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I was lucky enough to see the original production of In the Heights on Broadway back in 2008 when I was working in New York, and was able to experience the work of a little known actor named Lin-Manuel Miranda.  I was actually working for the marketing team's "street team", meaning it was my job to walk around Times Square, handing out flyers and trying to convice people to go see the show.  You might say I have more experience than most when it comes to describing the show.

When people ask "What is In the Heights about?", the standard line is "It's about Washington Heights, New York City."  Well, that doesn't sound too exciting in itself - what does that mean?  Further prompting might tell you it's about a primarily Latin neighborhood and it has modern music with elements of hip-hop, rap, and latin music.  That might sound really cool to some people, but could be a turn off to others.  At our first rehearsal, the cast and I sat down and talked about what we thought this show was about.  We came up with Family, Home, and Identity.  When you boil it down, it's really a universal story for everyone.  To put it in musical terms, I like to think of it as Fiddler on the Roof meets West Side Story meets the 21st century.

Since In the Heights opened, actor/author/composer Lin-Manuel Miranda has been very busy, gaining the most fame recently by composing songs for the Disney movie Moana and conceiving, writing, and starring in the international hit musical Hamilton.  Miranda's style of writing musicals is very unique, and represents a new evolution in American musical theater.  The challenge of staging a show like In the Heights is that it feels organic; that we get sucked into this living, breathing, community.  Instead of just beginning a song by bringing the entire ensemble out to sing about the mail truck coming, every member of the ensemble has their own storyline and the entire show becomes like an intricate ballet, weaving this community together.  

I can say that we've put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this production.  I hope that you enjoy the performance as much as we've enjoyed the process. - Mickey McGuire, Director

 The Seminole Theatre

The Historic Seminole Theatre is the premiere performing arts center of Homestead, Florida. The Seminole provides a creative hub of theater, music, dance and education in south Miami-Dade county and the Upper Keys. The Seminole Theatre's mission is to make the live performing arts accessible to the diverse community of the greater Homestead region and to attract established and emerging artists of excellence locally, nationally, and internationally.

The Seminole Theatre's history in Homestead dates back to 1916, when the Airdome Theatre in Miami was dismantled, put on a train to Homestead, and later renamed the Seminole Theatre.  A new movie theater was built in this current location in 1921 and adopted the Seminole Theatre name.  The theater has been twice ruined, by fire in 1940 and by Hurricane in 1992.  However, the citizens and elected officials worked to bring this jewel back to our community in December 2015, and it now operates as a state of the art performing arts center.

Theatre Staff:

Executive Director....................................................................... Mickey McGuire

Associate Director....................................................................... Katherine Rubio

Communications Manager...............................................................  Joel Vasquez

Front of House Manager...............................................................  William Branch

Venue Services Director................................................................ Joshua Newton

Marketing AssistanT........................................................................... Diana Diaz

Theatre Technical Staff

Technical Director....................................................................... Jon Wasielewski

Light Board Programmer & Operator................................................. Greg Dawson

Sound Engineer ............................................................................ Paul Daegling