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Brevo Theatre’s co-production of Fat Ham with Island City Stage (Photo by Matthew Tippins)
By Bill Hirschman
Brévo Theatre — faced with the tragic death of a lead actress but pressing ahead with its most logistically challenging effort – the African-American company is committed to opening the musical The Color Purple on Sunday.
Indeed, one element in choosing the piece was that beloved actress Toddra Brunson wanted to play the ebullient role of jazz and blues singer Shug Avery.
“We like to say that she helped us build this company, and she felt as if she had stake in, in our company and what we did…. that at the forefront, that we were doing it for her and we are still doing it for her,” said Terrence “TM” Pride, producing artistic director and co-founder of the company with Zaylin Yates, the CEO and founding managing director.
Based on Alice Walker’s novel and the 1985 film, the musical debuting in 2005 follows the rural African American Celie’s journey of resilience, self-discovery and empowerment through the first half of the 20th Century, with a score blending jazz, ragtime, gospel, blues and African music. Brévo’s Saturday opening night has been cancelled so the cast can attend Brunson’s funeral.
Despite the tragedy, the six-year-old company – one of only a handful of Black-based companies in the state — persists in choosing contemporary works that reflect and connect with South Florida’s diverse community.
Its website specifies being “committed to amplifying underrepresented voices and sparking cultural dialogue through fearless, socially conscious storytelling.”
WHAT’S ON TONIGHT?
The choice of works connects with the Black community, but not the last generation’s classic comedy, Pride said. “What we don’t do is what I would consider the Tyler Perry, Chitlin’ Circuit type of theater. We don’t like to use the colloquialism like ‘Sell hope, not dope.’ There is an audience for those shows and we see them. But it’s not what we do.”
For instance, the company’s choices have included the Obie-winning Funnyhouse of a Negro by Adrienne Kennedy, The Brothers Size by Miami’s Tarell Alvin McCraney. its annual holiday show Black Nativity, and its commissioned Me & My Miami The Musical with Broadway director and choreographer Patdro Harris.
Terrence “TM” Pride
“So the challenge becomes how do we get (traditional audiences) to also want to see the type of theater that we’re producing while at the same time understanding that we’re not doing what they are accustomed to seeing,” Pride said.
Those choices engender what the founders call artistically conscious conversations, something deeper than traditional post-show talkbacks. Pride laughed, “We like to do stuff that make people go, ‘Now why did you do that?’ ”
Instead, Brévo’s leaders want theater that may be relevant or focus directly as well on Hispanic or LGBT or feminist topics.
“We expect to see everybody in the audience…. But we do try and produce work that is for everybody, because we want everybody to be around the table… and have the conversation with us,” Pride said.
That extends to the race, ethnicity, nationality and sexuality of the artists onstage in that attempt to make the art universal.
“You should be able to see yourself,” he said. “I think it’s kind of hard for— and I’m just going to speak plainly— I think it’s hard for a Caucasian man or woman to come and sit in the theater and be like, let’s see if I’m going to see myself in this. We want them to see themselves, you know, through the humanity of it all and through the emotion and that sort of a thing, but also physically sometimes. “
The kaleidoscopic cast in Me and My Miami “highlighted how we are lot more alike than different, and how we’re often saying the same things and living the same lives and we just don’t realize it. So I think that we are open to all things as long as it reflects the beauty of humanity and the human condition.”
The Color Purple is logistically Brévo’s largest undertaking with a sizable cast, an eight-piece orchestra, higher pay, more lights and producing once again at yet a different venue, the Pompano Beach Cultural Center.
In addition to plays, Brévo’s Black Box permanent digital performance platform hosts among other projects dance recitals. Its Young, Gifted & Brave Conservatory—now in its fifth year—provides free pre-professional training to youth from underserved communities.
FILLING THE CAST
Along with M Ensemble – the oldest African-American-based theater in the state – Brévo must wrestle with producing polished professional work while seeking out and nurturing enough diverse artists.
“Do we have the talent that’s going to be able to produce what we need? And sticking to the fact that we try and make sure that it’s rooted within the community, do the individuals who are local have the capacity to commit to the show in the way that we need to make sure that we’re able to produce a great show?” Pride said.
So the company actively seeks out local talent.
“The talent is always there.There are so many local actors that we’ve worked with for almost three years now that you would never see at South Florida theater auditions… because that’s not the way that they’ve been trained. That’s not what they’ve been taught. They just do theater because somebody, some friend of theirs strung them along and said, hey, come to this audition with me. I think the hardest part is when we started this, the goal was to really invest and nurture people directly from the community.”
Zaylin Yates
But it requires an open mind. They seek out and audition artists they feel they can nurture from “community centers, the churches, the high schools if we have to, or colleges, and then even from our Young, Gifted and Brave program,” Yates said.
Pride added, “That makes our lives a little bit more difficult versus some other companies because we don’t always just fly in talent. We don’t typically call up Equity or the stage managers union or the actors’ union. That itself is a challenge, you know, trying to produce professional, great theater with local artists who are still growing and learning.”
Case in point: Pride discovered Brooklynn Miller who will play Celie in The Color Purple, singing karaoke in Wilton Manors.
“She is not a showgirl. She hasn’t done any theater in South Florida at all. She mostly does church plays with her, her mom. And I was in karaoke and I heard Brooklynn sing and I immediately approached her and I said, you have to audition for my show. My point in saying that is that the talent is always there.”
The company was created partly because the two Florida A&M University grads had difficulty finding enough opportunities locally. They created some films and other projects for their online site which makes their art accessible by “bringing it into homes.”
“But we started Brévo in 2020 as a platform and an opportunity for individuals, primarily Black and brown artists, to have a home, to be able to show up and create and to have roles on a stage that would reflect them, their identity, and their culture.”
Since then it has attracted several grants and donations and produced work on an intermittent basis earning a Carbonell nomination and receiving a Silver Palm award.
But its profile rose last spring when it co-produced Fat Ham first with Island City Stage, and then with much of the same cast a month later at GableStage including Brunson.
Meanwhile, they are polishing The Color Purple which has not been locally produced here, Pride said.
“It’s really going to be a show that’s going to be an experience that no one has ever seen before.”
The Color Purple from Brévo Theatre plays through July 3 at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center, 50 W. Atlantic Blvd. 3 p.m. Sunday June 21, Saturday June 27 and Sunday, June 28; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday June 24, Thursday June 25, Friday June 26, Saturday, June 27, Thursday July 2 and Friday July 3. General admission is $55. VIP tickets are $70 and include one complimentary drink, cabaret table seating and a complimentary mason jar. Tickets at Brevotheatre.org.
