Variety Act Miami #20: Meet Giancarlo Rodaz, Associate Artistic Director of Area Stage Company.
Theatremaker, experience crafter, problem solver, and night owl.
Welcome back to Variety Act Miami! I’m your compère, Natalie Guevara. I hope this finds you healthy and happy.
Who better than a theatremaker to “usher” us into 2022? Giancarlo Rodaz, the Associate Artistic Director of the award-winning Area Stage Company (ASC), knows a thing or two about using what’s in front of you to craft an experience that’s compelling and transcendent.
I was first exposed to Giancarlo’s work—and ASC’s magic—last summer. My friends and I sat inside a black box theater within Sunset Place, freshly converted into a ‘30s-era speakeasy that served strong cocktails and even more potent live renditions of Cole Porter standards backed by a jazz quartet. We were immersed in the world of Annie, the beloved musical we were there to see, which Giancarlo had hand-picked to direct—make that re-imagine—as ASC’s mainstage production. I began to dial in on all the Herbert Hoover-era touches, most memorably a bold-type newspaper foldout that doubled as the evening’s program. Then the show began and confirmed we were in for something different. For starters, there were no children in this Annie—all the parts were played by a shapeshifting cast of eight adult actors, each bringing an unusually intimate dimension to their characters thanks to the production’s in-the-round format. Imran Hylton’s portrayal of the caustic Miss Hannigan was screwball at its sharpest; Staci Stout imbued the titular character of Annie with strength and verve that never spilled over into preciousness; and there were talking portraits standing in for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his cabinet, a welcome touch of whimsy amid the industrial backdrop.
I had never experienced musical theatre quite like this before, and certainly not in Miami. I was compelled to find out more about the production’s young, elastic director, who I briefly observed buzzing around the theater and greeting audience members before the live band launched into the opening flourishes of “Maybe” and all of us descended into a reverent hush.
Armed with a newfound admiration for Giancarlo and his provocative theatrical instincts, I learned he grew up in the family business: His parents Maria and John Rodaz established ASC in 1989 to stage inventive takes on classic theatreworks, as well as champion bold, new productions. Through the decades, the company has moved homes from Lincoln Road to Coral Gables’s Riviera Theatre to where it sits today, inside Sunset Place—while still being mutable and adaptive enough to perform in stages across South Florida. In fact, early next month ASC’s production of the internet-viral musical Be More Chill, directed by Giancarlo, will open at Miami’s most prestigious venue for the performing arts, the Adrienne Arsht Center, where it’s scheduled to run through February 27th.
Without further ado, let’s burrow deeper into Giancarlo Rodaz’s headspace and learn about what informs his sensibilities for theatre, as well as his perspective on making it in Miami.
MEET GIANCARLO RODAZ, ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF AREA STAGE COMPANY.
On his earliest memory of being influenced by a theatrework:
Weird answer: Theme parks. As a Floridian, I visited Disney World and Universal Studios many, many times as a child. The immersive and present nature of those amazing experiences, of being in a tangible other world, really made an impact on me. Many artists I know look down at theme parks as some kind of cheap entertainment, but I think theme park design was and still is a few steps ahead of theatre in terms of how people consume live entertainment. For a long time, theatre was trying to be what movies are. Then movies happened. The more those two artforms go their own ways, the stronger each one becomes.
On a smell that transports him back to his early years helping out around the Riviera Theatre:
Coffee and cigarettes. A lot of the early shows had the adult actors drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes backstage. I remember thinking they were really cool.
On directing his first productions, Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland, and conquering insecurity:
The creative freedom was daunting. The impossible feeling of “What do I want to do with this?” can be crippling. I recall continuously going back and forth with Maria and John—my parents—about my ideas, and they would just keep telling me, “You’re the director! If you want to do that, do that!” They ultimately helped me along with realizing my first productions. But the more I worked, I realized something extremely helpful. I realized that I don’t really have that much creative freedom as a director. Now I look at a script, and I see what it needs, not what I want. All I have to do is help it do its own thing. Then all of a sudden, it boils down to problem solving. And once you realize that every problem can be solved, nothing is daunting or scary.
On the creatives who were formative in developing his tastes:
My parents will forever be the biggest influence in my life, including the artists they’ve introduced me to like ‘60s bands and filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick. Outside of that, I’ve always loved the digital band Gorillaz. For those who don’t know, they’re an adult-oriented band formed in 1998 made up of cartoon characters. Their diverse music and erasure of genre really helped shape my varied taste in music and visual styles.
