The Lake Worth Playhouse, a fixture in Palm Beach County since 1953, celebrates its 60th anniversary this month with a diamond jubilee Saturday night and its most famous alumnus, Burt Reynolds, the Oscar-nominated, two-time Golden Globe award-winning actor, scheduled to appear as the honored guest.
The theme of the jubilee celebration is Decades, a retrospective of the past six decades of the playhouse’s history. Volunteers will sing classic songs from popular musicals performed throughout the theater’s history, comprising more than 340 mainstage shows.
“We’re a mainstay in the Palm Beach County arts, and many have taken advantage and learned from all we offer,” said Jodie Dixon-Mears, artistic director of the playhouse.
Reynolds appeared in several productions at the theater when it was on the third floor of City Hall in the late 1950s, including All My Sons. Local lore has it that he used scenes from All My Sons to audition for his Hollywood roles.
While playing the “half-breed” blacksmith Quint Asper on the long-running TV western Gunsmoke from 1962-65, Reynolds would return to the Lake Worth Playhouse to direct.
Long-time volunteer Hal Johnstone, 72, still remembers his own acting debut during the 1981-82 season at the Lake Worth Playhouse in Jean Giraudoux’s Madwoman of Chaillot. Although dreaming of playing the Rag Picker, (played by Danny Kaye in the 1969 film) Johnstone was cast as the Sewer Man, with no more than five minutes on stage.
Little did he know those five minutes were the start of a career in community theater.
The former chair of the fine arts department at Cardinal Newman High School in Lake Worth, Johnstone still remembers the fun and craziness of the show.
“The actress playing the Madwoman continually forgot her lines,” he said. “One night she says, ‘Oh, Mr. Sewer Man, would you excuse me?’ I was left alone until she got her lines and came back on stage.
“This is the fun of community theater,” says Johnstone. “We’re not professionals. Some of us have more training than others. There is a great diversity. Some are here to earn their chops and others do it for the love of acting and to exercise their thespian bones.”
As for his debut, Johnstone learned a lot. “I was disappointed not to play the Rag Picker, but I had more fun as the Sewer Man, and the next season I earned the lead in ‘Inherit the Wind.’”
Johnstone is still involved in the Lake Worth Playhouse and will make his directorial debut in the upcoming production of Barnum.
The current Lake Worth Playhouse, which opened in 1975, had previous incarnations as a silent movie house, a vaudeville theater, and in the early 1970s, a theater screening mostly blue movies.
Michael McKeich, the current board president, has been a volunteer for the past nine years. He builds and paints sets, does stage production and made his acting debut in 2004 in Annie, where he played President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“This is what’s special about community theater,” says McKeich, 58. “You don’t need any formal training to get involved.”
McKeich says the Playhouse has been around a long time in part because “we understand our audience and choose shows they like.
“Many of our patrons may not be able to afford subscriptions to larger venues, but they can see great theater here at reasonable prices. Our productions are dynamic,” he said. “We have a niche market run by volunteers, which keeps our costs down.”
Johnstone, a volunteer for the past 32 years, performs in many of the shows, including as Don Quixote in the 1990-91 season of Man of La Mancha, Daddy Warbucks in Annie, Benjamin Stone in Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, and King Charlemagne in Pippin.
Community theater is where many actors learn their craft.
Although Johnstone studied with Paul Lahey and Watson B. Duncan III at what was then Palm Beach Junior College, as did Burt Reynolds, Johnstone believes that no one can teach you to act.
“I believe you learn from watching your fellow actors. A good actor is a great people watcher,” he said. “If you’re constantly observing life, you will pick up things that you can draw on later.”
The theater’s public relations director, Theresa Loucks, said the Playhouse survives not just because of its “dedicated volunteers and dedicated patrons,” but for something more intangible.
“The theater is successful because of the love we put into it ― the love of the staff, the love of the volunteers, the love and dedication of the actors to their performances and the love of our patrons who return time and again to support their second home.”
Besides their most famous grad, Burt Reynolds, other Lake Worth Playhouse alum who have gone on to successful theater careers include: William Hayes and Ellen Beryl, founders of Palm Beach Dramaworks; Alexander James “A.J.” McLean of the Backstreet Boys, who played the Fiddler in the Lake Worth Playhouse production of Fiddler on the Roof; Andrea Rivette, who starred on Broadway in Jekyll and Hyde; and Sarah Amengual, who starred as Maria in the 2010 Broadway revival of West Side Story.
“We’re a real theater and not just a space that is used as a theater,” Johnstone said.
The Lake Worth Playhouse’s diamond jubilee is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at the Playhouse on 713 Lake Ave. in Lake Worth. Tickets are $159 (partially tax-deductible) are available at www.lakeworthplayhouse.org or at the box office by calling: (561) 586-6410 .