THIS PLACE MATTERS
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Pink Success. For me, the late 1950s marked Coconut Grove Playhouse’s pink era. A period where the role of a regional theatre took hold and the rich, famous, talented, has-bins and rising stars converged to form a risky but creative pot luck.An example of the mix is Tennessee William’s play Night of the Iguana which premiered at the Playhouse to mixed reviews in 1959. Everyone agreed the play “could be something”. So the script was revamped, scenes cut, scenes added, try outs, new hires, until the one act play morphed into a substantial piece. Once on Broadway, it won the Drama Critics award for best play in 1960. Night of the iguana is considered Tennessee William’s last great play. Everyone had a stake in this process, including the Village which benefitted economically from the creative activity. Success spills over, right down to the Valet who parks the pink Cadillacs. The Coconut Grove Playhouse is the community.
Maria Freed Old Coconut Grove Houses |
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It has come to my attention that the Coconut Grove Playhouse – a historic cultural institution as important and useful to the citizens of Miami as it is to theatre practitioners and patrons everywhere – is in danger of being demolished. Considering how much more useful the Playhouse will be once restored to its former function and prestige, and how much less than useful it will be if razed to the ground, and considering how many good people stand behind its preservation, I would like to think that those in charge of a final decision will come to their senses and assist in the Playhouse’s restoration rather than its destruction.
A great many of us – myself, Samuel Beckett, Tennessee Williams, to name only a few –have been lucky enough to be a part of the Playhouse’s history, and it would be a terrible shame if that history came to an end, when the last thing the American Theatre needs now is one fewer good place to produce good work. I join the others appealing to you and urge you to save and fortify the Coconut Grove Playhouse. Edward Albee American Playwright |
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"The old Coconut Grove Playhouse thrived for years (before mismanagement brought it down) before Miami was as populous and worldly as it is today. When I went to Cleveland to create the Playhouse Square, the critics said Cleveland was dead and would not support a performing arts Center. Today has seven theaters and I subscription series of over 40,000 annually. When I went to the Kennedy Center the conventional wisdom was that it had reached maturity and its maximum audience, yet in 10 years the audience went from about 900,000 to 2,000,000 patrons a year. The fact is, quality programming creates excitement and motivates audiences. In my opinion a properly managed group Playhouse will become a successful, self-sustaining nonprofit theater once again."
Larry Wilker President & CEO - TheaterDreams, Inc. |
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Making the entire Playhouse EVEN MORE significant is the fact that it is a THEATER, a building typology that by default encompasses the evolution of Miami’s social, cultural and fashion scene. It is the quintessential ZEITGEIST of Coconut Grove! If you destroy that, you destroy the very soul of the Grove. If you destroy it, and try to reinvent it, you will fail, because it’s impossible to reinvent something that took nearly a century to evolve. Melissa Meyer Assoc. AIA LEED AP BD+C Adjunct Professor Miami Dade College School of Architecture and Interior Design |
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The Coconut Grove Playhouse is a cultural center and the gateway to Coconut Grove and to Village West and its Bahamian heritage. We cannot lose this historic treasure. There is a lot of misunderstanding about what is going on. In 2004 the citizens voted for a $20 bond to restore the Playhouse and nothing has happened. The County is proposing a commercial entity with a small 300 playhouse next to it. It's proposal does not meet historical standards for a full restoration. Coconut Grove it a small village and it heritage needs to be preserved. I plead for people to realize what we have and to preserve it historically. This building is 94 years old and soon will be 100. There are not many things you can say about that in Miami. My son JC Nordt lV agrees, the Playhouse has a special place in his heart...see his comments.
John Nordt, MD Miamian |
The cast and crew of the historic play "Footprints" performed at the Woman's Club in 2016. It was written by Playwright Sandra Riley, the creator & curator of the Club's archives, who produced many plays at the Coconut Grove Playhouse.
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"I have lived here in Coconut Grove for most of my life, which makes me pretty darned old. I have such great memories of the Coconut Grove Playhouse. When it was a movie theater, I would often go to the Saturday matinees with some of my friends from Coconut Grove Elementary and Ponce . Later, when it became a playhouse, I babysat for some of the actors who lived in apartments upstairs while they were performing there. I went to see O Calcutta when my niece worked there as an usherette. Quite shocking at the time. I saw several plays over the years when my brother’s company supplied limousine service for the Playhouse. I took art classes there. so I have a pretty good history with the playhouse. It was a very impressive theater and it could and should be again. We need to preserve and restore it. It is part of our history."
Liz Gibson Whenever I’m asked why saving the Playhouse is so important to me, I think of Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem If and the line that reads “If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.” I was the Chair of the Historic and Environmental Preservation Board at the meeting on Oct 5, 2005 when the Board voted 8-0 to designate the entire exterior of the Playhouse as having architectural significance, not just the facade of the v-shaped three-story building that fronts on Main Highway. Ever since the County decided to demolish most of the Playhouse, it has twisted the truth of what the Board voted that day. Just read the transcript of the meeting and it is clear what the Board actually voted. And yet the County has persistently used two lines in an admitted “mistake” in the Designation Report to attempt to trap all of us into believing the County’s plan for demolishing over 80% of the structure is somehow preserving it." Kipling’s poem has another line that goes “If you can wait and not be tired by waiting.” It has now been two decades since that 2005 historic designation, and we are finally going to get to see our beloved Coconut Grove Playhouse preserved and restored to its former grandeur and rightful place at the heart of Coconut Grove. Hoorah!
Anthony R. Parrish, Jr. Grovite I have a deep appreciation for historic preservation and the value that it adds to our communities and society. As president of the Woman's Club of Coconut Grove for four years I was the custodian of its historic clubhouse that was established by the early settlers of Miami before it was even a city.
The Coconut Grove Playhouse also holds a revered place in our community's history. It is unthinkable to destroy this valuable treasure of our past. Coconut Grove as it stands today is void of culture. It is missing the performing arts to make it a truly great community that attracts visitors from all of South Florida, the nation and the world. Who recalls when regular performances were held at the Coconut Grove Playhouse and it attracted almost daily crowds who patronized our restaurants and shops? When is the last time there was regular live music in the Grove? I envision a Coconut Grove that is not full of the same retail chains that are seen of every street corner of New York and in every mall. We are not just a mall. I envision a restored and open Playhouse as a true regional theater with a smaller theater for ongoing music and entertainment, art galleries, performing arts education programs - a true cultural community center. Please join us to help make this happen! Marlene S. Erven Nonprofit Consultant & Community Activist |
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Architectural historian, Vincent Scully, lamented during the demolition of Penn Station, “One entered the city like a God……today, one scuttles in like a rat.” While it is quite a leap to jump from Penn Station to The Playhouse, the same question arises - How are we to judge what buildings deserve to be protected and which do not? South Florida is in danger of heading into the same dark ages of Architecture where buildings like Penn Station were torn down with no upward gain. The soul of a town lies within the people who live and travel there and the life within its Architecture. When a good building is torn down, there must be an upward trade. You can not continue to take buildings rich in history and culture and replace them with heartless substitutes. This is how the souls of cities are lost; and this is how the soul of Coconut Grove is being lost. If a building is not loved by the people, it surely will not endure through time. The Coconut Grove Playhouse is quite clearly loved by its people and that is seen from its 11,000 plus followers on our Facebook site and the years of hard fought battles to save it. Right now, The Playhouse itself is in the role of its lifetime, bringing together the Village West and East Grove areas as a gateway to all and a center for learning, culture and the arts; and this is how Architecture will keep the soul of Coconut Grove alive and thriving.
Jenifer Howard Interior Designer & Community Activist |