Cuban Theater Digital Archive

After 42 years as the longest running community theatre in Miami-Dade, the Main Street Players (MSP) has gone professional after staging quality productions – plays and musicals – for the community since 1974.

The Community Theatre of Miami Lakes, as it was formerly known, survived despite the challenges of finding a permanent home. It found a way to do shows wherever it could to sustain the theatre, until it found its present home thanks to the generosity of the Graham Companies. The brief history below cannot give more than a glimpse of the hundreds of local actors, set builders, directors, and others who have dedicated their time and talents to making our productions possible and keeping our theatre alive.

• In 1974, Joe Boyd, a greatly loved drama teacher from Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School, founded an amateur drama group and called it The Miami Lakes Players Guild. Their first home was the “Old Barn” in Miami Lakes and, after the Old Barn was torn down, the Players Guild performed in the Little Theatre of Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School.
• In 1980, the group changed its name to The Community Theatre of Miami Lakes. But when they heard that a new theater had just been completed at Goodlet Park in Hialeah, the group called it home and the name of The Community Theatre of Hialeah-Miami Lakes was adopted. The first show at Goodlet Theater was in November 1980.
• In 1987, the group incorporated as a non-profit Florida corporation, and later received 501(c)3 status as a charity for tax-deductible donations, a status it still maintains.
• In 1999, the Hialeah City Council decided to renovate the Goodlet Theater, so the theatre had to move again. During the next three years, the group was “homeless” and put on shows wherever it found a temporary home.
• In 2003, the Town of Miami Lakes came to the rescue. The Graham Companies, founders of Miami Lakes, offered the space currently occupied on Main Street. The Miami Lakes Town Council approved funds to allow the theater group to renovate the bookstore at 6766 Main Street into a black box theater, subject to the group re-adopting its earlier name, the Community Theatre of Miami Lakes, and returning to perform exclusively in Miami Lakes. While the Main Street site was prepared, the group produced shows in the auditorium of Miami Lakes Educational Center.
• In 2004, the alternative business name of The Community Theatre of Miami Lakes, d/b/a Main Street Players was adopted and the Main Street Playhouse opened for business. (Information taken from their website.)