Best Of Miami®, Arts & Entertainment, 2024
Best Actor in a Female Role.
Easily going from glam to gritty, Miami actress Lela Elam is nothing if not convincing. As Morgan Wright in Zoetic Stage's Clark Gable Slept Here, she originated the role of the Hollywood diva pissed to be called away from the Golden Globes to help clean up a murder mess. Elam seamlessly juggled multiple roles in the Actors' Playhouse production of A Rock Sails By. And she killed it as no-nonsense Coach Odessa Hicks in this season's The Girls of Summer with M Ensemble Company. The role, which hearkened the 1992 classic film A League of Their Own, had the actress leading a team of Black female baseball players in the '40s. Her range and convincing portrayals make it pretty clear that as an actress, Elam is herself in a league of her own.
Lisa is an easy cast for a mom, professor, teacher, lawyer, girlfriend, nurse, wife, ex-wife. Quirky, natural, casual, confident, decent, proud, and funny have all been used to describe her as an actor.
Lourdes was born in Lima, Peru. She is an actress, known for Standing Up, Falling Down (2020), Home (2019) and Court Ordered (2018). **Upright Citizens Brigade Improviser (trained short form long form and sketch at UCB Training, NY - Ray Cordova). She trained at The Stella Adler Studio of Acting (NY - Paul Takacs) and the Performers Studio Workshop (Tampa, FL - Kathy Laughlin). Lourdes grew up in South Florida and studied at Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Palm Beach Atlantic University, and New York University. Lourdes is also a classically trained and professional classical singer.
At a young age, Luisa has already sung for crowds of over 20,000 people and sold over 7,000 copies of her first single, "When You're Not Around", within the first week of its release on Verizon Wireless. She is originally from Rome, Italy and has lived in Miami almost all of her life. She fluently speaks, sings, writes, and acts in English, Spanish, and Italian, and taught herself how to play the piano.
Luisa has sung the National Anthem for the Miami Heat, Sony Ericsson, Veteran's Day Ceremony in Miami Beach, and the Polo World Cup held in South Beach. She has opened ceremonies such as the United Nations' International Year of Youth in 2011 and performed with Ethan Bortnick on his “Power of Music” tour. Luisa took the stage December 6th, 2014 performing with Phil Collins, Laura Pausini, Alejandra Guzman, and Richard Marx at the Fillmore in Miami Beach.
The term “tour de force” must have been invented for practically any performance turned in by Ms. Lowe, whose petite physical stature stands in direct contrast to her giant talent. Her list of credits and awards is as long as your arm. Equally at home interpreting roles written by Edward Albee (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ” and “Seascape”), Jean-Paul Sartre (“No Exit”), Henrik Ibsen (“A Doll’s House”), George Bernard Shaw (“Candida”), William Inge (“Picnic”) or Tom Stoppard (“Arcadia”), Ms. Lowe never strikes a false chord. And her recent triumph in “The Belle of Amherst” was a performance for the ages.
Marie Michelle is a well known icon in the Haitian Community, the French Caribbean, and North America for decades. She is a talented stage play writer, actress, storyteller, songwriter, solo dancer, and novelist. She began her artistic career in 1970 as a dancer, Co-founder of BOUKAN GINEN.
