Don & Ann Brown Theatre

The Don & Ann Brown Theatre is a professional theatre venue in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, and serves as the principal performance home of Palm Beach Dramaworks (PBD), a nonprofit regional theatre company. The venue is identified in public records as a movie theater in West Palm Beach, but in practice it functions as a live legitimate theatre where PBD stages its mainstage season, educational programming, and new-play development activities. Its identity is closely tied to the Palm Beach Dramaworks brand: the theatre's website, box office, production history, and audience services are all presented under the Palm Beach Dramaworks name. Palm Beach Dramaworks describes itself with the tagline "Theatre To Think About," signaling a curatorial focus on serious, text-driven plays rather than commercial musicals or spectacle. The company's mainstage seasons mix modern classics, contemporary dramas, and world premieres. Recent and upcoming productions announced on the theatre's website include Alejandro Rodriguez's world premiere ALBA, Hershey Felder's special limited engagement The Piano & Me, Jennifer Maisel's world premiere PROVENANCE (a co-production with Asolo Repertory Theatre), The Light in the Piazza (a co-production with Riverside Theatre), Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, and Richard Strand's Ben Butler. The production history page documents a continuous season-by-season record stretching back to the early 2000s, with titles such as Death of a Salesman, August: Osage County, Topdog/Underdog, A Streetcar Named Desire, Twelve Angry Men, Driving Miss Daisy, The Crucible, and Vineland Place. Beyond the mainstage, the Don & Ann Brown Theatre hosts PBD's education and community engagement work. The company runs the Young Playwrights Contest, theAcademy@PBD, the One Humanity Tour, field trips, and the 'LIT' Theater Program, along with community programs such as Dramawise, The Legacy Project, and OutStage@pbd. The venue also hosts the Perlberg Festival of New Plays, an annual new-play reading festival that grew out of The Dramaworkshop, a play-development lab launched in 2014. The festival was renamed in honor of executive producers Diane and Mark Perlberg before the 2023-24 season, and The Dramaworkshop was retired at the end of that season. As a venue brand, the Don & Ann Brown Theatre is not a standalone commercial chain or a publicly traded company. It is a named theatre space associated with a single nonprofit arts organization, and its public profile is almost entirely mediated through Palm Beach Dramaworks' programming, ticketing, and donor communications. The theatre's naming recognizes donors Don and Ann Brown, a common practice in American regional theatre. Its address, box office hours, parking and directions, and group sales information are published on the Palm Beach Dramaworks website, which also lists sponsors and supporters. The theatre's leadership is drawn from Palm Beach Dramaworks' executive team, including Producing Artistic Director William Hayes, Executive Director Rudina Toro, and Founder in Residence Sue Ellen Beryl. Because the venue and the company share staff, brand, and website, the Don & Ann Brown Theatre is best understood as the physical and brand expression of Palm Beach Dramaworks' mission in West Palm Beach rather than as an independent entertainment business.

