Grove Playhouse offers second act

The Coconut Grove Playhouse finds an additional venue -- and perhaps a second home -- as it brings its history and producing clout to Fort Lauderdale's Parker Playhouse.

BY CHRISTINE DOLEN
cdolen@herald.com

Miami's Coconut Grove Playhouse may have found a timely second home at Fort Lauderdale's Parker Playhouse.

Faced with temporary relocation if plans for redeveloping or restoring its historic building goes through, the Grove Playhouse will present each of its shows next season for an additional week in the Fort Lauderdale theater. ''Consistency will help put the Parker on the map again. This helps
	Patrick Farrell/Herald Staff
	Changes Coming: The Coconut Grove Playhouse may be replaced by a new two-theater facility.

give it an identity and character right away,'' said Broward Center President Mark Nerenhausen. "The Grove has an established [Broward] audience already. If that many people already make the trek [to Miami], how many more will attend now because it's more convenient and visible?''

NEW AUTHORITY

The announcement came just a week after the Broward's Performing Arts Center Authority said it is taking over management of the Parker. The move, which will bring seven star-driven plays to the Parker, immediately enriches theater in Broward. The county has never been home to a major regional theater -- one with the big budget and ability to hire stars and that has attracted everyone from Edward Albee to Jimmy Buffett -- like the Grove.

The move could help grow the Coconut Grove Playhouse's audience. If the season is a success, the Parker also could be an ongoing anchor for the company during months when it can't produce at its home theater because of redevelopment or renovations, which would come during the 2006-07 season at the earliest.

The current plan calls for a new two-theater facility to be built on the Playhouse's present site on Main Highway in Coconut Grove, along with shops, condos and a parking garage; but if Miami's Historic and Environmental Preservation Board designates the theater a historic site at its Sept. 6 meeting, those plans would have to change. In any case, if the theater must go dark, it doesn't yet have a place to produce in Miami-Dade County, though Producing Artistic Director Arnold Mittelman says he has been contacted by several facilities interested in hosting the company.

Mittelman estimates that 35 to 50 percent of his matinee audiences in Coconut Grove come from Broward. But he says he believes some people don't travel from Broward because of the distance.

In embracing regional production, Mittelman is following the model of such South Florida arts groups as the Miami City Ballet, the Florida Grand Opera and the Concert Association of Florida, which present their work in Dade and Broward counties.

LONGER RUNS

This isn't the first time Coconut Grove Playhouse shows have moved to other South Florida theaters.

The theater's production of Shirley Valentine with Loretta Swit played Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in 1991; two seasons ago The Tale of the Allergist's Wife moved from the Grove to Palm Beach's Royal Poinciana Playhouse. But it is the first time the Grove has done an entire season in a different county.

The move to the Parker will add an additional week of performances to the company's three-week runs in Coconut Grove. If this first Broward season is a success -- which would mean, Mittelman says, selling about 50 percent of the available tickets to each play -- longer Fort Lauderdale runs might be possible, something Nerenhausen says he would welcome.

Mittelman believes that with similar seating capacities and stage sizes, moving shows from the Grove to the 1967-vintage Parker should be a comfortable fit.

The Grove's first season at the Parker will feature Dixie Carter and Hal Holbrook in the play Southern Comforts and Tony Award winner Len Cariou in the musical Passin' It On, both being touted as Broadway-bound productions; Doug Wright's Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife; Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler in her solo show The Good Body; Lucie Arnaz in Cuban-American playwright Melinda Lopez' Sonia Flew; Theodore Bikel in About Time; and Hal Linden in Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie.

The stars, Mittelman says, are enthused about the move.

''I held my breath in my first negotiations with Hal [Holbrook] and Dixie,'' he said. 'But they said, `Oh, great! It's the Parker, it's another chance to work on and develop the play.' It turned them on. Many of these actors have played the Parker in the past.''

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