Tavares Theater

Tavares Theater, also known as the Tavares Community Theater Company, is a small nonprofit theater group founded in 2014 by Harold and Noel Miner along with Peter and Darelle Pallans. The founders set out to bring community theater to the residents of Tavares and the surrounding Lake County area, filling a gap among the region’s larger playhouses in Eustis, Mount Dora, and The Villages. Noel Miner, who chairs the board, brings her own acting background to the group, while Harold Miner, the executive director, spent more than three decades teaching graphic design before turning his attention to nonprofit theater management. Peter and Darelle Pallans rounded out the founding team with years of community theater experience and volunteer coordination.

The company performs out of a building it purchased at 904 West Main Street in downtown Tavares, describing its home as one of the most intimate theater spaces in Central Florida with roughly 140 seats. Renovation of the space has been an ongoing, volunteer driven project, with the group completing interior demolition, adding dressing rooms and storage, and updating the lobby entrance over several years, work that slowed during the pandemic but has continued since. The long range plan is to finish out a permanent house of around 125 to 150 seats that can help anchor the growth of the waterfront entertainment district along Lake Dora.

Each season brings a mix of comedies, dramas, and cabaret style evenings, along with a holiday production that by now has become a ten year tradition for local audiences. Recent offerings have included the comedy The Cemetery Club and a one night tribute show called An Evening with Patsy, with tickets generally sold in advance through the theater’s online box office. Because the venue is small, shows can sell out, and the company holds open auditions before its holiday production each year for anyone in the community interested in getting on stage rather than just watching from the seats.

The Tavares Chamber of Commerce named the theater its Nonprofit of the Year in 2025, recognition that reflects both its growing season lineup and its role as a volunteer run fixture of downtown Tavares. Tickets and season information are handled through the box office by phone or email, and the theater’s small footprint means an evening there can feel more like watching friends and neighbors put on a show than a typical night out at the movies. For anyone exploring downtown Tavares along Main Street, the theater is worth checking for whatever production currently has the stage.