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History
Main Street Players is the business name of the Community Theatre of Miami Lakes Inc., the latest incarnation of the longest continuously-running community theater group in South Florida. Since 1974 the group has staged over 100 plays and musicals. It has provided an outlet through which local adults and children could express their talents, and it is dedicated to promoting interest in and education for the arts. Former members have gone on to become professional actors and actresses in New York and elsewhere. Others have used their stage experience to improve their professional lives as trial lawyers, teachers or politicians.
The Community Theatre of Miami Lakes has survived some rough times. The brief history below cannot give more than a glimpse of the hundreds of local actors and actresses, set builders, producers, directors and others who have dedicated their time and talents to making productions possible. Nor can it cover the many hours of pleasure those productions have given to thousands of residents in and around the Miami Lakes area.
In 1974, Joe Boyd, a greatly loved drama teacher at Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School, founded an amateur drama group along with Al Bermejo, Faye Berry, Dorothy Christopher, Dave DeChello and Marge Pluso, and called it The Miami Lakes Players Guild. They produced one or two plays a year. Their first home was the Old Barn in Miami Lakes, where Joe also taught acting classes. After the Old Barn was torn down, the Players Guild performed in the Little Theatre of Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School.
In 1980 the group changed its name to The Community Theatre of Miami Lakes. Its membership was outgrowing the Little Theatre when they heard that a new theater had just been completed in Goodlet Park, Hialeah. A delegation of members requested permission to perform there and the Hialeah City Council agreed, on condition that the group incorporated the word "Hialeah" in their name. To comply, the name Community Theatre of Hialeah-Miami Lakes was adopted. The first show at Goodlet Theater was November 1980.
In 1987 the group incorporated as a non-profit Florida corporation, and later received 501c3 status as a charity for tax-deductible donations, a status it still maintains. The Community Theatre of Hialeah-Miami Lakes Inc. attracted a lot of talented actors and support staff from all over the tri-county area. For many years, lavish shows were produced at frequent intervals. The consistent high quality attracted many loyal patrons. A prominent Miami Lakes resident and co-founder, the late Dave DeChello, directed many blockbuster musicals.
In 1991 the group opened a black box theater on Main Street that occupied half the space of the present one and produced several plays in it during the next twelve months. They also continued to produce great shows at Goodlet Theater all through the ‘90s, but in 1999 Hialeah City Council decided to renovate and modernize Goodlet theater, so they had to move. The last show there was “The King and I”.
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For a Spanish version go to the historia page or
click here.
Para español oprima aqui
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During the next three years the group became homeless and put on shows wherever it found a temporary home. This included Barbara Goleman High School, the Performance Project in Cooper City, Miami Shores Presbyterian Church hall, in Little Haiti and in Coral Gables. They lost most of their former loyal audience at this time, and like many other local community theater groups before them, were close to shutting-up shop.
In 2003 our hometown came to the rescue. The Graham Companies, founders of Miami Lakes, offered the space currently occupied at Main Street at a less-than-market rental rate. Miami Lakes Town Council approved funds to allow the theater group to renovate 6766 Main Street into a black box theater subject to the group re-adopting its earlier name, the Community Theatre of Miami Lakes, and returning to Miami Lakes. While the Main Street site was prepared, the group produced five shows in the auditorium of Miami Lakes Educational Center.
In 2004 the alternative business name Main Street Players was adopted and the Playhouse opened for business. Since 2006, Mayor Wayne Slaton, Vice Mayor Mary Collins and the Council Members of the Town of Miami Lakes have subsidized the Playhouse by paying half of our rent bill through the Miami Lakes Cultural Affairs Committee. This has helped the group to weather the expenses of running their own theater. Main Street Players have also received grants in aid from Miami-Dade County Cultural Affairs Department. They share the Playhouse with the Town of Miami Lakes for community events including book readings and shows for children. The group also shares the space with other performing groups. They plan to continue to present quality family entertainment, and to help to educate local children in the arts with a “summer camp” and a children’s theater.
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