Passion and morality key to theatrical drama

Privilege and striving. Promise and betrayal. Moral strength and weakness. They all figure into “The Recommendation,” a sometimes-incendiary 2012 drama by Juilliard grad Jonathan Caren that is now getting its South Florida debut thanks to Ground Up & Rising.

Founded in 2005, the not-forprofit company doesn’t produce often. And as is the case with both “The Recommendation” and its August-September show “Vincent River,” the troupe presents its work in two very different venues: the small Artistic Vibes space in a warehouse area near the Falls shopping center and the Miami Beach Botanical Garden.

Ground Up & Rising pours passion into its work, and even if a show isn’t flawless, the company’s choices have a daring and intensity that make them worth experiencing.

“The Recommendation” follows the forged-in-college friendship of two young men from disparate worlds. Aaron Feldman (Christian Vandepas) is a silver-spoon California kid, an aspiring filmmaker who brings the party with him wherever he goes. Izkinder — Izzy (O’Neil Delapenha) — is the bright son of an Ethiopian immigrant father and a white American mother. They meet when they’re paired as roommates at Brown University, and Izzy swiftly comes to believe that he has hit the roomie jackpot.

The friendship endures, but real life brings the guys’ character into sharp relief. Aaron is frustrated by not having his desires instantly gratified, and when a mishap lands him in jail overnight, an encounter with a volatile repeat offender named Dwight (Kevin A. Walton) leads Aaron to make wild, empty promises. Izzy puts aside his dream of helping the less fortunate for a law firm job that will better support his wife and young son, but a detour involving Aaron and Dwight puts his life on a different track, too. It leads the actors to the kind of intense final encounter that is Ground Up & Rising’s dramatic thing.

“The Recommendation” will be staged 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday and July 12 at Artistic Vibes, 12986 SW 89th Ave., Miami. Tickets cost $20 ($15 for seniors, free for those younger than 25). Additional free performances will be held 5 p.m. July 18-19, July 24 and July 26 at Miami Beach Botanical Garden, 2000 Convention Center Drive. Call 305-562-5849 or go to GroundUpAndRising.org.