Coconut Grove Playhouse records

The building now known as the Coconut Grove Playhouse was built in 1926 and began its life as a movie theater in 1927. Built by real estate entrepreneurs, Irving J. Thomas and Fin L. Pierce, the property was constructed to echo “a Spanish rococo palace, fabulous for its time” (Cohan 3); its opulence was not merely superficial, however, for the Playhouse even featured a primitive (and, admittedly, largely unsuccessful) attempt at air conditioning. In the successive years after 1927, when the theater was partially rebuilt due to hurricane damage, the theater enjoyed success, screening films accompanied by music and hosting glamorous evenings, although this was not to last. Throughout the 1930s, the theater only screened serials, reruns, and the occasional amateur production; the beginning of the theater’s history evinced what architect Jorge L. Hernandez would decades later call the Playhouse’s “boom and bust cycle of patterns” (“Coconut Grove Playhouse Restoration Project”). After being used for air force classes during World War II and briefly functioning as a legitimate theater hosting four productions, the theater, dilapidated and in need of renovation, closed until it was purchased in 1954 by George Engle - beginning its modern history.

After 1954, the Playhouse’s history was simultaneously marred by accusations of management fraud and mismanagement, while also featuring as a central actor in wider aspects of South Florida history, such as the racial history of Miami. When the Playhouse opened in 1956, Miami was still a heavily segregated city under Jim Crow; it was indisputably a “southern white institution” (Cohan 54). However, due to the stalwart determination of a few key black figures, the racial history of the Playhouse would be irrevocably changed. In 1960, the African American actor Clarence Thomas, who was a long term resident of Hialeah, Florida, as well as a friend and frequent stage co-star of Black Miamian actor John Archie, challenged Owen Phillips (the producer at the time) to desegregate the Playhouse, four years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would mandate the desegregation of public places. Despite Thomas’ success, little changed at the Playhouse in terms of audience demographics until the intervention of two African American women: Vinnette Carroll and Corky Dozier.1 While black actors were beginning to achieve visibility onstage at the Playhouse, the seating area continued to be occupied by an almost exclusively white audience, necessarily, if black actors were in leading roles in an integration-resistant Miami, a “liberal white audience” (Fishko qtd. in Cohan 55). When Vinnette Carroll, who was the first African American woman to direct on Broadway, brought the touring company for her play "Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope to the Playhouse," it received a lukewarm reception despite the fact that it ran for over 1000 performances on Broadway and won four awards. The cast, led by actress Cornelia 'Corky' Dozier, who were unwilling to close the show prematurely, rallied in Miami’s black neighborhoods, performing in the street, in schools, and at churches, while also securing advertising space in local newspapers and promoting the show on radio stations with large numbers of black listeners. The effect both inside and outside of the theater was palpable, “Some white people in Miami had parties for the cast and invited blacks to their homes for the first times in their lives. At a time when there was so much unrest … Cope … delivered a universal message of understanding,” stated Dozier (qtd. in Cohan 56).

George Engle brought new meaning to the notion of a 'present' owner. In addition to the one million dollars he had spent on purchasing the Playhouse in 1954 and the subsequent four hundred thousand dollars he had spent on its renovation and upkeep by 1960, Engle put all of his energy into making the Playhouse a cultural center of his community - funding the building of a Celebrity Room and art gallery on the premises. More so, he also negotiated staff contracts and disputes, and even picked up litter. However, Engle had grown tired and in 1960 he named Owen Phillips as producer - in charge of all daily operations - of the Playhouse. This shift was not to last, however, as the theater closed early 1962. It was empty and unused for months until, with the assistance of Martin Caplan of the Roosevelt Theater of Miami Beach, Stan Seiden and Zev Bufman brought "Pajama Tops," based on the French play "Moumou", to the Playhouse. Upon visiting the Playhouse, despite the fact that “it was stuffy and smelled of mildew,” (Cohan 43) Bufman claimed that he had fallen “in love with that theater” (Cohan 39) and the Gala premiere for Pajama Tops was set for October 9th, 1962.

Bufman’s time at the Playhouse proved fruitful for both the theater and the wider Coconut Grove community. In 1963 when "A Thousand Clowns" opened, Bufman reopened the art gallery for an exhibit of clown paintings, which “set a precedent that gathered momentum with ensuing productions” (Cohan 45). What began as a quirky idea soon spawned a local tradition that captured the eyes of the country’s art world; Cohan writes, “Never before had the theme of a show extended beyond the doors of the Playhouse … Within a few months, the Coconut Grove Association was formed to manage what has become an annual event … What had begun as a gimmick grew into one of the most prestigious juried art shows in the nation” (45-46).

