The cast of S. Asher Gelman’s “The Zionists” at Miami New Drama. Photo credit: Morgan Sophia Photography
It’s always nice to see one of our local theater companies have a bonafide hit, and right now that would be Miami New Drama’s production of The Zionists: A Family Storm, a world premiere play commissioned by MiND from award-winning playwright S. Asher Gelman.
The show closes this coming Sunday, and thanks to rave reviews by our local critics, seats have been selling out, despite a week of extra performances MiND added to fill demand. As of this writing, there are still a few seats left for this weekend. So if you’re reading this and you want to see it, you should book those tickets right now.
In drinking news, North America’s 50 Best Bars released their 2026 list, promoting ViceVersa into the Top 50 to join Cafe La Trova. Bar Kaiju kept its spot in the Top 100, but The Champagne Bar at The Surf Club and Swizzle Rum Bar got dropped thanks to heavy competition coming out of Mexico City and New York. Better luck next year, guys!
Let’s get planning…
Jump to: Music, Theater, Literary Events, Dance, Indie Cinema, Art Events, or Planning Ahead
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Theater
Miami New Drama: The Zionists
Miami New Drama presents The Zionists: A Family Storm, a highly anticipated new play by acclaimed playwright, choreographer, and director S. Asher Gelman, whose play Afterglow, had an extended run Off-Broadway and a sold-out run in London. The Zionists follows a prominent Jewish family having a tentative reunion on a Caribbean island after the politics around October 7th had driven them apart. The fragile peace is shattered by a “sudden hurricane,” which pales in force to the storm that erupts inside as the power goes out.
Extended through May 10th, Colony Theatre, $40-$90
Neighborhood: Lincoln Road
Nearby Eats: Mimi Chinese, Tropezón, Uchiko | Drinks: Brother’s Keeper, MILA
Zoetic Stage: Moses
Zoetic Stage caps off its 2025-26 season with the Southeastern premiere of Moses, a one-man play about faith by award-winning playwright (and “rabbi whisperer”) Michele Lowe. The story follows a man in the Bronx, who, over the course of one night, loses everyone and everything he loves. Filled with grief and remorse, he turns away from God. But God has other plans.
Through May 17th, Carnival Studio Theater at Arsht, $67-$73
Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District
Nearby Eats: ViceVersa, Klaw, Bunbury | Drinks: Casadonna, Kaona Tiki Room
Gablestage: Eureka Day
Gablestage closes out their 2025-26 season with a play I’ve been looking forward to all year. Eureka Day, the Tony Award-winning play by Jonathan Spector, is a hilarious send-up of superwoke parent culture that got rave reviews for its Broadway run last year. The action follows the hyper-polite and painfully correct school board of an elite Berkeley, CA private school, trying to keep the peace when a mumps outbreak triggers all-out parent war.
May 15th-June 4th, 7pm evenings, 2pm matinees, Gablestage at the Biltmore, $40-$60
Neighborhood: Coral Gables
Nearby Eats: Zitz Sum, Rò Steakhouse, Zucca | Drinks: Sospiro Wine Bar, Armstrong Jazz House
More Upcoming Theater:
May 5th-10th: As part of its Broadway in Miami series, the Arsht Center presents The Notebook, based on the hit film (that was based on the hit novel), with songs by multiplatinum singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson (The Way I Am).
Music
Jazz at Faena: João Bosco
As part of its 8th annual Jazz Series, Faena Theater presents an evening with Brazilian music legend João Bosco. For fifty years, Bosco has been defining the música popular Brasileira sound, weaving it into bossa nova and samba. Seating at the Faena is mostly two-by-two, and tables can be upgraded with fancy bottle service, so this is definitely a date-night booking.
Wednesday, May 6th, 8pm, Faena Theater, $70-$225
Neighborhood: Mid Beach
Nearby Eats & Drinks: Make it an all-Faena night, with dinner at Pao or Los Fuegos and drinks at Living Room or The Saxony Bar.
Son del Mundo at the Bandshell
To mark “El Día del Son Cubano,” the Miami Beach Bandshell hosts Son del Mundo, an international musical celebration, featuring Grammy-nominated Cuban singer Aymee Nuviola, genre legend Roberto Torres, and up-and-coming sonero Ronkalunga. If you’re not familiar with son, or son cubano, it’s the slower, more romantic predecessor to salsa, being the first musical style to combine Spanish guitar with African clave rhythms (thank you, Cuba!). Get there early for a free son cubano dance class before the show.
