Artistic inspiration flows from many sources, including ideas and images created long before younger artists build upon them to fashion something new.
Take 鈥淐reate Dangerously,鈥� which began as a 1957 speech by Nobel Prize laureate Albert Camus.
When the celebrated Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat was asked to give the second annual Toni Morrison lecture at Princeton University in 2008, inspired by Camus, she delivered a speech titled 鈥淐reate Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work.鈥� In 2010, Danticat published a book with the same title, a work blending memoir, essays and stories about the courage of Haitians at home and in exile.
This week, during Haitian Heritage Month, transformed once more, 鈥淐reate Dangerously鈥� will claim a place in the world of theater.
After previews on Thursday, May 4 and Friday, May 5, the Miami New Drama play-with-music will open at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 6 in a sold-out world premiere at the Colony Theatre on Miami Beach鈥檚 Lincoln Road.
Running through Sunday, May 28, the new 鈥淐reate Dangerously鈥� has been written and directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, a former Miamian who most recently staged the Off-Broadway premiere of the musical 鈥淲hite Girl in Danger鈥� by Michael R. Jackson, winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for drama for 鈥淎 Strange Loop.鈥�
Danticat, who has lived in Miami for more than two decades, is a frequent presence in Miami New Drama鈥檚 opening night audiences as well as a fan of the company鈥檚 multicultural mission and work.
Blain-Cruz, whose upcoming projects include 鈥淪tranger Love鈥� with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Candrice Jones鈥檚 basketball play 鈥淔lex鈥� at New York鈥檚 Lincoln Center and the John Adams-Peter Sellars nativity opera-oratorio 鈥淓l Ni帽o鈥� 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.
In the case of the new 鈥淐reate Dangerously,鈥� Hausmann played artistic matchmaker between Danticat and Blain-Cruz.
鈥淭his project has been in the making for years,鈥� says Hausmann. 鈥淚 came across Edwidge鈥檚 work in New York a decade ago . . . and it made such an impact on me. It鈥檚 hard to pin down what it is. The language is simple and accessible, so you lower your guard, then it punches you in the gut when you least expect it.鈥�
Blain-Cruz had wanted to do a project based on Danticat鈥檚 work 鈥� 鈥淟ileana and I 鈥榝angirl鈥� whenever Edwidge comes in,鈥� he says 鈥� and Hausmann received a grant to bring in the director and her creative team from last season鈥檚 acclaimed Lincoln Center production of Thornton Wilder鈥檚 1942 Pulitzer-winning 鈥淭he Skin of Our Teeth.鈥�
Hausmann describes the world premiere as 鈥渁 theatrical event鈥� which will have more in common with the past Miami New Drama shows 鈥淧ap谩 Cuatro鈥� and 鈥淰iva la Parranda!鈥�
鈥淭his is more a folkloric, nontraditional way of storytelling, with music, thoughts, dance, stories and direct address,鈥� he observes.
It is also a piece with multiple shifts in tone and content, from the joyous to the tragic.
The very public 1964 execution of Marcel Numa and Louis Drouin, who left the safety of exile in New York to battle the regime of Fran莽ois 鈥淧apa Doc鈥� Duvalier, is included as is the 2000 assassination of radio personality and commentator Jean Dominique. So is a family story about an exhausting, hours-long trek up a Haitian mountain for what will likely be the last visit with Danticat鈥檚 elderly Tante Ilyana in Beaus茅jour.
鈥淛ust like in writing fiction, you have to have peaks and valleys,鈥� says Danticat.
Miami New Drama鈥檚 鈥淐reate Dangerously鈥� is billed as a piece written and directed by Blain-Cruz, based on the work of Danticat. In a Zoom conversation, Danticat says she was fine with having Blain-Cruz devise the piece.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sure I wanted to play a role in creating it. I never thought it could be adapted, so it鈥檚 a complete surrender. Writing essays or fiction is not the same as writing for theater. I have tried. It鈥檚 a whole different craft,鈥� the author says.
Even so, Danticat has observed developmental workshops and some rehearsals, offering feedback on the representation of certain characters in the play. 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 鈥渂ecome鈥� her.
鈥淔or me, it鈥檚 surreal to be a character. That was not on my Bingo card, ever. But I鈥檓 honored to be a part of it with the folks who are in the story,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he book is not about me. I see it as a book that鈥檚 about the brave creators in it. I am sort of a filter, as Lileana is.鈥�
Blain-Cruz says she made Danticat (and briefly herself) characters because she thought, 鈥淗ow do I frame the why of this? She writes from a very personal place . . . I wanted to make sure people didn鈥檛 think we were going to do a realistic portrayal of Edwidge. It starts from one person, then opens like a prism to allow the multiplicity of voices.鈥�
The daughter of a Haitian mother and a Puerto Rican father, Blain-Cruz attended Miami鈥檚 Immaculata-La Salle High School, then earned degrees from Princeton and Yale.
