Mission, Vision & Values
Mission
The Mission of Main Street Players is to provide cultural enrichment and entertainment to a diverse audience while offering a creative outlet for artists in the South Florida theater community. We strive to create a safe and inclusive space for adults and children to express their creativity by promoting education and interest in the theatrical arts.
Vision
Main Street Players envisions a vibrant and inclusive community enriched by the theatrical arts, where creativity and education thrive, artists of all ages grow, stories come to life, and audiences discover the transformative power of live theater.
Our Values – REACH
At Main Street Players, our work is guided by the values represented in REACH, which shape how we serve our artists, audiences, students, and community.
Respect
We cultivate a welcoming and inclusive environment where every artist, volunteer, student, and audience member is treated with dignity and valued for their unique voice and perspective.
Education
We promote learning and growth in the theatrical arts by offering opportunities for training, mentorship, and creative exploration for artists and audiences of all ages.
Artistry
We celebrate the craft of theater and encourage imaginative storytelling, collaboration, and artistic excellence on and off the stage.
Community
We believe theater brings people together. We strive to strengthen and enrich our community by creating meaningful cultural experiences that connect artists and audiences.
Hospitality
We welcome everyone with warmth, openness, and a spirit of inclusion, creating a safe and supportive space where people of all backgrounds feel valued and encouraged to participate in and enjoy the theatrical arts.
Our History
Founded in 1974 by beloved drama teacher Joe Boyd, Main Street Players began as a small community troupe known as the Miami Lakes Players Guild, performing in the “Old Barn” and later at Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School. What started as a group of passionate volunteers quickly grew into a vibrant local theater company dedicated to bringing live performance to the community.
In 1980 the organization became the Community Theatre of Hialeah–Miami Lakes, performing at Goodlet Theater in Hialeah and expanding its role as a cultural home for local artists and audiences. The company incorporated as a nonprofit in 1987 and continues today as a 501(c)(3) organization.
After the Goodlet Theater closed for renovation in 1999, the company spent several years performing in temporary venues. In 2003, with the support of The Graham Companies and the Town of Miami Lakes, the theater found a permanent home on Main Street. The former bookstore at 6766 Main Street was transformed into an intimate black box theater, and the organization adopted the name Main Street Players.
Since then, Main Street Players has grown from a volunteer community theater into a professional company, beginning to pay actors in 2017 while continuing its nonprofit mission. In 2022, the theater opened its current space at 6812 Main Street, creating a welcoming venue for performances, education programs, and community events.
Today, Main Street Players continues to celebrate storytelling, nurture local talent, and provide accessible live theater for South Florida—building on a legacy of creativity, resilience, and community connection that has lasted for more than 50 years.
MIAMI NEW TIMES
Best of Award
Arts & Entertainment
Putting on engaging stage dramas can be daunting for any theater troupe. Yet the diminutive and diverse Main Street Players is always up to the task. Sure, there are bigger troupes that draw larger crowds and cast more accomplished actors for their respective productions. But Main Street Players is special because its commitment is to stories and to telling those stories with hungry young actors and a stage crew ready to expertly build a small apartment or a makeshift park at a moment’s notice. The group performs in an amiable black-box theater nestled across from a multiplex. And it knows how to pack a punch. Even with its limited budget and small working space, MSP understands the play is the thing, and the troupe’s commitment resonates in each production. Main Street Players has had many incarnations over the years since opening in 1974 as the Miami Lakes Players Guild, often moving from venue to venue and putting on two or three productions a year wherever it could until the City of Miami Lakes offered the current space. It’s a small, talented, and versatile group that doesn’t mind taking on challenging plays such as the controversial Extremities, the deeply layered Living Out, and the provocative Closer. Plays with such driving and stimulating narratives would normally be shortchanged and curtailed by the quirks and limitations of a small local theater troupe working on a tiny stage, but Main Street Players is the little theater group that could, and it knows exactly how to give audiences a rich and rewarding theater experience.
