Public Theater Of South Florida

About Us:

The Public Theatre of South Florida, Inc., a 501 C-3 not-for-profit professional theatre producing organization which was founded on May 1, 1989 in response to the need in the community for a wider range of cultural programming to be made available to all segments of the population regardless of economic, social, religious or lifestyle background at an affordable cost. It is governemed by a Board of Directors and administered by an Executive Director and professional staff. During it’s 17 years of service to the community The Public Theatre has accomplished its mission by creating programming in four major areas.

During its first ten years, the Public Theatre founded The New River Shakespeare Festival, The New Jewish Theatre Festival, The Lesbian Gay Play Festival and produced more than 150 productions including 45 world premiere works for the theatre and 20 special educational outreach programs for children, senior citizens and free public performances of works by William Shakespeare. These productions have been viewed by more than 200,000 people. More than 60,000 viewed one of these productions at no cost. Public Theatre gave the first theatrical experiences to more than 45,000 area children and the first Shakespeare performances for more than 35,000 children. With changes in times and economics, The Public Theatre has had to change, not only its venue (a number of times), but also its focus. But we aspire to regaining the erstwhile strength that allowed us to provide such wide-ranging services to the community. The Public Theatre receives operating support from a variety of sources including admissions, private contributions, grants from the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, the Broward County Commissioners the Broward Cultural Affairs Council, foundations and area sponsors and advertising supporters.