Coconut Grove Playhouse
Encyclopedia
The Coconut Grove Playhouse was a legitimate theater in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida
, United States
.
The building was originally constructed as a movie theater called the Player's State Theater. It first opened on January 3, 1927 as a part of the Paramount chain. The movie house was designed by the architect Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott
. It was built by local realtors Irving J. Thomas and Fin L. Pierce. Albert Peacock was the contractor. It was renowned as the second movie theatre on the east coast of Florida to be air conditioned and having the largest Wurlitzer organ in the United States.
In the 1950s George Engle, an oilman, bought it and spent over $1 million in renovations having the architect Alfred Browning Parker
convert it to a legitimate theatre. It re-opened on January 3, 1956 with the US
premiere of Samuel Beckett
’s Waiting for Godot
, starring Bert Lahr
and Tom Ewell
.
In the fifty years that have followed, the Playhouse has played host to many of theater’s most renowned performers, including Maureen Stapleton
, Hume Cronyn
, Jessica Tandy
, Tallulah Bankhead
, Carol Channing
, Liza Minnelli
, Linda Lavin
, Beatrice Arthur
, George C. Scott
, Colleen Dewhurst
, and Ethel Merman
.
Between 1964 and 1965, The Coconut Grove Playhouse was used by The Miami Actors Company, which was meant to be an extension of the National Theatre and Academy. The brainchild of Ilse Earl, who taught theatre classes at Miami-Dade, launched this effort. Only 20 actors from Miami and surrounding areas were chosen to become part of this historic event, out of more than 100 or so of those who were asked to audition.
The company was reviewed by The Miami Herald
theatre critic at that time. Shows involved, among others, were J.B. by Archibald MacLeish
; All the Way Home by Tad Mosel
; and Slow Dance on the Killing Ground by William Hanley
. Slow Dance was a hurried replacement which had to be put in place within ten days of rehearsal, replacing Hogan's Goat
.
In 1982, actor-director José Ferrer
was named Artistic Director, and under his supervision the Playhouse gained a reputation as one of the nation's leading theatres. Among the productions that premiered here prior to a Broadway
opening are Neil Simon
’s The Sunshine Boys
, starring Jack Klugman
and Tony Randall
, and Urban Cowboy
. Sherry Glaser
’s Family Secrets moved to off-Broadway
and became its longest running one-woman show. The Playhouse presented the world premiere of Fame: The Musical
, which went on to great success in Baltimore
, Philadelphia, and London
’s West End
, and mounted a revival of Death of a Salesman
, starring Hal Holbrook
and Elizabeth Franz
, prior to a national tour. The theatre now has two stages, the 1700-seat proscenium
Mainstage Theater and the intimate 100-seat Encore Room Theater.
The Playhouse provides a broad range of programs for all ages, include the In-School Touring Program, which presents plays aimed at students in grades six through twelve, Lizard Lessons, original plays with music for kindergarten
through third grade, a Summer Theater Camp for teens, and Theater Stages, which teaches acting techniques, playwriting, costume and scenery design, and improvisation to children, teens, and adult performers.
In 2007 the Playhouse was closed due to an accumulated debt. Unfortunately, it remains closed today.
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The building was originally constructed as a movie theater called the Player's State Theater. It first opened on January 3, 1927 as a part of the Paramount chain. The movie house was designed by the architect Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott
Kiehnel and Elliott
The architectural firm of Kiehnel and Elliot was established in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1906. Richard Kiehnel was the designer. Kiehnel was born in Germany. He studied at the University of Breslau, Germany and the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris. Kiehnel's first commission in the...
. It was built by local realtors Irving J. Thomas and Fin L. Pierce. Albert Peacock was the contractor. It was renowned as the second movie theatre on the east coast of Florida to be air conditioned and having the largest Wurlitzer organ in the United States.
In the 1950s George Engle, an oilman, bought it and spent over $1 million in renovations having the architect Alfred Browning Parker
Alfred Browning Parker
Alfred Browning Parker was a Modernist architect who is one of the best-known post World War II residential architects. He gained fame for his highly published modern houses in the region around Miami, Florida. He was born in Boston, MA and moved to Miami when he was eight years old. Parker...
convert it to a legitimate theatre. It re-opened on January 3, 1956 with the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
premiere of Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
’s Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
, starring Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr was an American actor and comedian. Lahr is remembered today for his roles as the Cowardly Lion and Kansas farmworker Zeke in The Wizard of Oz, but was also well-known for work in burlesque, vaudeville, and on Broadway.-Early life:Lahr was born in New York City, of German-Jewish heritage...
and Tom Ewell
Tom Ewell
Tom Ewell was an American actor.-Early life and career:Born Samuel Yewell Tompkins in Owensboro, Kentucky, where his family expected him to follow in their footsteps as lawyers or whiskey and tobacco dealers....
.
In the fifty years that have followed, the Playhouse has played host to many of theater’s most renowned performers, including Maureen Stapleton
Maureen Stapleton
Maureen Stapleton was an American actress in film, theater and television.-Early life:Stapleton was born Lois Maureen Stapleton in Troy, New York, the daughter of Irene and John P. Stapleton, and grew up in a strict Irish American Catholic family...
