20 June 18–24, 2026 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES June 18–24, 2026 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES BEST ºf MIAMI ® 2026 which reopened in December 2025 after clos- ing for renovations in October 2024. The re- turn of the Mediterranean Revival-style site, on the National Register of Historic Places, set a trend. Churchill’s and Las Rosas, two be- loved music venues, reopened last fall within weeks of one another: the former with a new menu and new bathrooms (and old ones with the same gritty charm), and the latter essen- tially stuck in time since it closed in 2022. While Gramps Wynwood hasn’t yet been res- urrected, its resident Pizza Tropical returned on Miami’s Upper East Side in April as a standalone entity. With the Tower Theater back in the hands of Miami Dade College and the Olympia Theater reopening for the Mi- ami Film Festival, the movement appears to be taking hold. BEST ALT THEATER COMPANY City Theater 444 Brickell Ave. Miami, 33131 305-755-9401 citytheatre.com “How has theatre become so elitist,” British theatrical director Karena Johnson asked in a 2014 Guardian essay, “from its roots in Sopho- cles and Shakespeare’s productions where au- diences cut across class, to contemporary working-class people deciding theatre is not for the likes of them?” For the last three de- cades, the antidote to this upward cultural de- volution in Miami has been the remarkable, community-centered efforts of City Theater. From the City Reads program, which presents multiple yearly pop-up readings of shorts by local playwrights at venues such as Books & Books and Pinecrest Gardens, to the annual Summer Shorts: America’s Short Play Festival every June. The free Short Cuts Tour brings 10-minute plays for ages 10-14 to middle schools, camps, libraries and community cen- ters across the state. Not to mention the Homegrown Playwright Development Pro- gram. There isn’t enough room here to cover it all. Synopsis: Long live City Theater! Drama to the people! BEST CHILDREN’S THEATER Miami Children’s Museum 980 MacArthur Cswy. Miami, 33132 305-373-5437 miamichildrensmuseum.org A lot of children’s theater companies will hap- pily stage “The Little Mermaid Jr.” for the 400th time. Not Miami Children’s Museum’s professional theater troupe who created an original “Peanuts” play instead. The muse- um’s in-house theater troupe — one of the few attached to a children’s museum anywhere in the country — scored rare permission from Peanuts Worldwide to write original material using Charles Schulz’s beloved characters for “If I Gave the World My Blanket,” created alongside the museum’s “Take Care with Pea- nuts” exhibition, now heading out on a na- tional museum tour. That kind of ambition is what makes Miami Children’s Museum stand out. The museum doesn’t treat theater like an add-on attraction kids half-watch before run- ning to the next hands-on activity. Helmed since 2016 by Bree-Anna Obst, the fully pro- fessional troupe also regularly leaves its Wat- son Island home and traverses the MacArthur Causeway with pirate adventures and partici- pation shows. Like a theatrical roadshow for the juice-box set, Miami Children’s Museum may be building the next generation of the- atergoers, even if they do need a booster seat to see over the big head in front of them. BEST DANCE COMPANY STYX The Company zenkipro.com/styx No, it isn’t named after the classic rock band that told audiences to “Come Sail Away.” This STYX seems far more interested in where dance is headed next. The newish South Florida company creates performances that feel less like traditional con- cert dance and more like stepping into an entire at- mosphere. Its latest produc- tion, “The Teller Returns,” was a steampunk-inspired sequel to a 2024 dance theater piece and was meant to look so cinematic that you would half expect closing credits to roll at the end. Co-founded by Brianna Campbell and Mika Santo, the company understands that audi- ences raised on TikTok and social media aren’t automatically wowed by grand jetés and pliés anymore. Why should a technically trained dancer be limited to one style when the world around them isn’t? STYX has built its identity around dancers who refuse to stay boxed into one category — which, considering the mytho- logical River Styx was supposed to connect different worlds, feels oddly appropriate. BEST LOCAL PLAYWRIGHT Nick Griffin nicholasgriffin.com The quickest way to be considered a local in a new city is to learn all you can about your new home. Writer Nick Griffin might not be a Miami-born boy, but he’s an honorary 305-er. Griffin was born in London, moved to the states when he was 18 and has been living in Miami for nearly two decades. In 2020, he published a lengthy, well-researched book on the Magic City’s seedy past called “The Year of Dangerous Days: Riots, Refugees, and Co- caine in Miami 1980.” The nonfiction book was later turned into a play called “Danger- ous Days” for Miami New Drama in 2024. Soon after that, Griffin took a unique excerpt from the book and turned