Welcome back to 321 Lift Off. Join us as we speak with Dr. Anastacia Hawkins-Smith, Chief Executive Officer & Artistic Director of the Historic Cocoa Village Playhouse.

Established as the Aladdin Theater, the doors opened to the public on August 18, 1924, showing silent movies. Later, Brevard’s first “talkie” movie house became known as “the showplace of the Indian River Section.” Several owners and several decades later, the auditorium was acquired by the City of Cocoa, changing the name to The Cocoa Village Playhouse. The Brevard County Community College District Board of Trustees purchased the playhouse in 1984 for $1 from the city. In 1991, the auditorium was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in Tallahassee. In the Spring of 2011, Brevard Community College returned ownership of the Cocoa Village Playhouse to the City of Cocoa, who started a million-dollar renovation on the building in 2012. Today, the City of Cocoa still owns the playhouse, and it is considered one of the most beautiful theatres in Florida.

We will be on stage at the Cocoa Village Playhouse, discussing the rich history of the auditorium, the Stars of Tomorrow youth program, and the various shows, past and present, put on at the playhouse.