Lyric welcomes the new year with new stage – The Miami Times

Performance venues across the country are anxiously awaiting a post-pandemic environment when they can throw open their doors to waiting crowds and hear the sweet sound of thunderous applause.

The Lyric Theater in historic Overtown is no exception, and its operators are more than ready with a restored theater auditorium and brand-new stage. All it needs is the green light from public health officials to reopen.

Shortly after theaters were forced to shutter in March, rotting stage floor boards at the Lyric led to the discovery of a termite infestation. Thats when the decision was made to quickly eradicate the pests, demolish and rebuild the stage, and undergo a full blown auditorium renovation during this unplanned intermission.

What awaits the public in 2021 is a historic space restored to the opulence and grandeur of the original 1913 playhouse. The Lyric Theater is on the National Register of Historic Places and is the last remaining original structure from Miamis segregation-era Harlem of the South.

Geder Walker, the Black businessman who built the Lyric Theater, was a well-traveled man, and when he decided to construct this building in Miamis Colored Town, he did so with the beautiful and grand opera houses and theaters from Europe in mind, said Timothy A. Barber, Lyrics executive director.

Over the years the theater has seen many different iterations, but the current interior more closely resembles the magnificence of the original space, hailed by a 1915 newspaper as the most beautiful and costly playhouse owned by colored people in all of the Southland, said Barber.

The $120,000 restoration was made possible with funding from the Southeast Overtown Park West Community Redevelopment Agency, Miami-Dade County through the office of then chairwoman Audrey Edmonson and volunteers from the Overtown community.

Besides the complete rebuilding of its 2,600-square-foot stage, theater enhancements include interior painting in the auditorium and historic lobby; custom woodwork in the theater on the proscenium, walls and doors; new built-in stairs for the stage; carpet installation; custom door painting; and bespoke fixtures installed on doors. Local residents were hired for demolition. Vendors who worked on this labor of love include Ronys Fine Carpentry, Nutting Engineers, National Concrete Polishing, Alliance Fabrication, Tito Miller and Jerry Mack. The entire project was designed and overseen by Barber himself.

Timothy A. Barber, executive director of the Historic Lyric Theater and Black Archives, unveiling the theaters renovated auditorium and stage in November 2020.

Front and center on the stage foundation is the face of a lion, which is the logo of The Black Archives, History and Research Foundation of South Florida, which acquired the Lyric Theater in 1988. The lion comes from the African proverb, Until the lion tells the story, tales of the hunt will glorify the hunter. The foundation believes the proverb is the essence of the archives, whose mission is to collect, preserve and disseminate Miamis Black history from 1896 to present, and tell its untold stories and ensure that history is preserved for future generations.

Inside the restored Lyric Theater facing the balcony.

Built in 1913, the Lyric Theater quickly became a major entertainment center for Black Americans in Miami. The 400-seat theater was built, owned and operated by Walker, an enterprising Georgian who came to Miami prior to 1900. The theater anchored the district known as Little Broadway, an area alive with hotels, restaurants and nightclubs frequented by Black and white tourists and residents. It served the community as a movie and vaudeville theater for almost 50 years, and was a symbol of Black economic influence free of discrimination and a source of pride and culture within Overtown.

An image of the Lyric Theater in its segregation-era heyday is displayed on the wall of the theaters original lobby.

A view of Lyrics new 2,600-square-foot stage, recently rebuilt after a termite infestation.

After his death in 1919, Walkers wife, Henrietta, continued to operate the Lyric, which was also used as a community auditorium. School children and civic groups performed on its stage and special events such as commencement ceremonies were held there. Visiting luminaries like Mary McLeod Bethune, Ethel Waters and the Fisk Jubilee Singers lectured and sang at the venue.

The Lyric continued to operate as a movie theater until 1959, when it became a church of the General Assembly of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith. When Overtown began to deteriorate in the 1960s the Lyric closed and would remain shuttered for decades.

Phase one of restoration of the former showplace began in 1989. In 2000, after extensive rehabilitation and funding from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the newly restored Lyric Theater opened once again.

This is the first time in 20 years that the theater has been closed to audiences, but it is persevering through the generosity of its funders.

As a Black-owned nonprofit organization, we are not strangers to funding difficulties and the stretching of resources. The Black Archives has always had to be extra vigilant about obtaining and safeguarding our coffers. Thankfully, we were able to practice good stewardship over our resources, said Barber.

The Black Archives has had to pivot from public in-person events to virtual activities due to the coronavirus pandemic, like many cultural institutions throughout the nation. It has been presenting thoughtfully curated online programming for the last 10 months, from live Black history trivia shows and childrens storytime, to panels on race, religion and social justice. The date for the next fully public event is tentatively slated for February 2021.

Because the Lyric does not host its own theater company and has typically served as a performance venue for others, developing original programming is a new enterprise that entails careful planning under current conditions that makes economic sense.

While we are still watching the developments with COVID-19 and the current surge, we are hopeful that at the top of 2021, we will be able to bring back in-person activities. Things will be different than before, taking into account safety measures and social distancing, but we are looking forward to returning with signature programming like our amateur night showcase, Lyric Live, Barber said. We know that people are really craving live entertainment and we hope to bring it back to Overtown in a safe and well-thought-out way.

Miami anxiously awaits that day.

An old photograph of when the Lyric Theater fell into disrepair in the 1960s while being used as a church.

Officially renamed The Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex, the venue is now the oldest legitimate theater in Miami. Adjacent to the citys central downtown business district, it is an anchor site of the Historic Overtown Folklife Village. Just as in Overtowns glory days during the early part of the 20th century, the theater is poised to once again become, in the 21st century, a symbol of Black economic influence, as well as a social gathering place and a source of pride and culture.

The Black Archives History and Research Foundation of South Florida is a photographic and manuscript archival research repository dedicated to documenting the history of people of the African Diaspora in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1977 by Dorothy Jenkins Fields, it has became one to the largest repositories for the history of Black Americans in Miami. The nonprofit organization is housed at the Lyric complex.

An exterior view of the present day Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex.

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Lyric welcomes the new year with new stage - The Miami Times