Rollins College’s historic Annie Russell Theatre is currently celebrating a landmark 90th season.

The theater was built in 1932 for an original cost of $122,562 (over $2.6 million in today’s dollar) and is the longest continuously operating theater in the state. The theater was named after Annie Russell, a famous English-born actress who played broadway and playhouses across the country and Europe before retiring for 14 years, but she came out of retirement to star in Rollins’ inaugural season. She was a professor at the college up until she died of lung disease in 1936.

The 360-seat, 36,676 SF theater was designed by German-born architect Richard Kiehnel and named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. It was renovated in 1977 and again in 2011, and is allegedly haunted by the ghost of Annie Russell herself, wearing a beautiful lavender dress.

This year’s season includes A Doll’s House, Part 2 which is running through October 1, Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes in November, Shakespeare’s As You Like It in February 2023, and Into the Woods in April 2023.

Tickets run from $10-$25 and season subscriptions are $70 and can be purchased HERE.

EXTERIOR PHOTO OF ANNIE RUSSELL AND THE NEW-ISH ROSE GARDEN
ANNIE RUSSELL, PICTURED – 1901 – PHOTO VIA ROLLINS COLLEGE ARCHIVES
ANNIE UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN 1921 – PHOTO VIA ROLLINS COLLEGE ARCHIVES
COSTUMES UNDER THE STAGE – – PHOTO VIA ROLLINS COLLEGE ARCHIVES

Brendan O'Connor

Editor in Chief of Bungalower.com

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