Friday, May 8th, 8pm, Miami Beach Bandshell, $43
Neighborhood: North Beach
Nearby Eats: Marc’s Artisanal Pizza, Double Luck, Taquiza | Drinks: Conventillo, Lido Champagne Bar
More Upcoming Music Events:
Wednesday, May 6th: Florida Grand Opera presents a encore Opera & Allstars concert, welcoming baseball legend Bernie Williams and opera star Jonathan Tetelman for an evening celebrating music and sport, at 8pm.
Thursday, May 7th: Sultry R&B songstress Ari Lennox plays the Fillmore Miami Beach for one night only, at 8pm. You can check out her Tiny Desk Concert here.
Friday, May 8th: The Arsht Center presents Live from Emmet’s Place, the touring version of Emmet Cohen’s pandemic-era live-streamed jazz concerts, with Emmet’s living room recreated onstage for an old-school Harlem rent party, at 8pm.
Thursday, May 14th: Time and Harmony presents Fusion of Sound, a chamber concert of contemporary works by composers Alba Rosa Viëtor, Sergio Perez, and Jamie Tait, at Sanctuary of the Arts at 7pm.
Indie Cinema
Sneak Preview Screening with Q&A: Welcome Space Brothers
In partnership with the Museum of Sex Miami (you heard me), Coral Gables Art Cinema presents a special pre-release screening of Jodi Wille’s Welcome Space Brothers, with a post-film talk by Wille and two of the film subjects, “Unarians” Kevin and Tracey Kennedy. As far as I can tell, this film isn’t about sex. It’s about totally real extraterrestrial-channeling spirit healers (the Unarians) that started a filmmaking commune. It all makes sense once you realize they’re from California.
Friday, May 8th, 5:30pm, Coral Gables Art Cinema, $15
Neighborhood: Coral Gables
Nearby Eats: Kojin 2.0, Dojo Izakaya, Sra. Martinez | Drinks: Books & Books Café, Cebada Rooftop
Bookends of Black Cinema
Coral Gables Art Cinema welcomes Josiah Howard, author of Blaxploitation Cinema: The Essential Reference Guide, and black cinema scholar Ale Duckenfield-López for Bookends of Black Cinema: The Classic & The Cult, a two-day event screening The Guy from Harlem (the classic) and Super Fly (the cult), followed by a discussion each evening on the finer points of the genre.
May 12th-13th at 6:30pm, Coral Gables Art Cinema, $12
Neighborhood: Coral Gables
Nearby Eats: Zitz Sum, Eating House, Luca Osteria | Drinks: Books & Books Café, Bay 13 Brewery
More Indie Cinema:
May 13th-14th: The Doc’n Roll Festival at the Miami Beach Bandshell presents two nights of screenings on rave culture, with a post-film talk with New Order producer and filmmaker Arthur Baker on night 2, both nights at 8pm.
Dance
Dance NOW! Miami: Program III
To close out its 2025-26 season, Dance NOW! Miami presents Program III, featuring two world premieres: Love-less: Dance of the Last Moho braccatus, a new contemporary ballet by co-Artistic Director Hannah Baumgarten, exploring a paradise lost; and Traces, a modern work for the full company by co-Artistic Director Diego Salterini.
Saturday, May 9th, 8pm, Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, $26-$50
Neighborhood: Aventura
Nearby Eats: Xino Chinese (inside Reunion Ktchn), Abbalé Televivian Kitchen, Pubbelly Sushi | Drinks: Reunion Ktchn Bar
More Upcoming Dance:
Friday, May 8th: Syncopate Collective, Miami’s experimental dance incubator, presents Through the Motion, an evening of new and commissioned work from its gang of dancer/creators, at Sanctuary of the Arts at 8pm.
Saturday, May 9th: Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami brings their exciting take on contemporary ballet to the Banyan Bowl at Pinecrest Gardens for one night only, with a program inspired by the lush surroundings, at 8pm.
Saturday, May 16th: Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami, a company which was founded in 2006 to preserve the Cuban Classical style (and provide a first U.S. home for defecting Cuban dancers), presents a suite of dances from Le Corsaire, at The Fillmore Miami Beach at 8pm.
Art Events
Conversations at Oolite: Antoni Miralda
Oolite Arts inaugurates their new Conversations series with an evening devoted to multidisciplinary artist Antoni Miralda, whose participatory art events have recruited boy scouts, famous chefs, fashion designers, and the general public over five decades and multiple continents. Miralda will be in conversation with University of Chicago anthropology professor Stephan Palmié and Miami artist and public art curator César Trasobares.