鈥淓dwidge鈥檚 鈥楥reate Dangerously鈥� came to me when I was contemplating what it means to be an artist,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 had been wanting to connect to my mom鈥檚 side of the family, and when Michel said we should do something for Miami, I kept coming back to Edwidge鈥檚 amazing voice.鈥�
To transform 鈥淐reate Dangerously鈥� into theater, Blain-Cruz is collaborating with her longtime creative team: scenic designer Adam Rigg, lighting designer Yi Zhao, Tony Award-winning costume designer Montana Levi Blanco, sound designer/composer Palmer Hefferan and projection designer Hannah Wasileski.
For the cast, Blain-Cruz chose a mixture of Miamians and artists based elsewhere: Brittany Bellizeare, Thiana Berrick, dancer Charlene Francois, Edson Jean, Andrea Patterson, Paul Pryce and understudy Sydney Presendieu.
Miamian Edson Jean, who now divides his time between his hometown and Los Angeles where he has a growing career in films and television, says Miami New Drama reached out to him about 鈥淐reate Dangerously,鈥� and he has enjoyed Blain-Cruz鈥檚 collaborative way of working.
鈥淪he encourages us to bring who and what we are into the rehearsal room. I play the guitar, and she didn鈥檛 have that planned, but it adds another layer,鈥� says Jean, who plays artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, Danticat鈥檚 cousin Nick and the author鈥檚 father. 鈥淲e鈥檙e more like a reflection of what the person was. This is not a narrative or a plot-driven piece; it鈥檚 a manifestation of the book.鈥�
Jean adds that he鈥檚 still uncertain how Miami鈥檚 vast Haitian-American community will respond to the more intense, tragic stories in 鈥淐reate Dangerously.鈥�
鈥淢y mom and auntie respond differently when they hear the name 鈥楧uvalier.鈥� Their bodies and emotions change. They were essentially trained as children not to talk about it. When you鈥檙e punished just for communicating, when you know if you said anything about Papa Doc you could lose your life, you have layers of trauma,鈥� he says.
Actor Paul Pryce worked with Blain-Cruz when both were in graduate school at Yale, but this is their first professional project together. Born in Trinidad and Tobago to a mother from Martinique and a father from Jamaica, he also has family in France and next month will wed his South Korean finance. Like Blain-Cruz, he feels he brings a global perspective to theater.
鈥淪he has a playful, trickster personality. She鈥檚 not afraid to reimagine work in a way that鈥檚 unconventional,鈥� he says. 鈥淭heater can get very serious, important and precious. But Lileana doesn鈥檛 allow us to fall into sentimentality.鈥�
Pryce, an actor-filmmaker who has performed in many of William Shakespeare鈥檚 plays, has a vividly evocative way of describing 鈥淐reate Dangerously.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 not experimental. There are elements that are non-linear, fragmented, movement-driven, and the text is [from the book]. Its unique structural components collage together, almost like a living painting,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not a forward arc to a resolution in an Aristotelian way, with a beginning, middle and end. It feels continuous, circular. But we do find our connections.鈥�
Hausmann sees 鈥淐reate Dangerously鈥� as yet another artistic way Miami New Drama is trying to speak to Miami鈥檚 diverse communities while illuminating what they have in common.
鈥淚n Miami, we live in silos. We鈥檙e so diverse, but we鈥檙e not blended. You can go all day without speaking a word of English. We don鈥檛 share a lot of common spaces,鈥� says Hausmann, who connects with the universality in so many different kinds of theater. 鈥淚鈥檝e never been to Haiti. I don鈥檛 speak Creole. These characters don鈥檛 look like me. But I feel this is talking about me.鈥�
In her book 鈥淐reate Dangerously,鈥� Danticat writes about the courageous Haitians who read or performed Camus鈥� 鈥淐aligula鈥� in the aftermath of Numa and Drouin鈥檚 executions. She makes note of playwright Franck Fouch茅 and poet Felix Morriseau Leroy translating Sophocles鈥� 鈥淥edipus Rex鈥� and 鈥淎ntigone鈥� into Creole and placing the dramas into Haitian settings, 鈥渟triking a dangerous balance between silence and art.鈥�
In conversation, Danticat celebrates the courage of writers who 鈥渞eached through the ages to others for inspiration鈥� as well as plausible deniability, a kind of artistic cover given the life-and-death power of brutal regimes.
Blain-Cruz hopes that the Haitians and Haitian-Americans in the audiences who come to see 鈥淐reate Dangerously鈥� will feel loved and seen.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very powerful theatrical recognition of who you are鈥o many in Miami feel a connection to a place they鈥檝e never been to. This is a way of reflecting on the idea of what home is, and how you identify with who you are in relationship to that,鈥� she says.
The director, who blends intellectual prowess with creative joy, describes the new 鈥淐reate Dangerously鈥� as a 鈥渟trange amalgamation of memory, celebration and reflection. I love knowing what I鈥檓 up for when I go to see something. You get to listen and relax. It creates a sense of ease. It鈥檚 going to be crazy, but stay with us.鈥�
WHAT: World premiere of 鈥淐reate Dangerously鈥� by Lileana Blain-Cruz, based on the work of Edwidge Danticat
WHERE: Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach
WHEN: Previews 8 p.m. Thursday, May 4 and Friday, May 5, opens 8 p.m. Saturday, May 6 (opening night sold out); 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, through May 28
COST: $46.50-$76.50
INFORMATION: 305-674-1040 or
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