Don’t Drink the Water

As the citizens of nine counties in West Virginia discovered this past January, there’s nothing quite like a poisoned water supply to bring disparate denizens together, united for a common cause.
Arriving just a few months after 10,000 gallons of the toxic chemical methylcyclohexane methanol leaked into that state’s water supply and dominated national headlines, Miami Theater Center’s world-premiere murder mystery Everybody Drinks the Same Water takes on a relevance unforeseen by its creators, Stephanie Ansin and Fernando Calzadilla. It’s set in 13th-century Córdoba, Spain, where a tide of contaminated water has infected its residents, who were then divided by religious strife among the three largest monotheistic faiths. The realization of this provocative parable — that, as the title suggests, everybody drinks the same water — is designed to resonate with our still-fractured Zeitgeist so that we see the bigger picture. It’s a universal theme, its plot both timeless and seemingly timely, thanks to the folks at West Virginia’s Freedom Industries.
The ten-member cast includes familiar faces Barbara Sloan, Steve Gladstone, Howard Elfman, and Jessica Farr. The show runs this Saturday through June 1 at Miami Theater Center (9806 NE Second Ave., Miami Shores). Tickets cost $35 for opening night and $25 for the rest of the run. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 10 a.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. Call 305-751-9550 or visit mtcmiami.org.

Saturdays, 7 p.m.; Thursdays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.; Tuesdays-Thursdays, 10:30 a.m. Starts: May 3. Continues through June 1, 2014