The best theater and shows to see in Miami in fall 2023

The discovery of a dead male gigolo in the penthouse suite of a macho (and ostensibly hetero) action star on the night of the Golden Globes opens this gonzo satirical comedy from award-winning South Florida playwright Michael McKeever, in which the actor’s “fixers” must work damage control to hide the inconvenient evidence. Clark Gable Slept Here premiered in 2014, and its observations about Hollywood’s vulturine and dehumanizing nature are no less potent now. Sept 21–Oct 15; various show times; $37.50–$53.50

Described affectionately as “a black comedy about white trash,” Del Shore’s enduring 1996 play captures the fallout following the accidental death of an eccentric Texas family’s elderly matriarch. A cult classic among a certain LGBTQ contingent, Sordid Lives features a bustling cast of a dozen, including a gay man on a journey of acceptance; a sex-obsessed, pill-addicted therapist; a cross-dressing Tammy Wynette superfan; and a Southern Baptist preacher. Sep. 22–Oct 22; 8pm Fri–Sat, 5pm Sun; $35

As the most produced and influential Black American playwright of the 20th century, August Wilson’s momentous body of work includes such masterpieces as Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Piano Lesson. The late author is the subject, not the scribe, of this biographical one-man show. Miami’s Robert Strain portrays Wilson on the playwright’s remarkable ascent from Pittsburgh’s Hill District, where he wrote his first poems, to his remarkable career and the love, music and racial consciousness that informed his titanic works. Sept 29–Oct 22; various show times; $35–$65

Humor, insight and pathos are central to this signature work by the late Florida-born playwright Terence McNally. It’s set in the lakeside vacation estate of a successful but creatively stymied Broadway choreographer, who has gathered seven of his friends, lovers and their acquaintances, all of whom identify as gay. The play, which broke ground in its 1994 Off-Broadway premiere, is as notable for its liberal attitude toward onstage nudity as its lengthy running time of three hours with two intermissions. Oct 12–Nov 5; various show times; $40–$45

Scoring three Tonys for its 1988 Broadway premiere, Into the Woods has become one of Stephen Sondheim’s signature works, a delightful and deadpan mash-up of the several Brothers Grimm fairy tales featuring some of the composer’s most persistent earworms and plenty of narrative surprises. As a baker enters fabled woods to secure the ingredients needed to reverse a witch’s curse that has left his family childless, his story collides with others who have ventured into the mystical space, among them Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack (of the Beanstalk fame). Oct 14–29: various show times; $52–$90

Tony-winning playwright and director Moisés Kaufman scripted this powerful indictment of Venezuela’s corrupt ruling class, based on Jonathan Jakubowicz’s best-selling novel of the same name. The title character, a supporter of the dictatorial government of Hugo Chavez, achieves unforeseen wealth by collaborating with the regime, at least until his chickens come home to roost. This world-premiere political thriller will be presented in Spanish with English supertitles. Oct 17–Nov 12: 8pm Thurs–Sat, 3pm Sun; $46.50–$76.50

Dr. John Seward, the psychiatrist who analyzed Dracula’s servant R.M. Renfield in Bram Stoker’s literary classic, is the central subject of this sequel of sorts by Joseph Zettelmaier. Following the supposed demise of Count Dracula, and having lost friends to the count’s murderous ways, Dr. Seward has chosen a life of self-imposed isolation. But when a series of familiar deaths begin to occur around the doctor, he must prove his innocence to skeptical authorities, confronting his own demons as well as the horrors of the outside world. Main Street Players, 6812 Main St., Miami Lakes (305-558-3737). Oct 20–29: 8pm Fri–Sat 2pm Sun; $25–$30.

You probably know the story of Reginald Rose’s oft-staged classic: Twelve jurors—traditionally all white—are tasked with deciding the guilt or innocence of a Black youth accused of murder. Only one juror is unconvinced of the child’s guilt, and he’ll spend the play’s duration attempting to sway his colleagues, in turn exposing their inherent biases. Nearly 70 years after it was written, Twelve Angry Men remains both a crackling piece of stagecraft and a paean to how our judicial system is supposed to work. Oct 21–Nov 5: 7pm Fri, 1 and 7pm Sat, 1pm Sun; $35

A four-time Tony nominee in 2022, this celebrated play from Lynn Nottage (Sweat, Ruined) finds the playwright once again observing, with astuteness, wit and compassion, the contemporary American working class. It’s set in the titular truck-stop diner, where the employees—all of whom were formerly incarcerated—vie to construct the perfect sandwich in an effort to transform their inauspicious greasy spoon into a destination restaurant. Nov 2–19: 7:30pm Thurs–Sat, 3pm Sun; $60

Two Miami voices—poet Richard Blanco and playwright Vanessa Garcia—collaborated on this rich and flavorful play about a Cuban-American baker living in Portland, Maine, who must decide whether to reunite with her estranged mother in Miami or remain in the community she’s built in the Northeast. This deceptively straightforward dilemma is enhanced by the writers’ lyrical script, which folds in memories from the protagonist’s past like so many ingredients in her recipes. Nov 8–Dec 3: 8pm Wed–Sat, 3pm Sun; $65–$100.

Animals make for transcendent metaphors in this avant-fable from Riley Elton McCarthy. The playwright describes their own work as “transfixed between two set points of extremes—hiding in the dark and yearning for the light,” an apt descriptor for Rabbit, a post-apocalyptic story about a loose collective of schoolchildren lost in the woods, that seems like a perfect fit for the surrealist M.O. of this newest Miami theatre company. LakehouseRanchDotPNG.com at Artistic Vibes, 8846 SW 129th Terr, Suite B (lakehouseranchdotpng.com). Nov 10–19: 8pm Fri–Sat, 2pm Sun; $20.

Fresh off its 2023 debut at New York’s Hayes Theater—where playwright Larissa FastHorse became the first Native American writer to have a work produced on Broadway—The Thanksgiving Play satirically captures today’s fault lines regarding cultural appropriation, white privilege and historical representation in art, as it depicts the minefield-riddled staging of a play about the first Thanksgiving by four Caucasian theatre professionals. Nov 17–Dec 10; various show times; $35–$65

New York’s longest-running off-Broadway Spanish-language production, Carmen Rivera’s La Gringa has only grown in reputation and relevance since its 1996 debut. It chronicles a young woman’s journey to her ancestral homeland of Puerto Rico over the Christmas holidays. While she connects intensely with her uncle Manolo, she finds that much of the island considers her an American. Rivera’s play meditates on a character torn between cultures, fitting snugly in neither. Nov 30–Dec 17: 7:30pm Thurs–Sat, 3pm Sun; $60

One of the original seven cast members of Saturday Night Live, Gilda Radner became one of the funniest women in comedy for a 10-year period in the ‘70s and ‘80s, before succumbing to a famously public battle with ovarian cancer. The biographical play Enter, Grapefruit, written and performed by recent FIU theatre graduate Charisma Jolly, explores Radner’s brief but influential life with admiration and psychological complexity. LakeHouseRanchDotPNG.com at Artistic Vibes, 8846 SW 129th Terr, Suite B. Dec 1–10: 8pm. Fri–Sat, 2pm Sun; $20

Twelve years after netting nine Tony Awards, Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez’s subversive musical about Mormon missionaries bringing their message to a war-torn African village is still one of Broadway’s hottest tickets. This latest touring iteration from Broadway in Fort Lauderdale will be full of classically crafted songs, irrepressible comedy and surprisingly nuanced meditations on the purpose of faith. Dec 12–17: various show times; tickets TBA