Founded by Jeff Daniels (1991) · Early-1900s car and bus garage · Chelsea Commercial Historic District · Professional Equity theater producing new American plays
In the early 1900s, the building at 137 Park Street was a used car and bus garage owned by the grandfather of actor Jeff Daniels; over the years it also housed a gas station, a pizza parlor and a vegetable stand. Daniels, a Chelsea native, bought and renovated it in 1989 and donated it to the Purple Rose Theatre Company, which he founded in 1991 and named after The Purple Rose of Cairo, the 1985 film that earned him his first Golden Globe nomination. The company opened on February 7, 1991, and worked and performed in the garage through the 1990s.
In 1999 a $2.2 million capital campaign expanded the theater. The building closed for 18 months while new offices, a new stage and a new lobby went in, and it reopened in January 2001; the mortgage was paid off in March 2004. The interior carries 1930s-style decor, from a marbled glass chandelier in the lobby to art deco doors and ticket booth, and the house seats 168, every seat within twenty feet of the stage. The company produces new American plays, many of them world premieres, with Daniels among its directors.
Sources
- https://www.purplerosetheatre.org/about/history/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Rose_Theatre_Company
- https://www.purplerosetheatre.org/2026-27/
- https://www.purplerosetheatre.org/box-office/
- https://www.purplerosetheatre.org/about/accessibility/
- https://www.pressandguide.com/2004/10/26/reporter-hopes-to-uncover-truth-about-ghosts-at-purple-rose-theatre-in-middle-of-night/
- https://www.purplerosetheatre.org/backstage-look/my-purple-rose-ghost-anniversary/
- https://99wfmk.com/purple-rose-haunted/
An older man seen at seat MM15A girl seen across the stageProps moved when the ghost light is offA shadow by the office stairsA sigh in the costume atticA presence felt on stage and in the lobby
In October 2004, Guy Sanville, then the Purple Rose's artistic director, told Press & Guide reporter Maria Sprow that the theater was haunted by two ghosts, a 60-year-old man and a girl, which he said had been described to him many times over the years. By his account they are typically friendly unless someone forgets to turn on the ghost light at night, when they move props around; mostly they make noise or appear at the corner of the eye, watching actors perform. On a 2 a.m. visit with Sanville and two production staff, Sprow was shown seat MM15, where the man had reportedly been seen, and an area across the stage where the girl had been seen. She wrote that she heard a low organ playing somewhere in the distance as she arrived, which stopped when the theater's back door closed, and that both of her cameras failed inside the theater.
In 2018 the theater's own blog collected staff accounts. The writer, then an apprentice, described an inhuman sigh building in the attic where costumes and props are stored. Stage manager Thomas Macias said he sees a shadow behind the door at the main office entrance toward the stairs at least once a month. Administrative assistant Adair Whalen described feeling someone behind them while locking up the dark lobby alone. Box office manager Julia Garlotte recalled sensing someone standing behind the actors during the cemetery scene of Our Town, when no one else could have been on stage.
Media Appearances
- Press & Guide: "Reporter hopes to uncover truth about ghosts at Purple Rose Theatre in middle of night" (2004)
- 99.1 WFMK: "The Hauntings at the Purple Rose Theatre" (2022)
