I wanted to make sure people didn’t think we were going to do a realistic portrayal of Edwidge. I am sort of a filter, as Lileana is.”īlain-Cruz says she made Danticat (and briefly herself) characters because she thought, “How do I frame the why of this? She writes from a very personal place.

I see it as a book that’s about the brave creators in it. But I’m honored to be a part of it with the folks who are in the story,” she says. She is among those characters, telling stories or narrating, and at different times the cast takes turns putting on a distinctive pair of glasses to “become” her. It’s a whole different craft,” the author says.Įven so, Danticat has observed developmental workshops and some rehearsals, offering feedback on the representation of certain characters in the play. Writing essays or fiction is not the same as writing for theater. I never thought it could be adapted, so it’s a complete surrender. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to play a role in creating it. In the case of the new “Create Dangerously,” Hausmann played artistic matchmaker between Danticat and Blain-Cruz.Īctor Brittany Bellizeare rehearses for the world premiere of “Create Dangerously” at the Colony Theater. Jackson, winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for drama for “A Strange Loop.”ĭanticat, who has lived in Miami for more than two decades, is a frequent presence in Miami New Drama’s opening night audiences as well as a fan of the company’s multicultural mission and work.īlain-Cruz, whose upcoming projects include “Stranger Love” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Candrice Jones’s basketball play “Flex” at New York’s Lincoln Center and the John Adams-Peter Sellars nativity opera-oratorio “El Niño” at the Metropolitan Opera, met Miami New Drama cofounder and artistic director Michel Hausmann when the two had an artistic fellowship at the New York Theatre Workshop. Running through Sunday, May 28, the new “Create Dangerously” has been written and directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, a former Miamian who most recently staged the Off-Broadway premiere of the musical “White Girl in Danger” by Michael R. Saturday, May 6 in a sold-out world premiere at the Colony Theatre on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road. Director-writer Lileana Blain-Cruz has devised Miami New Drama’s world premiere play based on Edwidge Danticat’s “Create Dangerously.” (Photo courtesy of FURIOSA Productions)Īfter previews on Thursday, May 4 and Friday, May 5, the Miami New Drama play-with-music will open at 8 p.m.

The Art of Death by Edwidge Danticat