Thursday, May 7th, 7-9pm, Proscenium Theatre at Little Haiti Cultural Complex, Free
Neighborhood: Little Haiti
Nearby Eats: Fiorito, Walrus Rodeo, Blue Collar | Drinks: Mi Chini at Phuc Yea, Churchill’s
More Art Events:
Friday, May 8th: PAMM and Route 1804 Foundation present Lakay PAMM: Living Beyond Borders, a free evening of Haitian culture, music, and storytelling on the waterfront terrace, from 5-10pm.
Friday, May 8th: Tunnel Projects, an artist collective that has propagated in a Little Havana strip mall, celebrates the opening of two shows - for painter Alejandra Moros and artist/luthier Benjamin Ray Chomitz, at 7pm. (Check out this great writeup in the Miami Herald for better directions on how to find it.)
Saturday, May 9th: The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (MOCA) throws a block party on the plaza, with Afro-Peruvian music and traditional Peruvian dances, to celebrate a new sculpture by Peruvian artist Joan Jiménez Entes, at 3pm.
Saturday, May 9th: N’Namdi Contemporary hosts a fish fry to celebrate the life and work of Ed Clark (1926-2019), whose paintings are on view at the gallery, at 4pm.
Literary Events
Kathryn Stockett at Books & Books
Books & Books welcomes internationally bestselling author Kathryn Stockett, whose debut novel, The Help, took the world by storm in the summer of 2009. (Note to the strivers out there: her manuscript was rejected by over 60 agents, only to go on to sell over 15 million copies and inspire a movie that won Octavia Spencer an Oscar.) She’ll be in conversation with Coral Gables Congregational’s pastor Laurie Hafner, discussing her new novel, The Calamity Club.
Tuesday, May 12th, 7pm, Coral Gables Congregational Church, $40 (incl. two tickets + one book copy)
Neighborhood: Coral Gables
Nearby Eats: Luca Osteria, Zitz Sum, Rò Steakhouse | Drinks: Sospiro Wine Bar, Books & Books Café
More Literary Events:
Thursday, May 7th: Books & Books welcomes bestselling author Siri Hustvedt (What I Loved, The Summer Without Men) to discuss Ghost Stories, her new memoir about grieving the death of author Paul Auster, her husband of forty-seven years, at Books & Books Coral Gables at 7pm.
Friday, May 8th: Bestselling author Douglas Stuart, whose Shuggie Bain won the Man Booker prize in 2020, visits Books & Books to discuss his new novel, John of John, at 7pm.
Wednesday, May 13th: Books & Books welcomes viral foster dog mom Isabel Klee (IYKYK) to discuss her new memoir, Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I’ve Cried About, at Coral Gables Congregational Church at 7pm.
Friday, May 15th: FIU’s Institute for Cuban Studies and UM’s Cuban Heritage Collection present a discussion with author Alberto Sosa-Cabanas on his new work of scholarship on Lydia Cabrera’s magnum opus, El Monte, at Books & Books Coral Gables at 6:30pm.
Planning Ahead
Miami's most anticipated events sell out and those restaurants you want to try book up. Here are a couple of upcoming events to get on your calendar now…
Sunday, May 31st
American Black Film Festival: Free Community Day
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the American Black Film Festival is taking over Miami Beach for five days of screenings, panels, parties, and networking. Full access for the festival will cost you a cool $630, but you can enjoy their annual Community Day at Overtown’s Historic Lyric Theater for free. This year’s event features the HBO Short Film Award Showcase and the world premiere of of Girl Dad, a new feature film with Marsai Martin and Courtney B. Vance, followed by a Q&A with the cast and filmmakers.
12-5pm, Historic Lyric Theater, Free!
Neighborhood: Overtown
Nearby Eats: Red Rooster Overtown, Jackson Soul Food (for brunch beforehand), ViceVersa | Drinks: Red Rooster Overtown, ViceVersa
Thursday, June 4th
José Andrés Introduces Spain My Way
TICKETS SELLING OUT! The Miami Book Fair and Books & Books welcome Michelin-starred chef, bestselling author, and global humanitarian José Andrés to discuss the launch of his latest book, Spain My Way. A love letter to his homeland, the new book lays out the cornerstones of Spanish cuisine and favorite recipes from his home kitchen.
8pm, MDC Chapman Conference Center, $52 (for 2 guests, incl. 1 book copy)
Neighborhood: Downtown
Nearby Eats: ViceVersa, Yamashiro, NIU Kitchen | Drinks: ViceVersa, NIU Wine, 400 Vinyl Room (new!)
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