HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A Sebring community theater founded in 1974, where the last person out leaves a ghost light burning center stage for Anthony DeAngelo, who collapsed and died there during an honor in his name.
356 West Center Avenue, Sebring, FL 33870
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Community-theater ticket prices vary by production; season subscriptions, group sales, and individual tickets are available. Check the theater's website or box office.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Community theater at the Altvater Cultural Complex with accessible seating
Equipment
No Photos
Community theater organized in 1974 with its first production that July · Long known as Highlands Little Theatre; renamed Highlands Lakeside Theatre in 2019 · Added Anthony's Lounge bar in the late 1980s · Marked about fifty years of operation in the mid-2020s
Highlands Lakeside Theatre traces its start to 1974, when the community-theater group was organized in Sebring and staged its first production that July. For most of its history it was known as Highlands Little Theatre, a volunteer-driven company producing plays and musicals for Highlands County audiences.
The theater grew over the following decades. In the late 1980s it added a full bar, named Anthony's Lounge after a longtime supporter. In 2019 the organization adopted the name Highlands Lakeside Theatre as its formal business name, a change it described as a way to set itself apart from other performance venues and to reflect its growth from a small-town little theater into a more established cultural institution.
The company marked roughly fifty years of operation in the mid-2020s, and local coverage credited it with sustaining live theater and developing local talent across that span. It performs at the Altvater Cultural Complex at 356 West Center Avenue in Sebring, where it runs a regular season of productions.
As a community theater, its history is one of volunteers, recurring seasons, and incremental expansion rather than a single landmark building. Its identity is tied as much to the people who have sustained it as to the venue itself.
Sources
The story here is rooted in a real loss rather than an unexplained haunting. In the late 1980s the theater added a full bar and chose to name it Anthony's Lounge after Anthony DeAngelo, a devoted supporter of the company. When DeAngelo was called up on stage in front of an audience to be recognized for his contributions, he collapsed and died there during the ceremony.
From that moment the theater adopted a tradition built around the ghost light, the single bulb left burning on a stage after everyone has gone. The last person to leave the building at night leaves a light on at center stage so that, in the company's telling, Anthony has a light to perform by. The custom doubles as the practical safety light theaters have always used and as a small, ongoing memorial.
The ghost light is a near-universal theater tradition, and many companies attach a resident-spirit story to theirs; at Highlands Lakeside the spirit has a name and a specific, documented connection to the building. There are no dramatic apparition reports or investigation accounts attached to it. What endures is the gesture: a light kept on for a man who gave the theater years and died on its stage.
This entry is held for review because the account rests largely on the theater's own retelling of the tradition.
Notable Entities
Attend a play or musical at this Sebring community theater, which has produced shows since 1974 and adopted the Highlands Lakeside Theatre name in 2019. Tickets are available online and at the box office; see the theater's website for the current season.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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