This weekend, a Eustis performance space with a long and varied history will see the grand opening of its newest incarnation: The Hideaway Performing Arts Center.
Located in the Eustis Plaza shopping center at 431 Plaza Drive, the Hideaway has previously been known by names such as Living Drama Theatre, “the 99-cent movie theater,” Theatre 1901, the Florida Sunshine Opry and the Plaza Theatre. As its names indicate, the venue has served as both a cinema and live performance space for music and theater since opening in 1968.
“This is a labor of love for two families,” said Jim Quinlan, who will run the arts center with business partner John Lucey. Jim and Kristy Quinlan, who have two children, live in Sorrento; John and Michelle Lucey, who have three children, live in Leesburg. All have theater experience, whether in performing, costume making or tech-crew help.
Lucey worked as an assistant technician at the Garden Theatre for several years. Quinlan, a former vice president of the Bay Street Players community-theater group in Eustis, has run Something New Studio since 2020. That organization has a robust children’s theater-education program and also produces traveling murder-mystery dinner shows found in restaurants and other venues throughout Central Florida.
The Hideaway will become a home for Something New’s children’s programs and productions, Quinlan said — and you’re likely to spot the Quinlan and Lucey children helping out while the new arts center gets off the ground.
“We are two local families who have come together to make a difference here in the Lake County arts scene,” Lucey said. “It only makes sense that family remains the focus.”
One way that will happen is in all-ages theater classes that will give children, parents and grandparents the ability to participate together in a “bonding experience,” Quinlan said.
Additional educational offerings will include theater program for homeschooled students, as well as workshops and classes for all age groups.
The men have other ideas how to set their venture apart from Lake County’s various established theaters, as well.
Quinlan would like the Hideaway to facilitate better communication and cooperation between the Bay Street Players, Tavares Theatre, Melon Patch Theatre, IceHouse Theatre and Lake high school theater programs. He envisions a Lake County one-act play festival, with them all participating.
“We hope Hideaway will be a common ground where everyone can get together,” he said.
Unlike the county’s community theaters, the Hideaway Performing Arts Center is not planning on seeking nonprofit status, Quinlan said, “so we won’t be in competition for grants.” Actors and technicians who work at the theater will be paid.
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Lucey and Quinlan are pursuing corporate sponsors and booking touring shows to help bring in revenue. The pair have a five-year lease on the space, and they already are thinking long-term.
Quinlan has a goal of staging an adaptation he wrote of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” each holiday season, an occurrence he recalls from his younger days and a popular — and financially successful — programming decision for many theaters.
“We’re looking to build that tradition here,” he said.
Beyond “A Christmas Carol,” though, the theater looks to distinguish itself by performing titles that don’t often get staged elsewhere.
“Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” a comedy written by Steve Martin, will be the first production in the space; it opens Oct. 18. And other events already are listed on the website, hideawaypac.com , including a youth summer-camp show, a teen improv show and one- and two-person adult comedies. Dean Napolitano’s “Bart Drive Boys” (Aug. 9 and 10) is about growing up in the 1970s; “Hate Mail,” with Timothy Totten and Shananne Cain, is a cynical answer to “Love Letters” about two enemies who correspond with vigor and vinegar.
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The Hideaway’s grand-opening celebration will be 5-7 p.m. Sunday, July 21. Food and drink will be provided, along with local entertainment. Quinlan and Lucey will offer a look at upcoming theater, concert and comedy productions, as well as season-ticket options. The event is free, but registration is encouraged at the website .
“Our goal is to fill this space all day, every day,” Quinlan said. “We’re going to be ambitious in everything we do.”
Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com . Find more arts news at OrlandoSentinel.com/entertainment .
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