Actors Playhouse

Actors' Playhouse, Miami-Dade County’s award-winning professional theatre company celebrates 28 years of great cultural offerings as a Florida Presenting Cultural Organization and one of 13 major cultural institutions in Miami-Dade County. The company is the largest self-producer of critically acclaimed dramatic and musical theatre for adults and children in South Florida. The private nonprofit organization presents a full season of Mainstage and Children's programs and extensive educational outreach and community service. 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-Dade. Programming is developed to appeal to audiences of diverse ages, ethnicity, and cultural background.

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 identity of its home venue, the historic Miracle Theatre.

Established in 1988 by Founder and Chairman Dr. Lawrence E. Stein, the company was originally located in a converted Kendall movie theatre for its first seven years. In 1995, under the stewardship of Executive Producing Director Barbara S. Stein, Actors' Playhouse entered into a partnership with the City of Coral Gables to renovate the historic Miracle Theatre, transforming the Art Deco movie house into the company's new home in an $8 million capital project. Actors' Playhouse is the managing agent of the three-stage performance center; a 600-seat Mainstage, 300-seat Balcony Theatre, and a 100-seat multi-purpose Black Box space. This partnership was the catalyst for revitalizing downtown Coral Gables, enhancing the quality of life for the community, and adding to its economic prosperity with over 150,000 patrons attending events each year. The book Miracle on the Mile archives the role model private/public partnership and acknowledges its contributors. Actors' Playhouse has produced 156 Mainstage productions including Broadway and Off-Broadway style musicals, mystery/thrillers, comedies and new works, and140 Children's Theatre productions. The company has received 85 Carbonell Awards (the South Florida equivalent of the Tony Award) for artistic excellence and was also named South Florida's Theatre Company of the Year for overall season excellence and community outreach.

Our Musical Theatre For Young Audiences is voted "Best of the Best" KIDS CROWN AWARD by South Florida Parenting Magazine every year. Its leadership is highly recognized by the community and the industry. Among many distinguished honors, the South Florida Business Journal named Executive Director Barbara S. Stein Corporate Business Woman of the Year. Stein is among 75 distinguished women as a Florida Woman of Achievement, acknowledged by Miami-Dade County with the distinguished "In The Company of Women" Award, and recently awarded the Coral Gables Chamber “George Merrick Award” for Excellence.. Carbonell Award-winning Artistic Director David Arisco of 28 years received the distinguished George Abbott award by the Carbonell Committee, for his long-term, dedication and commitment to artistic excellence and the Florida Professional Theatre Life Time Achievement Award.

In addition to offering year round theatre productions, we complement our annual programming with a full schedule of Theatre Conservatory classes; summer camp; a National Children's Theatre Festival, the 6th Young Talent Big Dreams countywide talent contest for youth 8-17 also presented by The Children's Trust; educational arts outreach programs for youth concentrating on inner city neighborhoods; visual art exhibits for regional artists; a playreading series and musical theatre lab where new works are developed; an annual gala auction; and ongoing rental of our facility to outside groups for corporate, nonprofit, and cultural events. The theatre's artistic and business 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, Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, August: Osage County, Godspell, Other Desert Cities, and In The Heights, and the 2015 sensation Ragtime. The theatre presents world premieres including The Boy From Russia, Bombshells, Unreasonable Doubt, The Color of Desire, See Jane Run, and Real Men Sing Show Tunes and play with puppets, each written by Florida playwrights with the latter receiving it’s New York debut in the 2015 Musical Theatre Festival. Actors’ Playhouse has an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association, New York.