when michel hausmann first >>when michel hausmann first called me to tell me about the idea yes, signlaywright, filmmaker and actor carmen pelaez, a miami native, performs in one play, 'memories in the blood”, written by dael orlandersmith. >> they say i'm to be placed in a center of study of learning -- reporter: and she wrote another titled straps. >> i was excited to get my creative juices flowing again. i thought it was ingenious. i thought it was a huge relief for me not only to be able to address some of the things that i'm seeing going on and feeling artistically, but that i was going to have a paycheck strict -- paycheck. reporter: strict protocols are followed, including weekly covid tests. backstage, actors prep in 'pods' with their own ventilation system. those performing in pairs are also isolating together. >> if you come to the red district at this hour, you must have a need. reporter: the writers picked one of the classic seven deadly sins and created many dramas. some, more personal, like pulitzer winner nilo cruz's amsterdam latitudes. >> it only takes one shattered s

venezuelan-born michel hausmann is the company's co-founder and artistic director: >> it was a moment whole industry, but it was also a moment for us to realize, okay, what it is that we do, right? are we ithe business of filling venues with people? or are we in the business of live storytelling? and i think the paradigm shift opened up the way we were able to see the possibilities of what we could still do. >> brown: the five-year-old company, described by hausmann as a ¡theater of color', proudly representing its diverse city, normally performs a lively mix of new playsnd classics in the“ colony theater”, a restored 1935 art deco gem in miami beach. when covid forced its closure, hausmann had a revelation while riding his bike along nearby lincoln road, miami beach's famed pedestrian street of shops and restaurants. >> i saw all the empty storefronts on lincoln road and i thought, hmmm, there might be something there. >> brown: empty storefronts, the impact of the pandemic and earlier economic shifts. and now: a new kind of theater, performed twice during the evening. audience membe