Coconut Grove Theater Festival
The CGTFest Story
William Hector and Irene Munroe at the Inaugural Coconut Grove Theatre Festival's Launch Party
(Photo by Teodora Thompson)
From a conversation between two Miami artists to an annual festival of new plays and year-round theatrical programing in Coconut Grove, CGTFest's dream of bringing theatre back to the Grove arose from its community roots
The Coconut Grove Theatre Festival began with a conversation between Miami-born playwright William Hector and longtime Miami arts educator Irene Munroe in the summer of 2024. What started as a phone-call about a singe play reading quickly turned into a conversation about the history of art in the Grove and the potential for the neighborhood to become a theatre district for productions of all types, and ended with an idea: like paintings in a gallery, eight play readings are better then one. And if theatre was ever going to come back to Coconut Grove, what better way to make it happen then a festival of new plays by Miami creatives?
The first concept for CGTFest's logo, drawn and designed by Cooper Copetas (Photo by William Hector)
From there, fourteen intrepid playwrights and directors, along with producers, artists, community supporters, and CGTFest's host and partner the Woman's Club of Coconut Grove, signed on to bring this Festival to life in just a little over six months. From production meetings to logo and poster design, from a Launch Party to Match Day creative speed dating for playwrights and directors, CGTFest first took the stage in April of 2025 with sold-out shows and an audience who came from over 49 zip codes from across South Florida and beyond to experience the future of theatre.
The Inaugural CGTFest Playwrights and Dirctors. From L-R. Back: William Hector, Victoria Collado, Hattie Mae Williams, Melissa Almaguer, Michael Yawney, Andie Arthur, Amy Coker, Brandon Urrutia, Front: Lolita Stewart-White, Vanessa Garcia, Maha McCain, Karina Batchelor-Gómez, Charisma Jolly, Alejandro Rodriguez. Not Pictured: Gladys Ramírez, Hannah Benitez (Photo by Ted Hartshorn)
Now an annual Festival, the Coconut Grove Theatre Festival aims to bring exciting new work from both industry veterans and rising stars, and to continue bringing theatre to Coconut Grove through year-round collaborative productions with Grove businesses and institutions. In that first phone call between William and Irene, the dream was for Coconut Grove to one day be a tropical version of London's West End. With your help, CGTFest will brings that dream closer, one exciting new production at a time.