Michel Hausmann

Michel Hausmann is a Venezuelan-born theater director and producer. He is the co-founder and artistic director of Miami New Drama,[1] the managers and resident company at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach. The company/theatre combination also provides a theatre arts education program[2] and classes on playwrighting and the business of theatre.[3]

Theatre productions

Hausmann has produced over a dozen plays with Miami New Drama, including: the first multilingual production of Our Town (also Director), Terror (Directed by Gregory Mosher), A Special Day (in co-production with The Play Company.) The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (In co-production with Asolo Rep), Hilary Bettis' Queen of Basel (Also Director), Moises Kaufman's The Album (in co-production with Tectonic Theater Project), The World Premiere of Billy Corben and Aurin Squire's Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy (Also director), The World Premiere of Carmen Pelaez's Fake, The World Premiere of Viva la Parranda, and Hausmann's own musical (Director and Bookwriter) The Golem of Havana.

Hausmann's Off-Broadway credits include a 2013 production of The Golem Of Havana at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club,[4] a production of Nilo Cruz' The Color Of Desire at Repertorio Español,[5] and a production of Vassily Sigarev's Black Milk at Classic Stage Company.

Hausmann's credits in Venezuela include directing the world premiere of Isaac Chocrón's Los Navegaos, co-directing the Venezuelan premiere of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, as well as directing and co-translating productions of Fiddler on the Roof (in 2009), The Producers and Jesus Christ Superstar, among others.

Conflicts with the Venezuelan government

During Hausmann's 2009 production of Fiddler on the Roof, the Grand Marshal of Ayacucho Symphony Orchestra, funded in its entirety by the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez, left the production two weeks before the opening, citing that its participation on a "Jewish play" would threaten the funding they receive from the Venezuelan government, a vocal foe of Israel.[6] The move was condemned by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti Defamation League.[6][7] The production went forward, performed on a rooftop in Caracas with various musicians stepping up to play the score.[6]

When preparing for a 2010 production of Jesus Christ Superstar in Caracas, Hausmann secured a sponsorship deal for US$300,000 (equivalent to $351,700 in 2019) with Research in Motion (RIM), makers of BlackBerry smartphones, and its cellular phone network partner, government-owned Movilnet.[8] Official documents released by WikiLeaks revealed that, less than a month before opening night, the sponsorship pair added a clause stating that the production could not place advertising space – even with other cash – in a list of media outlets banned by RIM and Movilnet for being critical of the Chávez regime.[8] Hausmann and producer Yair Rosemberg chose instead to cancel the RIM-Movilnet sponsorship deal, and went public with this information. When the production opened at the Central University of Venezuela , it was attacked with tear gas by masked assailants. While the rector of the university stated that the attack was a continuation of incidents targeting the university, Hausmann called it an example of Chávez' intimidation against any theatre group branded enemies of the state "because they seek to maintain their autonomy".[9]

References
  1. "Our Team". Colony Theatre/Miami New Drama. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  2. "Education". Colony Theatre/Miami New Drama. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  3. "MasterMind". Colony Theatre/Miami New Drama. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  4. Staff writer (2013-09-23). "The Golem of Havana". Eseunt Magazine. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  5. "Michel Hausmann". Repertorio Español. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  6. Samuels, Shimon; Widder, Sergio (2009-02-01). "Venezuela: Fiddler on the Roof Despite Chávez". Simon Wiesenthal Center. Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on 2012-12-16. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
  7. Staff writers (2009-02-02). "Chavez's Venezuela: The Jewish Community Under Threat". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
  8. Terauds, John (2011-09-20). "Sponsorship deal by RIM shows perils of global business". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
  9. "Forging Connections in a Fragmented Hemisphere, Controversy in Caracas". Theatre Communications Group. Archived from the original on 2010-05-07.
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