PGA Arts Center to Present Live Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens in 2017

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.

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."

The PGA Arts Center's first production - projected to open for previews on January 25th - will beWaistWatchers 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 more information about the PGA Arts Center, Philip Roger Roy and/or Dana Matthew, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com at 561-445-9244 or Jennifer Sardone-Shiner atjen16sardone@aol.com / 561-891-7278.

For rental inquiries call 212-400-6800.

Directions to the PGA Arts Center:
On PGA Blvd heading East, (& RCA Blvd) take first right at Shell Gas Station, and then take the 2nd right into the shopping center driveway. The theater is on the left. Formerly the Cinema 6 Movie Theater inside the former Loehmann's Plaza. This is less than 1/4 mile off of the PGA Blvd. Exit of 95 North.

Philip Roger Roy is a Philadelphia native who attended Kenyon College and graduated from Temple University. He has produced more than 50 shows since 1972 including the current national tours (with co-producer Dana Matthow) of My Son The Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy, WaistWatchers The Musical, My Mother's Italian My Father's Jewish & I'm In Therapy!, Old Jews Telling Jokes, RESPECT: A Musical Journey of Women, and You Say Tomato I Say Shut Up!. Other recent productions include Becoming Dr. Ruth, Cooking With The Calamari Sisters, Baby Boomer Baby; and Love Loss & What I Wore! New York credits include the 15 month engagement of My Son The Waiter.... at the Triad Theater, Off Broadway and A Jew Grows in Brooklyn. He was Associate Producer and General Manager in Philadelphia of Menopause the Musical, which played 3.5 years to more than 212,000 (mostly) menopausal women. His production of Let My People Come (LMPC) played over 2300 performances in Philadelphia from 1977 to 1987, and he produced LMPC in 20 cities in the United States and Canada, including 8 years in Toronto. Other productions include: Renee Taylor's My Life On A Diet' Geraldine Fitzgerald in Street Songs, Family Secrets, Grandma Sylvia's Funeral (co-produced in Phila. with Dana), Greater Tuna (Walnut St. Theatre and the Delaware Theatre Company), The World of Lenny Bruce, Confessions of an Irish Rebel, Judy! The New Judy Garland Musical, El Grande de Coca Cola, Pretzels (by Jane Curtin), Murray Horowitz as Sholom Aleichem, Cloud 9, Groucho: A 1-Man Show With 2-Women, Bullshot Crummond, and The Fantasticks (in which he also performed). As owner/founder of Philadelphia's legendary Grendel's Lair Cabaret Theater (for 15 years), Mr. Roy produced hundreds of concerts including The Police, Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich, Charles Mingus, Mose Allison, Charlie Byrd, David Bromberg, Phil Ochs, Buffy St. Marie, and many others. Philadelphia singer Jill Scott performed every Sunday night for a year at Mr. Roy's second nightclub, the New Market Cabaret Theater. He co-produced The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron? and Say Goodnight Gracie both in Philadelphia.

Dana Matthow is a Long Island Native New Yorker whose theatrical career spans more than 25 years of producing, general management, theatre management, advertising, and promotions. His credits include Broadway, off-Broadway and touring Productions: Kingdoms staring Roy Dotrice, Armand Assante and Maria Tucii, My Son The Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy, A Jew Grows In Brooklyn,Carnival Knowledge, a behind the scenes look at the astounding and disappearing world of the American sideshow; Magic Hands Freddy starring Michael Rispoli and Ralph Macchio, Underneath the Lintel, Maybe Baby It's You, Grandma Sylvia's Funeral (a/k/a the longest running funeral in history), and Hysterical Blindness starring Leslie Jordon. He recently co-produced national tours of My Son The Waiter: A Jewish Tragedy, Waist Watchers The Musical, My Mother's Italian My Father's Jewish & I'm In Therapy!, Old Jews Telling Jokes, RESPECT: A Musical Journey of Women, and You Say Tomato I Say Shut Up!. Matthow began his producing career with Sea Marks by Adventures in Paradise star Gardner McKay. He has also produced for the screen the feature film Silent Prey. He is also the founder and original publisher of City Guide magazine, New York's #1 weekly visitor and entertainment guide.

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