\ud83c\udfad NEW! Miami Theatre Newsletter<\/p>\n
Island City Stage\u2019s\u00a0East Coast premiere of\u00a0Everything Beautiful Happens at Night,\u00a0a new play written by Ted Malawer<\/a>\u00a0(Red, White, & Royal Blue), and directed by Bruce Linser<\/a>, has extended through May 3, 2026.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfad NEW! Miami Theatre Newsletter<\/p>\n Ezra is a closeted children\u2019s book author. Nancy is his fiercely loyal editor. Their creative partnership has shaped stories that delight generations. But when writer\u2019s block pushes Ezra far past deadlines to deliver his latest book, a new voice enters the conversation and begins to change Ezra\u2019s life, inspiring a controversial ending to Chipmunk and Squirrel, and testing the limits of his friendship with Nancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n The show features an esteemed and talented cast including Carbonell award-nominated\u00a0Christopher Dreeson\u00a0as Ezra, multi-Carbonell and Silver Palm award-winner\u00a0Laura Turnbull<\/a>\u00a0as Nancy, and rising star Aidan Paul as Jake. The thoughtful, charming illustrations that serve as the play\u2019s backdrop were created by\u00a0Bong Redila, an award-winning Filipino American illustrator and author based in Miami.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a former literary agent for children\u2019s book authors, then as an editor of children\u2019s books, and ultimately as a children\u2019s book author and novelist, himself,\u00a0Ted Malawer<\/a>\u00a0has spun a tale close to home.\u00a0Everything Beautiful Happens at Night\u00a0was partially inspired by his childhood LGBTQ author heroes Maurice Sendak<\/a> (\u201cWhere the Wild Things Are\u201d) and Arnold Lobel<\/a> (\u201cFrog and Toad\u201d books). The play held its world premiere at Capital Stage in Sacramento, California, in early 2025 and its second U.S. staging brings it to the award-winning Island City Stage in Wilton Manors, Florida.<\/p>\n Inspired by the play, Island City stage will hold a special \u201cWho\u2019s Afraid of the Big Bad Book?!\u201d panel discussion on April 18 at 4 p.m. (following the 2 p.m. matinee performance).\u00a0Emmy Award-winning journalist and theatermaker\u00a0Ariel Cipolla\u00a0will lead a timely and thought-provoking discussion exploring the vital role of LGBTQ+ storytelling in children\u2019s literature. Through personal insights and candid dialogue with acclaimed author\u00a0Rob Sanders, director of KidLit for the Seymour Agency\u00a0Joyce Sweeney, and children\u2019s picture book author and editor\u00a0Matt Tesoriero, theatre-goers will learn about the growing wave of book bans and the cultural debate shaping today\u2019s literary landscape and consider who gets to tell stories, why they matter, and what\u2019s at stake for the next generation. The discussion is free to attend.<\/p>\n A special Women\u2019s Night at the Theatre sponsored by\u00a0Barbara Signer and Fran Epstein\u00a0will take place on April 24. The show runs for one hour and 40 minutes with no intermission.\u00a0<\/p>\n Everything Beautiful Happens at Night\u00a0co-producers are\u00a0Russell Vance, Michael Mullins<\/a> and Terry Gaw;\u00a0Lights and Sound Sponsor is\u00a0Scott Bennett; Talent Sponsors are\u00a0Paul Rolli & Bennett Quade and Robert Lee<\/a>;\u00a0Costume Sponsors are\u00a0Rita Cassady and John Colemen;\u00a0Set Sponsors are\u00a0Margie & Trevor Fried;\u00a0and\u00a0Illustrations Sponsor\u00a0is\u00a0DC Allen & Ken Flick No Gay Hate Fund at Our Fund.\u00a0Additional funding is provided by the following: The Our Fund Foundation, The Schubert Foundation Inc., the SHS Foundation, the Warten Foundation, and\u00a0OutClique.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udfad NEW! Miami Theatre Newsletter Get all the top news & discounts for Miami & beyond. Island City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-231007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}