The complex included a renovation of the Carpenter Center and construction of a new multipurpose hall, community playhouse, and arts education center in parts of the old Thalhimers department store.

Next to the beach is Madison Park Co-op, a community playhouse for toddlers and children.

Dating from 1790, the Kittle House has been a barn, a speakeasy, a girls' school and a community playhouse.

It now operates as a community playhouse.

SMALL-TOWN theater enthusiasts who are regulars at the community playhouse come to New York to gorge on Broadway.

The center will be a community playhouse and a cultural entertainment center, said Len Conway, president of the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center.

The Hudson Guild Theater, for instance, has matured in 15 years from community playhouse to Off Broadway status, with credits including seven shows that graduated to Broadway.

When Kamilah Martin, 28, one of the Dynamites, was young, the director of her local community playhouse told her she had no talent.

He saw the play as a teen-ager at a community playhouse in Baltimore.

The theatre is still open as a community playhouse under the name Richey Suncoast Theatre.