On why he decided to mount a bold production of Annie in the summer of 2021, from casting only adult actors to its elemental props and raw, immersive set design:
The reason I went with no children was because it can be really hard to find a child that has the emotional experience to navigate a script of that depth. It becomes a distraction. Having a real dog becomes a distraction. Large, unnecessary set changes are distractions. Excess cast members are distractions. Musical theatre risks exploding into distracting fluff so often that you lose sight of what the script is actually trying to communicate. So I always strip down shows to their basics. What does the show actually need? That involves getting down to the time period and the setting, who created the story—and why they created it—and how we bend the artform to help tell that story. It’s exactly what you said, I wanted to get to the root of the story. Nothing else matters.
On what’s unique to making theatre in Miami compared to mature markets like New York and London:
Miami can be a tough market for a theater. There seems to be a “trickle down” of art from the other big cities. I feel like Miami is still finding its voice, which is why it’s so exciting to be here right now. It’s an artistic community in a stage of flux and growth.
On what attracted him to direct Be More Chill, a cult-hit musical with Gen Z sensibilities, which runs February 4th through 27th at the Arsht Center:
I initially heard the music and read the script, and thought to myself… “Hey! This is a smart, edgy, new musical!” And then I watched it. It’s interesting that you brought up the youth angle, because that’s the context I think the show was sorely lacking in past productions. The Broadway production came across as pandering to the youth who made it popular in the first place. [Ed. note: The show’s original cast recording from its regional production went viral online before it was mounted in New York, first Off Broadway in 2018, followed by a Broadway run in 2019.] I saw a great opportunity to do a great story that hadn’t had its needs met, and it’s been a fantastic process so far. We’re basically creating the show’s visual world from scratch, and I was able to find a cast of New Yorkers and Floridians that knock these roles out of the park.
On his cultural diet:
Whenever I’m doing a show—which is always—I immerse myself in that world. I read a lot of literature and watch many videos on the subject. Outside of work, which is a lot of fiction, I consume mountains of non-fiction. I listen to many podcasts! Science podcasts, political podcasts, interviews with people I admire… I always watch a lot of documentaries and forum discussions on YouTube. I’m constantly listening to real people.
On the five stage luminaries, living or dead, he would invite to a dinner party:
Stephen Sondheim, Annie Baker, Sam Mendes, Arthur Miller, and Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins. I would take them to an Indian restaurant!
On what he’s up to at 11 am on a Wednesday:
Probably sleeping; I’m a night owl.
On where we’d find him at 9 pm on a Saturday:
Working! My job is to be there for other people’s time off.
On a Miami staple from his childhood that he’s glad still exists:
The Hispanic food. It might be a generalization, but in my experience Miami people aren’t very theatre-oriented. They are music and food-oriented. And the food is amazing. I’ve been to London, New York, France, Prague, Ecuador, and so on. Miami is still the best hub for Hispanic food!
On his hope for the global theatre community as the industry stares down a third pandemic year:
I might be rushing it for selfish reasons, but I would like things to re-open and to stay open. COVID is never going away. There will always be a new variant. Fortunately and unfortunately, theatre is the art of community. People must get together and share social experiences. It must happen for society to work. It’s like trying to cage a tiger for two years. You just can’t do it.
On the advice he’d share with young and new creators who are hesitant to share their art because of fear and insecurity:
If you want to do it, go for it. Explore it. Play with it. Art has to come from a place of genuine excitement and passion, or else there’s no reason to do it. The paradox is that the process comes with a lot of pain and doing things that you’re not passionate about. But keeping focused on what made you excited about it is the most important thing.
Never cut corners either, even if your time and resources end up being more limited than you anticipated. Turn that into a strength and integrate it into your process. It becomes a lot more fun that way. And just put it out there! The healthy reaction to something you make is to not be entirely happy with it; [you might] downright hate it sometimes. But that’s growth!
GIANCARLO’S MIAMI FAVORITES.
Miami anthem (current or classic!): Nothing reminds me more of Miami than chilling at home on a quiet day and having a car pass by my window blasting a muffled Reggaeton beat.
Miami movie: I’m going to cheat and say the TV series Dexter!
Cultural centers, art shops, performing arts spaces, & bookstores: Wynwood is quintessential Miami.
Restaurants & bars: GRAMPS in Wynwood! I don’t know many bars otherwise, because I don’t drink!
Cafés, diners, bakeries, & ventanitas: It’s on my way to work, so CASACUBA. Fresh croquetas, pastelitos, and fresh-squeezed orange juice is where it’s at.
The Great Outdoors: Key Biscayne is amazing! It’s always lovely there.
Miami-based performer, artist, or creative: I’m going to throw a shout out to one of my cast members, Frank Montoto. He’s a great actor, and one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet. Never had a bad experience working with him!
The recommendation you’ll always give to a first-time Miami visitor: Eat real Cuban food!
THANKS, GIANCARLO!
Follow Giancarlo’s work with Area Stage Company both on stage and behind the scenes at @areastage, and get tickets to Be More Chill at the Arsht Center (February 4th-27th, 2022).
Until we meet again two weeks from now, un abrazo!