Miracle Theatre Ties "Jaws" Screening to New Play About the Film
The same Coral Gables theater where lines wrapped around Miracle Mile for the 1975 premiere of "Jaws" will screen the original film Sunday at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $10, and proceeds benefit the 77-year-old Miracle Theatre.
Three days later, on July 15, Actors' Playhouse opens "The Shark Is Broken," a Broadway comedy-drama about the chaotic making of "Jaws" on Martha's Vineyard. The South Florida professional premiere runs through Aug. 9.
Artistic director David Arisco, 70, who has led the company since its 1988 founding, said the connection between the building and the film made the production irresistible.
"When the rights become available, because of the whole relationship with the Miracle Theater and 'Jaws,' it felt like it was more important for us to do it than just because it's a good play," Arisco told the Miami Herald.
The Only Surviving South Florida Theater From "Jaws"' 1975 Run
The Miracle Theatre opened as a 1,600-seat movie house on Dec. 7, 1948. According to the Herald, it is the only surviving South Florida venue from the original 1975 "Jaws" release. The other theaters that screened the film that summer, including the 163rd Street Theatre, Dadeland Twin and Riviera Cinema, have all been demolished or shuttered.
When "Jaws" opened June 20, 1975, the Miracle's staff hung netting from the ceiling, lined the walls with nautical props and built a set of great white shark teeth at the entrance. The theater appears in the 2017 HBO documentary "Spielberg," showing audiences queuing down Miracle Mile.
In the 1990s, Actors' Playhouse partnered with the city of Coral Gables on a $10 million renovation that converted the Art Deco movie house into a performing arts center with 600-seat, 300-seat and 100-seat spaces. According to the theater's official history, the partnership "saved the historic site from being sold to big box retail."
A Playwright's Personal Tie to the "Jaws" Set
The play was co-written by Ian Shaw, 56, son of Robert Shaw, the actor who played shark hunter Quint. Ian Shaw visited the "Jaws" set in Martha's Vineyard in 1974 at age 4. He originated the role of his father on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019 before the play moved to the West End, Broadway and touring productions.
Playing Robert Shaw in the Actors' Playhouse production is Iain Batchelor, 37, a Royal Academy of Dramatic Art graduate who has lived in Miami since 2018. Batchelor had to change his professional name from Iain Shaw because the playwright Ian Shaw already held the name in the actors' union.
"You feel like you're summoning ghosts," Batchelor said of rehearsing the play's version of the famous Indianapolis speech.
Wesley Slade plays Richard Dreyfuss and Adam Poole plays Roy Scheider.
How to Go
"Jaws" screening: Sunday, 5:30 p.m. Tickets: $10.
"The Shark Is Broken": July 15 through Aug. 9. Evenings Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. Tickets: $40-$80.
Opening night gala: July 17, with a pre-show cocktail reception.
Post-show Q&A: July 24, with cast and director.
Weekly happy hour: Thursdays, 6:30-7:30 p.m., with BOGO drinks and crêpes from Crêpemaker in the lobby.
Audio-described performance: Aug. 9, for guests who are blind or have low vision.
Location: Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables.
Tickets: 305-444-9293 or actorsplayhouse.org.
