When playwright Juan C. Sanchez began researching North Beach, one theme stood out to him right away. It started with a story dating back to the late Nineteenth Century: In 1876, the Biscayne House of Refuge was built in the Miami Beach neighborhood to assist shipwrecked sailors. President Ulysses S. Grant ordered construction of the abode, one of five such homes built across South Florida by the United States Life Saving Service, which would later become the U.S. Coast Guard.
“It really struck me that as far back as 1876, this neighborhood has been offering and open to refuge, accepting shipwrecked sailors who were coming from everywhere,” Sanchez says. “That led me to this whole idea that this is a place that has opened its arms to people. This is a place where you might actually have a shot at being, maybe, happy.”
Sanchez’s insight into North Beach’s character became the catalyst for the latest iteration of Juggerknot Theatre Company’s Miami Motel Stories, an immersive theater production that uses old motels as settings for exploring the history behind various Miami neighborhoods. The North Beach production, held at the Broadmoor Hotel and directed by Ana Margineanu and Tai Thompson, will open Thursday, February 6.
Read the full story at Miami New Times.
Photo by Pedro Portal, via Miami New Times