it into another stage play. “English Only” premiered at Mi- ami New Drama earlier this year and ex- panded on the story about when activists tried to make English the only official lan- guage in Miami. Whether or not Griffin is planning another stage adaptation from his research, it’s safe to say this author and play- wright knows how to tell Miami stories beau- tifully and factually. BEST PLAY "How to Break in a Glove" by Chris Ferrer citytheatre.com Theater is meant to move you. Great theater will make you laugh, cry and have you rumi- nating on what you just saw for days. That is the power behind Chris Ferrer’s “How to Break in a Glove.” The 90-minute play un- packs the relationship between a family fac- ing all sorts of issues. From divorce to decades-long secrets to illness, the Cuban family portrayed on stage is very relatable to a Miami audience. Produced by City Theatre, the play was first concocted by Ferrer when he was part of the Homegrown playwriting program. He devel- oped the script over three years, and the play was ready to have its world pre- miere at the Arsht Center earlier in 2026. Set in Hia- leah in the ‘90s, “How to Break in a Glove” unpacks a lot of the trauma that many Cuban-Americans are all too familiar with when it comes to growing up in a multi- generational home. The arguments, the passion and the unconditional love por- trayed on stage by an all-Hispanic cast was powerful enough to move the audience to tears, laughter and audible gasps. BEST SPANISH LANGUAGE THEATER COMPANY Teatro Trail 3715 SW Eighth St. Coral Gables, 33134 305-443-1009 teatrotrail.com With roots dating back to 1930, Teatro Trail has survived changing neighborhoods, politi- cal eras and probably every version of Miami traffic imaginable. The longtime institution continues to pack audiences in with a broad lineup and its signature crowd-pleasing come- dies including “Gloriosa, the Worst Singer in the World,” proving the company knows ex- actly what its audiences want — and keeps de- livering it. But Teatro Trail isn’t all punchlines. Productions like Luis Santeiro’s “The Lady of Havana,” directed by Marcos Casanova and starring Marta Velasco, reminded audiences that the company also knows how to take its art seriously, particularly in Miami’s Hispanic culture. In a city where Spanish is part of ev- eryday life, Teatro Trail has spent decades proving Spanish-language theater isn’t niche. It’s part of Miami’s cultural DNA. BEST THEATRE (FOR DRAMA) Colony Theatre 1040 Lincoln Rd. Miami Beach, 33139 305-674-1040 miaminewdrama.org Colony Theatre opened in 1935 as a Para- mount Pictures movie house. Fast forward more than 90 years, and it remains one of the most lively venues on Lincoln Road. Inside the theatre’s timeless Art Deco atmosphere, Mi- ami New Drama brings together local, national and international talent to stage original plays and musicals, as well as classics. The compa- ny’s original programming reflects local cul- ture, aiming to make Miami feel seen. Some plays and musicals are lighthearted, while oth- ers are intended to stir civic discourse around some of today’s most sensitive issues. Much of its inspiration comes from the region’s rich history and narratives rooted in uniquely Mi- ami experiences that connect the community. BEST THEATER COMPANY Brévo Theatre PO Box 667002 Pompano Beach 305-542-4841 brevotheatre.org Brévo Theatre proves you don’t need a perma- nent space to make yourself at home all over South Florida theater. While some companies stay within their own four walls, Brévo spent the season moving across counties, building partnerships and mounting productions am- bitious enough to make larger companies sit up and take notice. There was the South Flor- ida premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Fat Ham,” in a collaboration with shows first in Fort Lauderdale at Island City Stage and then in Coral Gables at GableStage, which proved Black and queer stories don’t have to live on the margins of regional theater. Then came “The Color Purple,” because apparently Brévo looked at one huge undertaking and thought, “Why stop there?” Under the leader- ship of T.M. Pride and Zaylin Yates, Brévo has become one of the most artistically fearless companies in South Florida. No brick-and- mortar space? No problem. Brévo spent the season making the entire region its stage. BEST ART EXHIBITION “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce&Gabbana” Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami 61 NE 41st St. Miami, 33137 305-901-5272 icamiami.org Just when Miami’s annual Art Week glamour finally started fading, “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce&Gabbana” arrived to keep the spectacle going. The blockbuster ICA Miami Arts & EntertAinment No, it isn’t named after the classic rock the play was first concocted by Ferrer when he was part of the Homegrown playwriting program. He devel- oped the script over three years, and the play was ready to have its world pre- miere at the Arsht Center earlier in 2026. Set in Hia- leah in the ‘90s, “How to
