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PGA Arts Center to Open in January

Palm Beach Gardens will add live theatre to its ever-growing cultural landscape when the PGA Arts Center opens its doors in late January.  Veteran producers Philip Roger Roy and Dana Matthow have taken a multi-year lease on the PGA Cinemas, located at 4076 PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens, and are in the process of converting two of the building’s six auditoria to accommodate live productions. The two theatres will seat 260 and 280 patrons respectively.  They plan to adapt a third space – which will seat approximately 160, and be available for rentals – within the next year.

The PGA Arts Center’s first production – projected to open for previews on January 25th – will be WaistWatchers The Musical!, local playwright Alan Jacobson’s ever-popular light-hearted look at four women dealing with food, friendship, love, life, and sex. The show will have all new music to go with its clever and funny lyrics. Brad Zimmerman’s My Son the Waiter:  A Jewish Tragedy, which is currently playing at the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center in Boca Raton, will begin a limited run in the second theatre on February 2nd.  The PGA Arts Center is located at 4076 PGA Boulevard, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410. Ample parking is available within close proximity to the theatre. For rental inquiries call 212-400-6800.

Writer and producer Alan Jacobson has produced more than eighty shows both locally and out of town. Two of his shows, If You Ever Leave Me, I’m Going With You (starring Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna) and Down the Garden Paths (starring Eli Wallach) moved To New York City. In 2003 he produced the world premiere of the musical version of the comedy Beau Jest. Alan also produces various popular Mane Stage Cabaret shows which perform in restaurants, nightclubs and theatres across the country. He wrote and produced the show Food Fight! A Musical Comedy for Waist Watchers which premiered in October of 2007 at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre.

Roy and Matthow are lifelong friends and have been producing partners for well over 20 years.  Together they run the popular Penn’s Landing Playhouse in Philadelphia (http://plplayhouse.com). They also produce shows in Arlington, MA, Providence RI, George St. Playhouse in NJ, Chicago, Phoenix, Sacramento, Walnut Creek CA, San Jose, San Diego, Huntington Beach CA, Los Angeles, Denver, Boulder, New Hope PA, and other cities throughout the United States and Canada.
“Dana and I have both owned theatres throughout our lives,” Roy explained recently. “Dana owned the Soho Playhouse in New York City’s Greenwich Village for 10 years.  My first venue was a coffeehouse on the campus of Kenyon College in 1971. It was called Ma & Pa Eclectic & Son’s International House of Chutzpah. I later shortened the name to Grendel’s Lair Cabaret Theater. I opened another cabaret theater in Philadelphia in 1972, also called Grendel’s Lair which I ran for 15 years producing theatrical shows & music events. “Our production company controls the rights to several Off Broadway shows which we produce in 18 markets throughout the USA and Canada.” Roy continued. “With so much ‘product’, we are always looking for new theaters to play. The most challenging part of our jobs is to find theaters we can rent. As a result it was only natural for us to jump at the opportunity to rent a theater (and in the case of the PGA Arts Center – two theaters in one building!) in one of our most receptive markets – South Florida. Our niche has always been Off Broadway comedies and musicals. We hope to bring year-round professional theater to the Palm Beach market with (mostly) shows never seen here before.”