After over 40 years, the curtain will come down for the last time at the tiny community theater located at 735 W Minneola Avenue in Downtown Clermont where, for decades, countless aspiring actors have had the opportunity to dance, sing, and perform on the stage. The name of the theater groups may have changed (South Lake Players, Sunshine Players, Moonlight Players) but the countless nostalgic memories in that quaint theater, remain.
The Moonlight Players are sadly packing their wares, vacating the building they called home for so long, and looking for a location to, once again, bring on the show.
The Show Must Go On! The South Lake community needs community theater and is waiting for the curtain to rise, once again, and the spotlight to shine on the community’s talented, dedicated performers.
Note from the Moonlight Players Executive Board of Directors:
As our 26th season closes with less of a bang than anticipated, due to the pandemic closing much of our county and suspending all local theatre activity, Moonlight has found many changes happening close to home. Due to these changes and the timing of the pandemic-related closures, we are making this bittersweet announcement that we will be vacating our Warehouse Theater home in historic downtown Clermont.
Many of you know that we have had plans to build or move into a new home that we own rather than rent. Some of you may also know that the parking lot adjacent to our front door has been graded and repaved, complete with a retention wall, which has eliminated direct access and parking for the Moonlight Players’ Warehouse Theater, located at 735 W Minneola Ave. With the end of our season hastened by the pandemic, access to our facility wiped out by the adjacent landowner, and our own plans for the future slowly coming into focus, Moonlight’s Board of Directors decided this was the right time to make a big change.
While we have been in this home for over 20 years, there are too many obstacles facing our patrons going forward for us to remain where we are. Moonlight is nothing without our community of patrons and volunteers, and it is too much of a hardship for many patrons to not have any parking near the theater, let alone adequate handicap parking or even an accessible drop-off location.
On top of the practicalities of building access, we were recently notified that due to the retention wall, which was built counter to what was permitted, the theater’s front entrance no longer has sufficient room for proper egress, and so we could not open even if we wanted! While our landlord did install a sidewalk to help provide access around the side of the building, it, unfortunately, was not permitted properly and is undersized. This has posed additional obstacles beyond the concerns for patron parking, general accessibility, and safety in the wake of the pandemic.
While we may be leaving our current home, the building does not define the Moonlight Family, which includes not only our many, dedicated volunteers but also our devoted patron base. We WILL continue performing in the interim until we settle into a new theater home. We will continue our children’s programs, including Twilight Theatre for Youth and the Lunatics Improv Troupe. We are also looking to produce and perform a selection of smaller shows we can take to various venues in the Clermont area for our patrons to continue enjoying the quality productions they have come to expect from Moonlight.
We are here for our community – that is what community theatre is all about! We at Moonlight extend deep and heartfelt thanks to our patrons and volunteers. In the coming weeks, we will be quickly packing to vacate the building and may need additional help. If you would like to be a part of this, please make sure you join our Moonlight Volunteer page on Facebook.
We are committed to continuing our mission of providing a performance art venue for all members of our community. Please stay tuned for more information on what our next steps will be and how you can make an impact in shaping Moonlight’s future!
Sincerely,
Moonlight Players Executive Board of Directors
Trista Fouts President
William Pratesi VP of Production
Tom Kline VP of Operations
Lavonte Rogers VP of Administration
Ro Alexander VP of Finance