In 1965 Bufman purchased the Playhouse from George Engle and had a three-hundred-seat balcony installed; by 1970, he had “effectively used the Playhouse to catalyze his career” (Cohan 49) and sold it to comedian Eddie Bracken. Though Bracken’s management of the theater appeared sound initially, things soon started to disintegrate. In 1971, Bracken sought out subscriptions for the following season from the community, offering up a range of events such as champagne parties and guest speakers; he was sent checks exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, however, the season never happened because the Playhouse was bankrupt.

After much rumor concerning the fate of the Playhouse, it was bought a few months later by Arthur Canto and Robert Fishco - both of whom had worked at the Playhouse before. They spent over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars on much-needed repairs and renovations, and on the premise of “ethical responsibility” (qtd. in Cohan 53) and regaining the trust of the community, they honored subscriptions Bracken had offered up previously. Under Fishco, the Playhouse enjoyed a few years of relatively unencumbered prosperity; however, in 1976 the theater both lost essential financial backing and also faced competition because of the opening of other theaters in the area, so Fishco decided to sell to the non-profit Players Repertory Theater. Though successful in terms of the art they produced, financial issues eventually forced the sale of the Playhouse to the State of Florida in 1979.

In 1985, Arnold Mittelman, founder and director of the New York Free Theater and the Whole Theater Company, assumed the role of producing artistic director at the Playhouse. Though in his first year he significantly reduced the Playhouse’s one-million-dollar debt and spearheaded many exciting plans for the Playhouse’s future, by 2006 - the fateful year the Playhouse closed its doors permanently - Mittelman’s name was tarnished by controversial accusations of mismanaged financial operations. By 2006, the Playhouse had accrued debts in excess of four million dollars and just ten days into a production of "Sonia Flew," which was meant to run for four weeks, the Playhouse’s doors were closed. The Playhouse’s Board authorized a committee to launch a forensic audit into the financial state of the theater, a necessary action given one Board member’s admission that “We weren't paying attention” (qtd. in Zink) to the finances, until it was too late.

Since the closure of the Playhouse in 2006, a number of proposals have been made for what should become of the abandoned building. In 2013, Miami-Dade County and Florida International University entered into a ninety-nine-year joint lease agreement with the State of Florida under the premise that the property would be used as a cultural facility to be managed by the company, GableStage. For the next six years, the administration of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez developed an agreement with the state to restore some aspects of the theater, such as the distinctive wing-shaped Mediterranean exterior, which is protected as a historic landmark. However, their plan would involve demolishing much of the interior and constructing a much smaller three-hundred-seat theater and large parking lot, deemed financially prudent in terms of construction and also profitable once finished. The project’s principal architect, Jorge L. Hernandez, stated “Something very special happened here and we’re going to bring it back” (“Coconut Grove Playhouse Restoration Project”). Gimenez’s plan was much to the remiss of many local preservationists and neighborhood activists, who argue that the entire building should be protected and renovated due to its local historical significance. Francis Suarez, Miami Mayor, is in agreement with the residents and in May 2019 he invoked the first veto of his administration by overturning a vote by the City Commission to approve the twenty-three-million-dollar redevelopment plan. Once again, the fate of the Coconut Grove Playhouse is undecided; however, thanks to the efforts of a team from the University of Miami Libraries Special Collections and the Actors’ Playhouse in Coral Gables, who went on a salvage mission in the Playhouse in 2013, up to eight-hundred boxes of historically-significant material was saved from the dilapidated building and is currently preserved to form the Coconut Grove Playhouse Collection.

Written By:

Laura Bass
UGrow fellow for the Department of Manuscripts and Archives Management, 2019-2020

Works Cited

“Coconut Grove Playhouse Restoration Project.” Jorge Graupera Films, March 2018, vimeo.com/260495579. Accessed Nov. 2019.

Cohan, Carol. "Broadway by the Bay: Thirty Years at the Coconut Grove Playhouse." The Pickering Press, 1987.

Zink, Jack. “Coconut Grove goes fallow.” Variety, vol. 402, no. 13, May 15 2006.

Notes

1. Corky Dozier is an important figure within the South Florida theater scene. She is an Emmy Award-winning director, playwright, producer and Broadway performer, a trailblazer for integrating theater in South Florida and expanding the scope of the arts for multicultural communities. She developed the first state-funded arts intervention program for social change following the McDuffie riots in Miami, and wrote and produced a nationally recognized PBS documentary about the incident that received several awards. As founder of the Coconut Grove Playhouse Children’s Theater, Dozier was instrumental in opening doors for aspiring actors by providing opportunities never before available. She has been recognized as an Ambassador of the Arts for children and minorities by Miami-Dade County, and in 1999 was honored by the state of Florida for her outstanding public service. In 2018, Dozier was honored at the African American Achievers Awards.

2. Coconut Grove Playhouse Records, Special Collections, University of Miami Libraries.