DreamCatcher Theater, a new South Florida-based company led by Miami native brother-sister team Natalie and J.J. Caruncho is the Adrienne Arsht Center's latest theater partner. Their inaugural production is Into the Woods as part of the Arsht's Center's Theater Up Close series inside the Carnival Studio Theater.
Photographer: Sean Turi
Here is an interview with the team:
maz: How did you end up partnering with the Arsht Center?
Natalie: We originally went to the Arsht Center to see about using the Carnival Studio Theater to put on Into the Woods last summer. JJ and I are originally from Miami and we wanted to bring New York talent and Miami talent together back here back home. As we talked to the Arsht Center about what our mission statement was and discussed what our goals were, the conversation eventually led to us being invited into the Theater Up Close season.
maz: Did you stage Into the Woods because of the film just coming out?
JJ: I haven't seen the movie. Hopefully I'll see it after we close, but no the movie wasn't in our minds at all. We have been working on this for over a year and a half. After we had found the slot we realized that the movie was happening. It wasn't about anything in our strategy.
maz: Why this show? What attracts you to it?
JJ: When we talked about Dreamcatcher, our mission statement was that we wanted to find stories worth telling and to tell them. It's very simple – we want to be an artist driven company. We have a deep belief that as artists there are stories that we choose to tell and how we choose to tell them really matters and that can have an important impact on people's lives. This story has had a big effect on Natalie's artist journey and mine. It's our favorite musical. It's also Natalie's first musical – she was The Baker's Wife when she was 14.
Natalie: I went to high school at Gulliver Prep and it was my first show. It definitely was when the theater bug bit.
JJ: I remember seeing it when I was little and I said, "Can theater be that? Is that an option?" When we had to think about our first show, it was a no-brainer. This show gets across exactly what our mission statement is.
Natalie: Over the past year, we've been on a tremendous learning curve with the show. We're both professional actors and working actors. But we've really been learning what it takes to put on a piece of theater and it seems wild to have our journey mirrored in a show itself. JJ and I will have conversations after something will happen and it feels like a parallel journey of the show.
maz: You cast the show in New York and Miami, right?
JJ: Yes, we did auditions in both cities. We had just above 1,000 actors audition. We had several days of auditions in Florida and New York. We were lucky to find exactly the actors we wanted.
Natalie: It was humbling to be in Miami and to see the level of talent and to have that kind of turnout for our auditions both here and in New York. We tried our best to see everyone to give everyone an experience where they can do their best work.
maz: Did you rehearse in Miami or in New York?
Natalie: We did our entire rehearsal process in Miami. The Arsht Center provided a beautiful space. We used The Peacock Foundation Studio which is fantastic. It was wonderful to have access to the theater that we are now in. The whole process has been here in Miami.
maz: The Carnival Studio Theater is smaller than a large proscenium theater. How will you stage Into the Woods in there?
JJ: We have an 11 piece orchestra. The set is not minimalistic; it's huge and it's gorgeous. Because the space is so intimate, the audience will walk in and walk right into the woods.
maz: You've received a lot of press because you have a man playing the female role of The Witch. Please fill us in on the gender switch of the role. (New York-based actor Broadway’s Tituss Burgess (Jersey Boys, The Little Mermaid, Guys and Dolls and TV’s 30 Rock) will play The Witch in the production. And I read that Stephen Sondheim signed off on the casting.
JJ: First, there is no gender switch to the witch. The actor is a man, but the character is still The Witch; he plays it as a woman.
Natalie: . . . Which is what we requested when we wrote to Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. We said, "We have the interest of this brilliant actor and we'd like for him to play the role." That was our letter to them."
JJ: Tituss has been a friend of mine, a mentor and a hero for before I moved to New York. We had had lots of conversations; dreaming together of him being the witch. We had this daydream of doing it and part of this casting was that he wanted to do this.We decided to do it so I contacted him and I said, "Remember that day dream we've always had ?" And I told him and he was all in. The fact of the matter is he is one of the best actor on the planet and he has one of the best voices and because of his range as an actor and singer he's able to play the character exactly as written without changing a note. So if anyone was going to come in and expect to see some heavy concepts, they'll be disappointed. It's a legendary role and it's going to be a gift for anyone who will see him play The Witch in this intimate setting.
maz: How do your parents feel about having two actors in the family?
JJ: They are thrilled. Our mother is a dance teacher; our father is a businessman in Miami and a lifelong musician and a trumpet player. Both of them are thrilled and supportive. Our father came from Cuba and my mother was born in Hialeah. They both have this idea that you can come to this country and do whatever you want to do, and you can become whatever you want as long as you have your passion. When we both wanted to be artists, there was no hesitation.
maz: What's it like to work together as siblings?
JJ: We have a name for each other, the BroSis Unit. For me, it really is a Dream Team situation. My sister is my best friend and one of the greatest actresses I've ever seen. It's not because she's my sister, she really is the best actor I've ever met. The fact that I have access to that is a gift.
Natalie: Having grown up together and as family we certainly challenge each other and inspire each other and when we need a push, we're there for each other. J.J. has a vision for the company and for the show. Certainly it is his baby. He said, "Not only are we going to do Into the Woods and bring it to Miami, but it's going to be on this scale. Ultimately it's been incredible and we've only gotten closer throughout the process, which is often.
Annemarie Rosano (Cinderella)
JJ Caruncho (Baker) & Arielle Jacobs (Baker's Wife)
Justin John Moniz (Wolf) & Magan Dee Yantko (Little Red)
Magan Dee Yantko (Little Red Riding Hood)
Magan Dee Yantko (Little Red), Bruno Vida (Jack), Arielle Jacobs (Baker's Wife) & JJ Caruncho (Baker) looking at giant
Photography: Justin Namon
maz: Will you be at the Arsht next season?
Natalie: For us, we want to finish working on Into the Woods and make sure our attention stays here. We're going to wait until this one is done. Yes, we have started to daydream about what the next project will be, but for now our world is about Into the Woods.
JJ: What Dreamcatcher is is an artist driven company, so if there isn't a story to tell, we won't force ourselves into doing a production. What's really important is that the stories don't exist if the audience isn't there. They are the last piece of the theatrical experience.
Into the Woods will be performed from Jan. 23 through Feb. 15, in the Carnival Studio Theater at Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Adrienne Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $50. For more information, call (305) 949-6722 or visit arshtcenter.org.
