It started with children.

Bright voices, nervous hands, and the magic of stepping into someone else’s shoes. Back in 1985, they called themselves the Pied Piper Players; a group of dreamers who believed theatre could belong to anyone willing to show up and play.

And it worked.

What began as a children’s troupe grew and grew, until the stage could no longer hold just kids. By 2007, the community itself had stepped in. Actors, directors, stagehands, ushers, hundreds of volunteers each year, lifting sets, painting flats, sewing costumes, running lights. Lakeland’s very own theatre became what it was always meant to be; Lakeland Community Theatre.

Here, stories aren’t imported. They’re grown in the soil of Lakeland, told by neighbors, teachers, nurses, students; everyday people trading their daily routines for an evening under the stage lights.

And maybe that’s what makes it powerful.

Because the magic isn’t just in the performance; it’s in the building of it. The rehearsals that stretch late into the night. The laughter backstage when someone forgets a line. The paint that lingers on your hands long after the set is finished. The hush of an audience that knows the people on stage are not strangers; they’re us.

Lakeland Community Theatre proves that art doesn’t belong to the few. It belongs to the many. It belongs to the messy, generous, imperfect hands of a community.

This is what make believe better looks like in Lakeland:

Kids who once watched from the audience stepping onto the stage themselves.

Strangers who meet at auditions become lifelong friends.

Families who find joy not just in watching the show, but in building it together.

In Lakeland, theatre is not something you consume. It’s something you create.

So, step in. Whether it’s a seat in the audience, a brushstroke on the backdrop, a line in the script, or a spotlight beam cutting across the stage; there’s a place for you here.

Because when the curtain rises at Lakeland Community Theatre, it isn’t just about the show. It’s about a community proving, again and again, that we can make believe better.