Lavender Footlights Festival is dedicated to providing a voice and a venue
for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer plays and supporting the
work of emerging playwrights, directors and actors.
Who we are:
Artistic Director - Ryan Capiro
ryan@lavenderfootlights.org
Ryan Capiro is a Miami native. Having served on the Board of
Directors for Creative Arts Enterprises for several years, he is
thrilled to be heading up the Lavender Footlights Festival with
such a talented team. A graduate of the Musical Theatre
program at New World School of the Arts, Ryan has been an
active member of the South Florida arts community for as
many years as his young age has allowed him. His
background in theatre has included many acting and directing
credits around the state of Florida including GableStage,
Hollywood Playhouse, New Theatre, The Hippodrome State
Theater, Quantum Entertainment, Lavender Footlights and
New World Theater, among others. Outside of theatre, Ryan
is very interested in all facets of the arts. He is currently
developing a major essay on modern art and synaesthesia,
and it’s potential to revolutionize the modern museum.
Co-Executive Director - Kareem Tabsch
kareem@lavenderfootlights.org
Kareem Tabsch is a Miami native whose work has showcased
his passion for the arts and issues regarding animal welfare
and the environment.
From 1996-2002, he served as Associate Editor of The Pet
Tribune, the largest companion animal publication in the
South Eastern region, during that time he appeared on a
variety of local television and radio programs discussing
animal welfare and was also a guest on Alive and Well with
Michelle Harris a nationally syndicated television show where
he discussed environmental consciousness in animal care.
As a writer, his celebrity interviews for local and national
publications have included Julio Iglesias, Martha Stewart,
Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Rivers, and Bob Hope among many
others. He has been published extensively in publications
like Miami Living Magazine, Luxury Lifestyles, Living in
Balance, Edgemiami.com and Miami New Times.
In 2007 he produced the short film Oh, You Pretty Things
which has played major film festivals in Europe, Canada &
US. He recently co-produced the short film, Category 3,
which is set to premiere during the summer of 2008. He is set
to direct Que Pasa USA?: A Documentary on the role of
Latinos on television & the U.S’ first bilingual sitcom. The film
is expected for a late 2009 release. Combining his passion
for film and animal advocacy, he is currently developing a film
on pet adoption told through the story of Cherry Pop, the
world’s most pampered cat.
Mr. Tabsch is currently serving as Festival Manager for the
prestigious Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, a post he
has held for six years. Among his many responsibilities
during his tenure, Mr. Tabsch has been responsible for
securing opening night diva’s who have included legendary
theater and television actress Bea Arthur, Grammy winning
singer Albita, and legendary Latina performer Charytin
amongst others as well as administering the Planet Out Short
Movie Award, one of the nations largest cash prize
competition for short filmmakers. In 2008 he is curating
Merge Miami, a two-day queer film and Media Conference
that he co-created which has been funded and sponsored by
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars)
and is taking place during the film festivals opening weekend.
Co-Executive Director - vivian marthell
vivian@lavenderfootlights.org
Vivian C. Marthell is a visual artist with a background in
installation art, photography and science. Marthell’s work
explores issues of gender, identity and race using as media
an amalgamation of material loaded with symbolic meaning
and cultural tropes. Marthell is a co-director of Inkub8, an
open-share collective that unites visionaries from all fields to
collaborate on multidisciplinary projects.
Marthell’s collaborative efforts have recently been
exhibited/performed at bedART, Nash Hotel as part of the
Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Fleshroom at .boxspace,
at the Gallery of Contemporary Art at the University of
Colorado in Colorado Springs, Miami-Dade County’s Tropical
Park in a group exhibition entitled “Arts to Nature,” an artist
incursion at a Little Havana motel, “the Motel Show” and a
sound arts residency at SFCA’s Sound Arts Workshop that
culminated in a collaborative performance entitled “R.D.A.
Ritual Drum ANALysis” at Wild Seduction Gallery. Her work
has been reviewed in the August-October 2000 issue of Art
Nexus, The Albuquerque Journal, el Nuevo Herald, Street,
Miami New Times and the miamiartexchange.com.
Marthell has contributed articles to the arts column of the
Miami New Times and has lectured on Art Activism and on the
Artist and the Institution at the University of New Mexico and
the University of Miami. She recently participated in a panel
for the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture
speaking on “The Working Artist/Strategies for Survival.”
Marthell has received awards for her artwork and is the
recipient of the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Community Grant
in 2004, a recipient of the International Cultural Exchange
Grant through Tigertail Productions 2005, a recipient of the
State of Florida’s Cultural Affairs Artist Enhancement Grant
2005 and participated in a research residency at University of
Western Australia in 2005.
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