Staged Prison Break

When the playwriting team of Brendan Cochrane and Joseph Assadourian racked up a PEN American drama award for Heaven, the Miami theater collective Ground Up & Rising was busy staging Stephen Adly Guirgis’s acclaimed Jesus Hopped the “A” Train. Now the writing duo and theater company combine their talents with the world premiere of Joey Shakespear. The play trails a couple of prisoners who determine their only way of getting out is by writing a blockbuster, though what they pen is actually one of the worst screenplays in existence. Ground Up & Rising — a nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing local actors, writers, and directors — fills a void in the South Florida theater scene. Think of it as Miami’s answer to LAByrinth Theater, the same company that shot the original Jesus team — Guirgis and actor/director Philip Seymour Hoffman — onto the scene. Performances are 8:00 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 7:00 p.m. Sundays through March 19 at Camera Obscura. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $10 for students. Call 786-488-2321 for reservations.
Fri., March 10