Marilyn Perry
| Marilyn Perry | |
|---|---|
 Perry (photo: Showtime Performing Arts Theatre)
| |
| Theatre producer · Arts educator | |
| Personal information | |
| Birth name | Marilyn Irene Perry |
| Based in | Boca Raton, Florida |
| Career | |
| Occupation | Executive director and producer |
| Years active | c. 2006–2020 |
| Known for | Founding and running Showtime Performing Arts Theatre |
| Performance | |
| Productions | Heathers (2019, producer) Rent (2019) Annie Warbucks (2019) Children's Broadway seasons (2007–2020) |
| Companies | Showtime Performing Arts Theatre |
| Recognition & links | |
| Awards | Kids Crown Award (South Florida Parenting), 2015, 2016 (for Showtime) |
Marilyn Irene Perry is an American theatre producer and arts educator. She founded Showtime Performing Arts Theatre in Boca Raton, Florida, and was its executive director and producer for its whole history, from about 2006 until the COVID-19 pandemic ended its 2019–2020 season. Under her direction Showtime held 13 annual Red-Carpet showcases; the 14th was cancelled in 2020.[1][2]
Showtime Performing Arts Theatre
Perry ran Showtime, first called SHOWTIME Dance & Performing Arts Theatre, from a studio and theatre complex at Royal Palm Place in downtown Boca Raton. The school taught dance, acting, voice and instrumental music from age three to adult, and the theatre staged a season of children's musicals every year as well as teen and adult productions.[3] According to the theatre's staff page, Perry "with her talented staff, has created a successful school and theatre for all ages". Its teachers offered training in the "true Triple Threat – Singing, Acting and Dancing", and it was "her pleasure to produce and bring award winning Children's Theatre to South Florida".[1]
Under her leadership, Showtime received the South Florida Parenting Kids Crown Award (2015 and 2016) and "Best of Boca" readers' choice awards from the Sun-Sentinel.[1][4]
In 2019 Showtime presented Rent and Heathers with teen and adult casts. Perry produced Heathers, which a local reviewer called "Off-Broadway at its very best in downtown Boca". Writing about the cast chemistry in Rent, the same reviewer said "it seems to happen a lot at the downtown off-broadway theatre Showtime run by Marilyn Perry".[5][6] The theatre's spring 2020 productions of 13 and The Sound of Music never opened because of the pandemic, and Showtime did not reopen.[7]
In her own words
Perry posted regularly on Showtime's Facebook page about its students and shows. In March 2019 she wrote of Annie Warbucks: "So proud of this talented cast. one show down five more to go…" She also praised the theatre's "beautiful and handsome MOANA Youngest Performers" and congratulated "all of our exceptional CATS campers and … my very amazing and talented staff".[8] When COVID-19 cancelled the theatre's 2020 season, the page marked the date of the cancelled showcase as what "would have been … our 14th annual Red-Carpet event", adding: "Years of great memories but so sad to be missing our favorite families today."[8]
Students
Perry's students and performers included Luanda de Hilster, who played Heather McNamara in Showtime's Heathers. Her biography names Perry among her early mentors, and Perry came to see her play Sebastian in her middle school's The Little Mermaid (2019).[2][5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Staff". Showtime Performing Arts Theatre.Archived2017-02-03.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Bio". luanda.dehilster.com.Retrieved 2026-11-07.
- ↑ "About Us". Showtime Performing Arts Theatre.Archived2014-03-21.
- ↑ "Awards & Articles". Showtime Performing Arts Theatre.Archived2017-02-03.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 David de Hilster.""Heathers": Off-Broadway at Its Very Best in Downtown Boca". luanda.dehilster.com(2019-12-24).
- ↑ David de Hilster."Luanda Thrives in First All Adult Cast". luanda.dehilster.com(2018-10-22).
- ↑ "Showtime Performing Arts Theatre (home page)".Archived2023-05-29.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Showtime Performing Arts Theatre in Boca Raton". Facebook.Retrieved 2026-11-06.
External links
- Showtime staff page (archived, 2017)
- Showtime Performing Arts Theatre on Facebook
- Showtime Performing Arts Theatre on YouTube