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Reviewed by:
  • Miami Motel Stories: North Beach by Juan C. Sanchez
  • Horacio Sierra
MIAMI MOTEL STORIES: NORTH BEACH. By Juan C. Sanchez. Directed by Ana Margineanu and Tai Thompson. Ocean Terrace Hotel, Miami Beach. February 22–23, 2020.

Miami Motel Stories: North Beach, the fourth iteration of the immersive, site-specific Miami Motel Stories series, proved that the Juggerknot Theater Company has not just found a marketing gimmick, but rather an artistic groove—a free-flowing source of inspiration, energy, and connection stemming from the way we make sense of the space, culture, and time we are given before a new development, a different wave of immigrants, and a new era sweep us away. Like previous versions of the series—Little Havana (2017), Miami Modern (2018), Wynwood (2019)—North Beach mined and explored storylines unique to a neighborhood undergoing gentrification. By performing these stories within the very geographical space that inspired their creation, North Beach offered a production that felt more like an authentic simulacrum than an artificial recreation.

Given the eponymous nature of each version of the series, the creators have had to find a derelict motel to use as a historical, literal, and metaphorical setting before knowing what neighborhood-specific stories they will share. Such a controlling factor has not proven limiting, however. Playwright Juan Sanchez’s stories flourished within their predetermined borders. His ability to amalgamate historical facts with enthralling storylines demonstrated his dynamic talents as a playwright sensitive to how setting informs character development.

For North Beach, Sanchez’s polychronic narrative structure masterfully imbued thirteen vignettes with an emotional verve and intellectual shrewdness that underscored how temporal and spatial boundaries can serve as a creative impetus rather than a limitation. The dramatized micro-histories on display were inspired by people both famous and unassuming who lived, worked, and contributed to the neighborhood’s character—from the uncomfortably chilling portrayal of Andrew Cunanan (Charles Sothers), the man who murdered Gianni Versace, to the charming vision of two newlyweds, Harold (Robert Fritz) and Marion (Amy Coker), who decided to relocate from New York. Just like the most gripping examples from an oral history, the stories on display were personal, biased, beguiling, and all too fleeting.

Blocking, choreography, and timing were integral to the frame narrative wherein audience members were observing “actors” in dress rehearsal on the eve of a film’s shoot. Co-directors Ana Margineanu and Tai Thompson flawlessly orchestrated dozens of variables as performers playing production assistants escorted groups from location to location within the motel with just enough time to allow scripted lines and improvisational dialogue to wind down. Scenic designer Li Milian created atmospheric rooms that varied from gritty and realistic to surreal and dream-like with detailed props such as South Beach club flyers, toy unicorns, and devotional statues. Such minutiae allowed some rooms to feel so intimate that audience voyeurism ran the gamut from enchanting to intrusive.


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Characters from different eras and tracks come together to dance down the hall during the finale. Sandi Stock (April) and Stephen Kaiser (Park Guy) in Miami Motel Stories: North Beach. (Photo: Daniella Mía.)

Audience members were asked to choose a blue, pink, yellow, or orange “key” that corresponded to a thematic track—Crime, Glamour, Homelife, and Outsiders, respectively. After they checked in at the Broadmoor Hotel’s lobby and were served vodka-spiked Perrier drinks (a corporate sponsorship leit-motif), the audience was welcomed by Lenny (Alex Alvarez) to the final day of rehearsals for his indie film. Production assistants then guided the groups to the shuttered Ocean Terrace Hotel down the block and into a swanky, smoke-filled lobby, where they encountered characters dancing and writhing to music. The color-coded groups, further divided by number, were funneled through rooms on a meticulously timed schedule that allowed the tracks to play out simultaneously in real time. Knowledge of other simultaneous tracks caused a certain level of distraction among audience members, some of whom vocally wondered if other rooms contained actors more skilled at improvisational banter, for example. [End Page 364]


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An anonymous local rants about the neighborhood’s changing...

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