, Hume Cronyn
Hume Cronyn
Hume Blake Cronyn, OC was a Canadian actor of stage and screen, who enjoyed a long career, often appearing professionally alongside his second wife, Jessica Tandy.-Early life:...
, Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
, Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
, Carol Channing
Carol Channing
Carol Elaine Channing is an American singer, actress, and comedienne. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards , a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination...
, Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
, Linda Lavin
Linda Lavin
Linda Lavin is an American singer and actress. She is best known for playing the title character in the sitcom Alice and for her Broadway performances.After acting as a child, Lavin joined the Compass Players in the late 1950s...
, Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice "Bea" Arthur was an American actress, comedienne and singer whose career spanned seven decades. Arthur achieved fame as the character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcoms All in the Family and Maude, and as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, winning Emmy Awards for both...
, George C. Scott
George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr...
, Colleen Dewhurst
Colleen Dewhurst
Colleen Rose Dewhurst was a Canadian-American actress known for a while as "the Queen of Off-Broadway." In her autobiography, Dewhurst wrote: "I had moved so quickly from one Off-Broadway production to the next that I was known, at one point, as the 'Queen of Off-Broadway'...
, and Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
.
Between 1964 and 1965, The Coconut Grove Playhouse was used by The Miami Actors Company, which was meant to be an extension of the National Theatre and Academy. The brainchild of Ilse Earl, who taught theatre classes at Miami-Dade, launched this effort. Only 20 actors from Miami and surrounding areas were chosen to become part of this historic event, out of more than 100 or so of those who were asked to audition.
The company was reviewed by The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
theatre critic at that time. Shows involved, among others, were J.B. by Archibald MacLeish
Archibald MacLeish
Archibald MacLeish was an American poet, writer, and the Librarian of Congress. He is associated with the Modernist school of poetry. He received three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.-Early years:...
; All the Way Home by Tad Mosel
Tad Mosel
Tad Mosel was an American playwright and one of the leading dramatists of hour-long teleplay genre for live television during the 1950s. He received the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play All the Way Home....
; and Slow Dance on the Killing Ground by William Hanley
William Hanley
William Hanley is an American author, playwright and screenwriter. Among other works, he has written the plays Slow Dance on the Killing Ground, Whisper in my good ear, and Mrs. Dally has a Lover, and the teleplays Who'll Save Our Children?, The Long Way Home, and The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank...
. Slow Dance was a hurried replacement which had to be put in place within ten days of rehearsal, replacing Hogan's Goat
Hogan's Goat
Hogan's Goat is an award-winning 1965 play by William Alfred.The blank-verse drama concerns a mayoral contest between Irish Americans in Brooklyn, New York in 1890. The play's focus is on the personal life of Matthew Stanton, the dynamic leader of the Sixth Ward, who hopes to unseat corrupt...
.
In 1982, actor-director José Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
was named Artistic Director, and under his supervision the Playhouse gained a reputation as one of the nation's leading theatres. Among the productions that premiered here prior to a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
opening are Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
’s The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys is a play by Neil Simon that was produced on Broadway in 1972 and later adapted for film and television.-Plot:The play focuses on aging Al Lewis and Willy Clark, a one-time vaudevillian team known as "Lewis and Clark" who, over the course of forty-odd years, not only grew to hate...
, starring Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman
Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman is an American stage, film and television actor known for his roles in sitcoms, movies, and television and on Broadway...
and Tony Randall
Tony Randall
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
, and Urban Cowboy
Urban Cowboy (musical)
Urban Cowboy is a musical with a book by Aaron Latham and Phillip Oesterman and a score composed of numbers by Broadway composer-lyricists Jeff Blumenkrantz and Jason Robert Brown and a variety of country music tunesmiths, including Clint Black and Charles Daniels.Based on the 1980 screenplay by...
. Sherry Glaser
Sherry Glaser
Sherry Glaser is an American actress, performance artist, and political activist.She was born in New York and raised on Long Island. Glaser moved to San Diego in 1978 and attended SDSU. She developed her improvisational comedy skills with the feminist comedy group Hot Flashes. She then set out on a...
’s Family Secrets moved to off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
and became its longest running one-woman show. The Playhouse presented the world premiere of Fame: The Musical
Fame (musical)
A stage musical based on the 1980 musical film Fame has been staged under two titles. The first, 'Fame – The Musical' conceived and developed by David De Silva, is a musical with a book by Jose Fernandez, music by Steve Margoshes and lyrics by Jacques Levy. The musical premiered in 1988 in Miami,...
, which went on to great success in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Philadelphia, and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
’s West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, and mounted a revival of Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...
, starring Hal Holbrook
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
and Elizabeth Franz
Elizabeth Franz
Elizabeth Franz is an American stage and television actress.-Life and career:Franz was born Betty Jean Frankovich in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of a factory worker....
, prior to a national tour. The theatre now has two stages, the 1700-seat proscenium
Proscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...
Mainstage Theater and the intimate 100-seat Encore Room Theater.
The Playhouse provides a broad range of programs for all ages, include the In-School Touring Program, which presents plays aimed at students in grades six through twelve, Lizard Lessons, original plays with music for kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
through third grade, a Summer Theater Camp for teens, and Theater Stages, which teaches acting techniques, playwriting, costume and scenery design, and improvisation to children, teens, and adult performers.
In 2007 the Playhouse was closed due to an accumulated debt. Unfortunately, it remains closed today.