The Don & Ann Brown Theatre is the West Palm Beach, Florida home of Palm Beach Dramaworks, a nonprofit professional theatre company. Public records describe the venue simply as a movie theater in West Palm Beach, but its operational identity is that of a live legitimate theatre serving as PBD's mainstage and programming hub. The theatre's history is therefore inseparable from the history of Palm Beach Dramaworks and its artistic mission. Palm Beach Dramaworks built its reputation on a season-based model of professional productions. The company's published production history documents continuous seasons from at least the early 2000s through the present, with a repertory that favors American classics, modern dramas, and contemporary plays. Titles listed across the years include A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, August: Osage County, Topdog/Underdog, Twelve Angry Men, Driving Miss Daisy, The Crucible, The Humans, Lost in Yonkers, The Dresser, and Vineland Place, among many others. This record shows a theatre that programs a mix of canonical works and newer scripts rather than a single genre. A major strand of the theatre's history is new play development. In 2014, PBD introduced The Dramaworkshop, a lab for developing new plays, reflecting the company's stated belief that new play development is the future of American theatre. Playwrights were invited to submit evolving scripts for development ranging from read-throughs to fully produced world premieres. In 2016, the company mounted its first developmental production in the Perlberg Studio Theatre, and the following season it produced the first world premiere developed by The Dramaworkshop. In January 2019, The Dramaworkshop launched the New Year/New Plays Festival, featuring staged readings of five evolving plays. The festival was an immediate success and gradually became the central activity of The Dramaworkshop. Before the 2023-24 season, the festival was renamed the Perlberg Festival of New Plays in honor of executive producers Diane and Mark Perlberg, and at the end of that season The Dramaworkshop was retired, with the festival continuing as the company's flagship new-work event. The next edition is announced for March 5-7, 2027, with a lineup announcement planned for January 2027. The theatre also became a center for education and community engagement. PBD's programs include the Young Playwrights Contest, theAcademy@PBD, the One Humanity Tour, field trips, and the 'LIT' Theater Program, alongside community initiatives such as Dramawise, The Legacy Project, and OutStage@pbd. These programs use the Don & Ann Brown Theatre as their base and extend the company's mission beyond the mainstage subscription audience. In recent seasons, the theatre has hosted a mix of world premieres, co-productions, and special engagements. Announced programming includes Alejandro Rodriguez's ALBA, Hershey Felder's The Piano & Me, Jennifer Maisel's PROVENANCE in co-production with Asolo Repertory Theatre, The Light in the Piazza in co-production with Riverside Theatre, Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, and Richard Strand's Ben Butler. The production history also lists upcoming titles such as The Crucible, Driving Miss Daisy, The Mountaintop, The Seafarer, and Vineland Place. These co-productions and premieres indicate that the venue functions not only as a receiving house but as an active producing theatre within the regional theatre ecosystem. Leadership of the theatre and its parent company includes Producing Artistic Director William Hayes, Executive Director Rudina Toro, and Founder in Residence Sue Ellen Beryl, supported by administrative staff responsible for education, marketing, box office, operations, development, and company management. The venue's public-facing information, including box office hours, ticket policies, directions and parking, group and special offers, and donor and sponsor recognition, is published through the Palm Beach Dramaworks website. The theatre's naming honors donors Don and Ann Brown, a standard practice among American nonprofit regional theatres.

• 2023

  The festival is renamed the Perlberg Festival of New Plays; The Dramaworkshop is retired at the end of the 2023-24 season.

• 2019

  The Dramaworkshop launches the New Year/New Plays Festival with readings of five evolving plays.

• 2016

  The company mounts its first developmental production in the Perlberg Studio Theatre.

• 2014

  Palm Beach Dramaworks introduces The Dramaworkshop, a lab for developing new plays.

• The next Perlberg Festival of New Plays is announced for March 5-7, 2027, with lineup announcement planned for January 2027.

A nonprofit regional theatre venue branded as "Theatre To Think About," focused on serious, text-driven plays, new work development, and community education.

• ALBA by Alejandro Rodriguez

• Hershey Felder - The Piano & Me

• PROVENANCE by Jennifer Maisel

• The Light in the Piazza

• The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter

• Ben Butler by Richard Strand

• Death of a Salesman

• August: Osage County

• Topdog/Underdog

• A Streetcar Named Desire

• Twelve Angry Men

• Driving Miss Daisy

• The Crucible

• Vineland Place

1. 1Home - Palm Beach Dramaworkspalmbeachdramaworks.org
2. 2Production History - Palm Beach Dramaworkspalmbeachdramaworks.org
3. 3HISTORY OF THE PERLBERG FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS - Palm Beach Dramaworkspalmbeachdramaworks.org
4. 4Our Team - Palm Beach Dramaworkspalmbeachdramaworks.org
5. 5Don & Ann Brown Theatre - Wikidatawikidata.org