You can yell at us, but don’t throw tomatoes
People walk through the door on Ledwith Ave., a building that sits just west of the Lake Eva Community Center, often saying the same thing: “I didn’t know Haines City had a theater.” It happened often enough that the box office used to keep stickers on hand, saying, “Yes, there is a theater in Haines City.”
They don’t make the stickers anymore, as more repeat patrons fill the seats throughout the year.
I went to the Haines City Theatre’s (HCT) public board meeting and open house this summer, where the board sat onstage and invited the audience to ask them anything. No hands or microphone, no formality, and definitely no boring.
“Just yell at us,” they said, “but don’t throw tomatoes!”
Board President Amy Goudie opened by admitting that three years ago, she was not imagining herself on this stage running a theater. Board member Paul Morin was announced that night as the theater’s first artistic director, a role so new that the people in the audience were the first ones to hear the news.
Mitch England, who handles most of the theater’s marketing and design, shared a story that tells how much has changed over the last five years since he started acting and volunteering at HTC. The first show he was in was “The Spider and the Fly” in 2021.
One night, four people came.
Four.
The cast performed the entire show as if it was a crowded theater, for four people sitting in the dark. A few seasons later, with Morin directing, “The Sound of Music” sold out every single night.
The Spaghetti In The Purse, And Other Things That Went Beautifully Wrong
The best part of the night came when someone asked for favorite moments, and the board was eager to share stories that kept the audience laughing the rest of the night.
Technical Director Erik Normandin, who works professionally at Universal Orlando Resort, is a self-declared prankster. His stagemates agree.
He directed “Grey Gardens” in 2023, his directorial debut, and England’s character had to reach into a purse on stage and pull out money. One night he opened it and found it packed with cooked spaghetti. Normandin had gone to Publix before the show and boiled it. Another night the purse held a flask of whiskey.
England’s job, under the lights, was to find the money and keep going without breaking character. Something he said was hard to do.
England also played Captain von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” which meant sprinting off after the wedding scene hand in hand with his costar, through the lobby, into a full costume change, and back in onstage about 30 seconds.
Stage lights in your eyes make it hard to see where you are going. One night his arm caught a jut on the left wall, sending his onstage wife, Maria, into the audience, landing on a very surprised audience member.
They checked on each other backstage, changed clothes, and walked, or ran, right back out.
Board Secretary Lauren Cantor met her boyfriend here in the most theater way possible. In her first show, she had to slap Vice President Michael DeWolf II across the face. He didn’t want a fake stage slap, so it was a real one, twice. She told a room full of strangers, she thought to herself in that moment, “I could do this for the rest of my life.”
They are dating now.
One Night Or Three Months Is Just Right
When asked about the time commitment for volunteering at HCT, the answer was easy. They said it depends entirely on what you want to give, and they will take whatever that is. Usher or run concessions for one performance, and you watch that show for free. If you are more interested in being in a production, either acting or helping with tech and stage support, it is a three-month commitment of three or four days per week. Like to paint or sew? Come for an afternoon.
Each one agreed, however, that once they started acting and volunteering in a small way, it led them to take on more roles and more hours than they could count, and they don’t regret one minute of it. None of them get paid to do it, but the theater family they have gained in the meantime is priceless.
Students looking to earn community service hours can do so easily at HCT. Volunteering as an usher, set painter, or in concessions, or participating in auditions, rehearsals, and performances can all count toward hours. The form at the theater is easy to fill out, and help is always needed.
Lauren Cantor’s rebuilt youth program ran its first camp, Camp Curtain Call, this summer and brought in 26 kids. What parents told her afterward was not that their children learned to sing or act. It was that they learned to speak up, present in class, and make friends.
As an educator, Cantor wants to see the program grow while providing mentoring and increased opportunities for youth to learn confidence that goes far beyond the stage.
Running on City Support and Volunteer Hours
Haines City Theatre is a nonprofit organization that operates in a city-owned building at Lake Eva. The board expressed its appreciation for the significant support the City of Haines City provides, including a special grant for several consecutive years.
Treasurer Lee Matheny works to keep the grant coming through the application process and attends the required city meeting every year. Past that, they are on their own to pay for sets, supplies, costumes, makeup, scripts, and show licenses. The rights to a single show can run $1,000 to $7,000 before scripts and music tracks.
They keep the lights on with ticket sales, donations, and many, many, many volunteer hours.
Surprisingly, their biggest need right now isn’t money.
It is a grant writer.
No one currently on the board specializes in grant writing, and they know what it is costing them without it, since many local theaters depend on additional grant funds to expand operations and bring in bigger shows.
Forty-five seasons in, they are not asking you to be talented. They are asking you to walk in and be a part of it.
Haines City Theatre is at 303 Ledwith Ave. “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” runs through Sept. 6.
“The Addams Family” opens Oct. 9, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets, upcoming auditions, volunteer forms, and the mailing list are all at hainescitytheatre.com, and the box office is (863) 421-1893.
Sources: Haines City Theatre Public Board of Directors Meeting and Open House, July 30, 2026; Mitch England, Haines City Theatre, correspondence, August 2026; Haines City Theatre, hainescitytheatre.com; Board of Directors, Haines City Theatre, hainescitytheatre.com; Season 45, Haines City Theatre, hainescitytheatre.com
