Farr Best Theater

The Farr Best Theater, home of the Main Street Theatre acting group, came under new ownership September 9. Businessman Charles Morales, and his wife, Judith Evans, bought the building for an undisclosed price.

For the next five years the couple will be landlords for the Main Street Theatre, allowing the nonprofit theater group to use the building rent-free for all of its performances. Also, Morales plans to repair and eventually restore the 87-year-old Farr Theater in downtown Mansfield. "We are now shouldering the costs of the repairs that they couldn't afford," Evans said.

This is not the first historic building that the Mansfield couple has tackled. Two years ago, Morales purchased the historic J.H. Harrison house at 404 E. Broad St. from the city. Morales is in the process of restoring the 89-year-old building that formerly housed the senior citizen center.

The couple's theater purchase appears to be the perfect fit for the Main Street Theatre. Co-founder/president Tim Eaton said the theater group has come under hard times in recent years and that it was spending 40 percent of the theatre budget on the building's mortgage. The theater group had been looking for someone who would buy the building - but only under strict circumstances. Whoever purchased the building had to keep the same historical name, keep the donor nameplates on the chairs and still allow Main Street Theatre to perform there.