Historic Cocoa Village Playhouse
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Description
Established as the “Aladdin” theatre, the doors opened to the public on August 18th, 1924, showing silent movies. Later, Brevard’s first “talkie” movie house became known as “the showplace of the Indian River Section”. Several owners and several decades later, the building was purchased by the City of Cocoa and renamed The Cocoa Village Playhouse. In August of 1984, Brevard Community College acquired the building for $1 with the understanding that the college would take the responsibility of ownership and make the theatre operate in the best interest of the community. The Trustees immediately established a 501(c)(3) not for profit Direct Support Organization with its own Board of Directors who were given the responsibility of raising funds to make the Playhouse self-supporting. Through donations from individuals, organizations, corporations and grants from Foundations, as well as the State of Florida, the Playhouse was restored operational and began producing community based musicals.
In 1991, the Playhouse was accepted onto the National Register of Historic Places in Tallahassee and the official corporate name became The Historic Cocoa Village Playhouse. As the programming grew and became popular, the Stars of Tomorrow youth program was established in 1992 beginning with eight young people and now has over 264 participants each season featuring youth ages 7 through high school graduation. The program instructs them in not only the performing arts but life management skills as each “Star” is required to maintain a 3.0 grade point average in their classes. The all volunteer performer base has now grown to over 600 volunteers who rotate throughout the productions each year with a core group known as the “Gold Star Performers” who perform in consecutive performances each season.
The Playhouse opened its 23rd season on Sept. 28, 2012 with a newly renovated auditorium, expanded orchestra pit and enlarged balcony. The Playhouse has undergone tremendous renovations, including construction of a three-story technical support annex attached to the historic facility. The annex has enabled the Playhouse to expand its operations to include a community ballet company, specialty performances, and community events. An established audience base of 4,000 season patrons support the Playhouse each year and performances often sell-out before the run of each production is finished. This thriving community theater has extended runs for almost every show to meet public demand since 1995. Known to all as “Broadway on Brevard” this team of volunteers and staff are truly an example of one of the highest quality community highest quality community theatres in our country.