As news of the Garden Theatre’s closure spread Thursday, the city of Winter Garden pledged the venue would remain a theater, a nearby theater-education business offered to “rescue” children’s shows left homeless, a partner organization lamented the effect of the closure on theatergoers with special needs, supporters formed a social media “Save the Garden” group, and many expressed disbelief at the abruptness of the closure.
“I was just shocked,” said Aradhana Tiwari, director of “Scrooge,” the theater’s next major theatrical production. She found out about the closing from a colleague’s text. On Wednesday, the theater shut down its social media accounts and posted a message on its website stating it could no longer afford to operate. It also emailed that same message to supporters.
By Thursday, a grass-roots effort to save the venue, on Plant Street in the heart of Winter Garden’s downtown, had sprouted on Facebook with the formation of a group titled “Save the Garden Theater!” Organized to brainstorm ideas and share resources and contacts, the group attracted more than 150 members on its first day.
Garden Theatre closes in Winter Garden, leaving questions behind
Bolstering their efforts, a top Winter Garden official told the Orlando Sentinel the venue would remain a place for arts and entertainment.
“Currently, the City is looking into the legalities and ramifications of the closure and this process will take time,” City Manager Jon C. Williams wrote in an email. “Meanwhile, what is certain is that the Garden Theatre is an important cultural resource for Winter Garden and Central Florida, and the historical Garden Theatre will remain intact as a theatre.”
The city owns the building, which dates to the 1930s, while the Garden Theatre nonprofit was responsible for programming the space. Williams indicated city leaders were not given advance warning by the nonprofit’s board of its plans to shut down.
“The City of Winter Garden became aware of the Garden Theatre announcing its closure at the same time as the public,” he wrote. “Although the City owns the building, the City’s longstanding agreement with the Theatre does not grant the City jurisdiction over its operations and finances. As such, the City did not have a role in the Theatre’s decision to close its doors.”
Phone messages, texts and emails seeking comments for this article from multiple board members and others affiliated with the theater were not returned.
However, Keith Davenport, hired as the theater’s chief operating officer in June 2023, posted on his Facebook account that he was no longer with the organization.
“… As I am no longer an employee, I will only inform that I too am affected by this closure with pain for the lost institution, tears for the young artist[s] and our staff, and a horrific sadness for the performances past that will look and feel a bit different moving forward,” he wrote. “But my passion for what the arts in community, and in specific West Orange County can do, I celebrate with the good the theatre did in its various chapters over its 17 years.”
The city’s surprise at the closure, along with other factors, suggests the decision to cease operations was made suddenly.
Tiwari said she had attended an online meeting with board members and others about “Scrooge” less than a week ago.
Work on the show was well underway, she said. It had been cast, and several of the actors already had memorized their lines. She assumed the meeting had been called to discuss operating procedures after the departure of artistic director Rob Winn Anderson, who left the theater a few weeks ago.
Ena Heller, who transformed Rollins Museum of Art, resigns
“It made sense they would want to meet,” given Anderson’s departure, she said. And nothing out of the ordinary occurred during the meeting.
“Everything seemed to be going well, and I left with the feeling things were moving forward,” she said. “There was no sense that the theater was going to close.”
Also caught unaware were children involved in educational programs at the theater: One group was working on a production of “Willy Wonka,” and another, a stage adaptation of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.” The latter, which was rehearsing this week, was scheduled to begin public performances Oct. 24.
The owners of Young Star Musical Theatre, a theatrical education and training program for K-12 students located near the Garden Theatre, used social media to offer a home for the productions.
“Our perspective is, once you have over 150 kids, what’s a few more?” said managing director Lexy Shepherd-Cizek, who co-owns the business with her mother, Shmaine. “We want to help in any way we can.”
The theater could be used for free and has set pieces, props and some costumes available, Shepherd-Cizek said, but she warned that the company was not in a position to finance entire productions.
The Young Star Musical Theatre is located on Dillard Street in a renovated 108-year-old barn, and Shepherd-Cizek said more than $35,000 was spent on converting the structure — which means, as with all cultural organizations, money is tight.
But she still felt compelled to offer help to the displaced Garden Theatre students.
“Adults understand when they hear ‘we can’t do the show, things didn’t work out,'” she said. “But to take from kids is a huge difference. We can’t just stand by.”
Shepherd-Cizek said she was in touch with some of the “The Little Mermaid” production team and would be discussing logistics with them.
Audio description opens world of theater to those who can’t see it
Another group left disappointed by the closure: Theatergoers with visual impairments, who attended the theater’s productions with audio descriptions of the onstage action provided through headphones.
“For the accessibility community, this loss hits particularly hard,” wrote Stasha Boyd, a Winter Garden resident who founded of the Audio Description Initiative .
In her message, posted on Facebook, Boyd thanked theater staff for their partnership on the program, including Davenport, “whose commitment to accessibility throughout his tenure defied the idea that access to arts and entertainment for people who live with disabilities is a luxury, rather than an obligation of the mission of a community-based arts organization,” she wrote.
She expressed hope that any future tenant of the building would be as committed to welcoming theatergoers with special needs.
“Whatever happened at Garden Theatre that brought it to this end,” she wrote, “this outcome is tragic.”
Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com . Find more entertainment news and reviews at orlandosentinel.com/entertainment .
Local News
Comments / 0