He liked speed — and attention.
'He was a big man, he was a proud man, and he appreciated attention and liked taking risks,' says Weiner. Through his own research and conversations with Morris, Weiner developed his version of Fisher.
'We see him at the height of his achievements. He's built something out of nothing, which is astonishing to me, and he really appreciates all of his accomplishments,' says the actor.
'Greetings From Paradise' is Morris' debut play. She reveals that she has plans to develop the script into a full-length feature film while continuing to work on stories about Miami's development.
'After this is done, I want to get back to the screenplay and perhaps write a book where I can round out Miami's history with all the truth,' says Morris. 'My grandparents' story is one I've always wanted to tell, but the time has come to tell a fuller story, a truthful story, and I hope to do that next.'
If you go:
WHAT: 'Greetings From Paradise' by June Thomson Morris
WHERE: Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables
WHEN: 6 p.m. Tuesday (special Centennial Gala presentation, limited availability); 8 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday, May 1 and Friday, May 2; noon Saturday, May 3.
COST: Regular performances, $65-$75, includes $10 service fee.
INFORMATION: (305) 444-9293 or actorsplayhouse.org.
ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don't miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.
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