By Ilana Jael
On what is in many ways a typical Wednesday evening at Area Stage Company’s Sunset Drive headquarters, showtunes seem to be emanating from every corner and posters from productions past attest to a decades-long history. Actors of all ages and abilities stream constantly in and out of various classrooms and studios, who may be attendees at one of three separate classes going on or hail from one of two separate rehearsals.
If you think that such a place is one in which someone who’s styled themselves “Ilana in Theatreland” would feel completely at home, you’re right on. After becoming acquainted with ASC as the critic who covered all four of their post-pandemic mainstage productions for South Florida Theater Magazine, I am now officially ~affiliated~ with the company as of a few weeks ago as a content creator. At this point, that basically encompasses keeping track of grants, preparing applications, and crafting whatever other written messaging might be called for in the operations of a multi-pronged theatre company, which has been a bit of a rollercoaster but ultimately a blast.
But before you dismiss any of this as propaganda, maybe I should attempt to explain the fact that I’d already been an unofficial advocate for Area Stage’s work—and particularly for associate artistic director Giancarlo Rodaz’s unique theatrical approach—from more or less the first moment an actor in newsboy garb attempted to sell me pretzels on the opening night of Annie.
Of course, if you happened to catch my review of the last show he was at the helm of—an immersive reimagining of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast slated to reopen at the Arsht next week—you’ll know I found it even more compelling, enough so that I even ended up naming it my top pick of last year’s season. Thus, there still seems to be a bit of fairy-tale surreality to the fact that the award-winning theatremaker is now someone I might casually run into on any given workday—though I’ve also learned I should be prepared to end up engaged in an hours-long discussion of his artistic philosophy if I do!
As Rodaz joked when I recently decided to take advantage of this propensity and ask him a few questions about his hit, he seems to have the ability to speak more or less unendingly, about not only his own upcoming projects but the craft of theatre as a whole. Not that this seems to be a reflection of any sense of self-importance—he really just comes off as irrepressibly eager to engage the world in his defining passion, an attitude that also seems to infuse his work itself.
Though the nuanced theoretical understanding Rodaz has revealed to me in these conversations is all the more impressive given his relative youth, considering his unique background, it also isn’t altogether unsurprising. After all, as the son of Area Stage’s founders, John and Maria Rodaz, he basically grew up immersed in his chosen art form—and then forewent a traditional higher education to instead learn from theatre at its best in global capitals like London and New York.
This perhaps at least partially explains the highly developed sensibility he’s been able to bring to his productions, including this most recent endeavor, which I’ll go into more detail about in my next post! Meanwhile, in the few weeks I’ve been a part of ASC, I’ve been glad to discover through my encounters with the entire Rodaz family and the rest of the amazing team that a company I already knew was capable of artistic excellence also seems to be characterized by an overwhelming warmth.
Of course, I’ve also been enjoying the serendipity of finding myself surrounded on all sides by preparations for Beauty and the Beast, still one of my favorite childhood stories. Though I never could have predicted I’d end up quite this immersed in all things surrounding the production when I first walked through the set’s castle doors, being along for the ride this time around has been more or less exactly the sort of wildly theatrical adventure I always hoped was in store.
So, who knows: maybe there really is a cohort of artists or household objects out there destined to embrace every other Belle-wannabe who’s ever wandered alone with book in hand. For now, I’ll just be off embracing whatever glorious sense of home-away-from-home I seem to have found at ASC, and I’d love for you all to share in the beauty of this particular Beast and be our guest at the production!
