Organizational Brief History

Actors’ Playhouse is a Florida Presenting Cultural Organization and one of twenty-one major cultural institutions in Miami-Dade County, is a producer of critically acclaimed dramatic and musical theatre. The private nonprofit organization presents a full season of Mainstage and Children’s programs and extensive educational outreach and community service. Actors’ Playhouse was the second recipient in five years to be awarded South Florida’s Theatre Company of the Year in 2008 by the Carbonell Committee for overall season excellence and community outreach.

The mission of Actors’ Playhouse is to enrich South Florida’s cultural vitality with the highest caliber classic and contemporary live theatre productions; to provide comprehensive educational and outreach programs to multi-cultural audiences; to provide a supportive and creative work environment for Florida-based theatre professionals; to encourage the creation and production of new works for adults and children; and to maintain the historic identity of its home venue, the Miracle Theatre.

Established in 1988, the company was located in a converted Kendall movie theatre for its first seven years. In 1995, Actors’ Playhouse entered a partnership with the City of Coral Gables to renovate the historic Miracle Theatre, transforming the splendid Art Deco facility into the company’s new home. In exchange for free rent under a 40-year lease, Actors’ Playhouse bears full responsibility for operating the city-owned facility, managing all programs, and raising all necessary funds for operations and capital improvements. During the past ten years, with additional support from the State of Florida, Miami-Dade County, and many generous private donors, Actors’ Playhouse has completed comprehensive facility renovations, including a 600-seat Mainstage auditorium; magnificent lobby, box office and entrance facilities; a 300-seat balcony theatre for children’s events and rental to other community cultural groups; a 100-seat Black Box Space, new dressing rooms, costume shop, and storage structure; plus the addition of an elevator and new administrative offices. All facilities are fully ADA-accessible. The total capital improvement project represents a $7 million investment.

Actors’ Playhouse has produced more than 128 Mainstage productions including Broadway and Off-Broadway style musicals, mystery/thrillers, comedies and new works, and over 106 Children’s Theatre productions. Actors’ Playhouse has received 245 Carbonell Award nominations from the critics for artistic excellence and has won 57 Carbonell Awards including “Best Production of a Musical” for seven consecutive years. The Children’s Musical Theatre is continually voted “Best of the Best” KIDS CROWN AWARD by South Florida Parenting Magazine. In addition to Mainstage and Children’s year-round programming, the theatre has a Theatre Conservatory, offering classes to children, teens, and adults, as well as a summer camp; a National Children’s Theatre Festival presenting new works for children chosen from a national call to competition; lobby art exhibits of regional artists; a playreading series; an annual gala auction; and rental of the facility to outside groups. The theatre’s excellent artistic reputation generates licensing agreements for the newest work from New York like the Pre-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, Neil Sedaka’s Breaking Up Is Hard To Do! and Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Misérables. The theatre also presents world premiere works like The Boy From Russia and Bombshells, An Explosion of Life, Love, and Telling It All, and in this season Unreasonable Doubt, as well as a new musical each year for the National Children’s Theatre Festival. Partnerships with the public schools provide educational resources for students and teachers with special programs for at-risk individuals. Performance, technical, and arts business administration internships are offered in partnership with the Dade Schools, University of Miami, and other regional colleges and universities. Interns receive extensive professional experience and are often employed by the theatre after graduation.

Actors’ Playhouse serves a multi-cultural audience of local residents in South Florida and is a cultural destination for domestic and international travelers to Miami. Programming is developed to appeal to audiences of diverse ages, ethnicity and cultural background. Over 1,500,000 children have experienced cultural and educational experiences through Actors’ Playhouse programs for youth. Sixteen percent of our tickets are contributed to students and individuals each year that cannot afford admission.