Michel Hausmann: Founding Artistic Director, Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre
Introduction to Michel Hausman. 1:25 min. Interview: Raymond Elman. Post-Production: Lee Skye. Music: Tony Succar. Recorded via Zoom: 10/11/2021, Miami.
MICHEL HAUSMANN is a Venezuelan-born theater director, producer, and writer. He is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Miami New Drama, the resident company and operator of the historic Colony Theatre on Miami Beach. Hausmann is the book writer and director of The Golem Of Havana, a critically acclaimed original musical that has been produced across the country including a sold-out, extended run at the Colony Theatre. Under his artistic leadership Miami New Drama has produced: Our Town (also Director), Queen of Basel (also Director), The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (in co-production with Asolo Rep), The Album (in co-production with Tectonic Theater Project), A Special Day (in co-production with The Play Company), Terror (Directed by Gregory Mosher), One Night in Miami…(Directed by Carl Cofield), Fake (Directed by Carl Andress), Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy (also Director), ¡Viva La Parranda!, The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Directed by David Greenspan), The Cubans (Directed by Victoria Collado), A Wonderful World (Directed by Christopher Renshaw), and 7 Deadly Sins (also Director). Hausmann’s Off-Broadway credits include the New York Premiere of Vassily Sigarev’s Black Milk and the New York premiere of The Color Of Desire, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Nilo Cruz. He was the co-founder and Artistic Director of an award-winning theater company in Venezuela where he directed over a dozen productions. Hausmann received a BA from Emerson College and an MFA in Theater Directing from Columbia University. He is a Drama League Award winner, New York Theater Workshop 2050 Fellow, an IRNE nominee, a Silver Palm Award winner, Richard Rodgers Award finalist, and a two-time Knights Arts Challenge Award recipient.
The videos below were recorded via Zoom, are organized by Success Factor, and run between 30 seconds and 14 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.
TRAILER FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF A WONDERFUL WORLD: 0:36 sec.
World premiere of “A Wonderful World,” opening December 4, 2021 at the historic Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL.
COMMUNITY VALUES: 5:02 min.
Let’s talk about the play “A Special Day,” which you are offering free to the community to re-open the Colony Theatre, October 1-17, 2021.
OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED: 4:03 min.
What’s on the menu for the 2021-22 season?
EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 1:37 min.
Where did you grow up and what was your first awareness of art of any discipline?
SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 1:56 min.
How did your aunt telling you the plots of movies she had seen translate into your interest in theatre?
CRITICAL THINKING: 2:26 min.
Did you enter a theatre program in college?
DEVELOP A VOICE: 14:23 min.
Tell us about the arc of your theatre experiences in Venezuela — from serendipity to tear gas.
COMMUNITY VALUES: 2:34 min.
It sounds like Venezuela had a very vibrant and culturally rich Jewish community prior to the rise of socialism.
PERSEVERANCE: 0:53 sec.
When I tell stories about my father, I always tell them using his Ukrainian-Yiddish accented English. Do you do the same with your grandparents?
RESILIENCE: 0:48sec.
Did you speak English when you moved from Venezuela to New York City?
CREATIVE FLEXIBILITY: 1:56 min.
When you produced English plays in Venezuela, you first had to translate them into Spanish.
SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 2:o6 min.
What were your first steps after you moved from Venezuela to the United States?
CRITICAL THINKING: 4:08 min.
Why did you move from New York City to Miami Beach?
UNDERSTANDS THE AUDIENCE’S PERSPECTIVE: 3:49 min.
Given your intent of reaching a broader demographic, how did plays like “One Night in Miami” do at the box office?
INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 1:40 min.
When I interviewed Carl Cofield, the Miami director of “One Night in Miami,” I asked him if the dialogue written by Kemp Powers rang true for him. Carl said, “Yes.”
COMMUNITY VALUES: 1:15 min.
The set for “One Night in Miami” blew me away because it was so authentic to the real Hampton House.
CRITICAL THINKING: 1:09 min.
What are your thoughts about writing, producing, directing comedy versus drama?
COMMUNITY VALUES: 1:03 min.
How do Venezuelans in exile in the United States perceive the creeping movement toward fascism in this country?
