The Colony Theatre is a performing arts venue located on Lincoln Road in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. The theatre first opened as a

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

movie house in 1935 with a capacity to sit 1,200 people. From the 1950s - 1990s, it functioned back and forth as a movie house and a live performance space. As of 2020, the Colony Theatre is a 417-seat performance venue managed by South Florida theater company,

Miami New Drama Miami New Drama is a nonprofit professional theater company located in Miami Beach, Florida, founded in 2014. Since October 2016 it has been the resident theater company and operator of the historic Colony Theatre on Miami Beach. Since its first pr ...

. It hosts music, dance, and theater performances as well as

's theatrical season. Colony Theatre (Miami Beach)

History

Early years

built the Colony Theatre in the 1930s, an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

movie house on

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

's Lincoln Road. At the time, the theatre was known to many as the "Beauty Queen." The opening night of the movie theatre was said to be well attended, with guest appearances from movie stars such as

Carol Lombard Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters; October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress, particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard ...

. Notable films that played at the movie house included ''Alfie'', ''The Sound of Music'', ''Doctor Zhivago'', and ''The Great Race''.

1950s

The theatre is transformed from a movie house into a live performance venue.

1960s

Architect,

Morris Lapidus Morris Lapidus (November 25, 1902 – January 18, 2001) was an architect, primarily known for his Neo-baroque "Miami Modern" hotels constructed in the 1950s and 60s, which have since come to define that era's resort-hotel style, synonymous w ...

, remodels all of Lincoln Road in Miami Modern style of architecture, and the theatre goes back to being a movie house.

1970s

Samuel Kipnis purchases the theatre in 1971, and hosts the Greater Miami Educational Cultural Series, a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that supplied films from his private library.

1980s

Miami City Ballet Miami City Ballet is an American ballet company based in Miami Beach, Florida, led by artistic director Lourdes Lopez. MCB was founded in 1985 by Toby Lerner Ansin, a Miami philanthropist. Ansin and the founding board hired Edward Villella, f ...

takes over operations of the Colony Theatre, turning it into a live performance space.

Renovation and new management

In 2006, under the ownership of the City of

, the Colony Theatre underwent a $6.5 million renovation to return it to its original

style and update stage and technical equipment such as lighting, rigging, and sound equipment. Under the city's ownership, the theatre was used as a rental space for live performances such as theatrical productions, music concerts, and dance recitals. On October 1 of 2016, the City of Miami Beach announced that

, under the Artistic Direction of

Michel Hausmann Michel Hausmann is a Venezuelan-born theater director, writer, and producer. He is the co-founder and artistic director of Miami New Drama, the resident theater company and operator of the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach. Under Hausmann's leadership, ...

, was taking over operations of the Colony Theatre. Since then, the Colony Theatre was named the 2018

Miami New Times The ''Miami New Times'' is a newspaper published in Miami, Florida, United States, and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami area and is headquartered in Miami's Wynwood Art District. Overview It was acquired by Village Voic ...

Best Theater for Drama, and

won two Knights Arts Challenge awards and a Knights New Works Miami award from the

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts. The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...

. The Colony Theatre has also collaborated with national organizations such as

Asolo Repertory Theatre The Asolo Repertory Theatre or Asolo Rep (AKA: Asolo Theatre Company, Inc.) is a professional theater in Sarasota, Florida. It is the largest Equity theatre in Florida, and the largest Repertory theatre in the Southeastern United States. Asolo ...

and

Tectonic Theatre Project Tectonic Theater Project is a stage and theatre group whose plays have been performed around the world. The company is dedicated to developing works that explore theatrical language and form, fostering dialogue with audiences on the social, pol ...

Management

As of 2020,

is the Artistic Director of

, the resident theater company at the Colony Theatre. The Managing Director is Nicholas Richberg, the General Manager is Jessica Kaschube, the Director of Programming is Claudia Urdaneta, the Director of Education is Vyana Preti, and the Operations and Production Manager is Steven Nuñez.

References

{{coord missing, Miami Theatres in Florida Miami Modern architecture 1930s establishments in Florida