ABOUT US
MarGi Happenings was born from a vision of three good friends: Marilyn Romero, Gigi Gonzalez and Marisela Verena. They share a common love and passion for the Theatre, Music and the Performing Arts and envisioned a company that would create, produce and present high quality theatre and artistic 'happenings' that would diversify and add to the artistic movement in Miami. They believe in the positive impact Art can make on people’s lives, how it can bring individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds together in love and acceptance, and how Art can assist in creating a more tolerant, unified, and integrated society. These are ideals that all three co-founders share and pledge to preserve in every one of their artistic happenings, as they make a significant contribution to Miami's cultural heritage.
MISSION
MarGi Happenings, a non-profit 501c3 organization, shall make a positive impact on society and add quality to people’s lives by creating ‘happenings’ of artistic excellence which, using the universal language of Theatre and the Performing Arts as an empowering tool to bring individuals with diverse social and cultural backgrounds together, will make a significant contribution towards a more tolerant, unified, accepting and integrated society.
WHO WE ARE
MarGi Happenings is a non-profit [501(c)(3)] tax-exempt organization that creates, produces and presents ‘happenings’ of artistic excellence with a focus on Theatre and the Performing Arts. The purpose of our organization is to inspire, educate, challenge and empower both artists and audiences, to reflect Miami’s cultural diversity and nurture a more conscious and compassionate community, to showcase and promote our local emergent talent as well as our most seasoned performers, and to contribute to, and expand Miami’s cultural heritage.WHAT WE DO
Workshops | The Miami Studio for Actors | Theatre plays | Staged readings | Concerts and other theatrical happenings | Children's theatre | Classes & Coaching
MARILYN ROMERO – FOUNDER / ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Cuban actress and director with more than 35 years of artistic and theatrical experience. Having starred in more than 45 theatrical plays, her career also includes television and film. Her excellent interpretation of characters like Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Mamaé in The Young Lady from Tacna by Mario Vargas Llosa, Chunga in La Chunga by Mario Vargas Llosa, Nancy in Some Prefer Strawberry Others Chocolate by Senel Paz, Agnes in Agnes of God by John Pielmeier, The Bride in Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca, Berta in An Empty Shoebox by Virgilio Piñera, Electra in Electra Garrigó by Virgilio Piñera, Luz Marina in Cold Air by Virgilio Piñera, Raquel or Pirulo in On the Banks of the Thames by Mario Vargas Llosa and recently Doña María in Bayamesa by Abel Gonzalez Melo, have earned her the respect and admiration of both audience and critics. For 7 consecutive years she directed the storytelling company Cuenteros & Company, host of the Miami International Storytelling Festival, one of its kind in Miami. Currently, among her many activities she promotes the practice of meditation for young people and adults and advocates for tolerance of gender diversity and cultural integration.
GIGI GONZALEZ – FOUNDER / EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Linked to the theatre for more than 40 years, she has performed technical and executive tasks in addition to acting. As an actress she has played The widow in False Alarm by Virgilio Piñera, Leonardo´s wife in Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca, María Luisa in The Day you Love Me by José Ignacio Cabrujas, Betty Parris in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, First stretcher bearer in Picnic on the Battlefield by Fernando Arrabal, Sprite in The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden by Federico Garcia Lorca, Loulou in The Sacred Monsters by Jean Cocteau, Old Lady in Rockefeller in the Far West by René De Obaldia. Gigi was a faculty member, Professor, in the EAP Department at Miami-Dade College, Wolfson Campus, for 38 years until her retirement in 2015.
MARISELA VERENA – FOUNDER / MUSICAL DIRECTOR
Singer songwriter Marisela Verena was born in Pinar del Río, Cuba, under the Virgo sign. As a small child, she left Cuba through the Peter Pan Program and thanks to her vocal chords and her wit, she sang at school, at parties and among friends in Iowa, which was where she ended up. Later, she studied higher education in Miami. Drawn to the Arts she studied painting, guitar and theatre. Music finally won: she excelled as a composer and her favorite companion was the guitar. She is the author of all the songs she performs and stars like Paloma San Basilio, Marco Antonio Muñiz, José-José, Celia Cruz, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Alberto Cortez, Willy Chirino, among others, have recorded her compositions. She has performed in great theatres in Madrid, Paris, the United States and Latin America and has shared the stage with Julio Iglesias, Raphael, Rocío Jurado, Rocío Dúrcal, José Luis Perales, Gloria Estefan, Paquito D’Rivera, Pedro Almodóvar, Catherine Deneuve, Willy Chirino and many more. Marisela is a vegetarian, passionate about animals, practices transcendental meditation, studies the Tao and the I-Ching as a spiritual philosophy and believes in reincarnation. Her philosophy? “Instead of fame, I prefer transcendence”.
ALICE JANOSI – PRODUCER
With a long administrative career in the field of tourism and recently in medicine, Alice truly believes that art, in all its forms, is the universal language. Growing up in Miami, she has witnessed the city's cultural expansion through the years in theatre, music, dance, fine arts, and film. Today, with great enthusiasm, she joins forces with MarGi Happenings as a producer and puts her professional expertise at the service of Miami's flourishing artistic "ecosystem."