TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The Mickee Faust Theater is reopening in a new space, restoring a vital arts home for marginalized voices in Tallahassee.
- Mickee Faust features artists from minority and marginalized communities, creating space for them to be seen, heard, and understood.
- After the 2024 tornadoes damaged their facility, the theater has a new home and a renewed mission.
- Watch the video below to see how the new location allows for expanded programming and creative possibilities.
Mickee Faust rises again: A creative home returns to the south side
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Right now this space is quiet, but not for long. Soon, performers, audiences, and longtime supporters of Mickee Faust Theater will fill this room with the kind of art and energy Tallahassee hasn't seen since the theater was displaced two years ago.
I'm Lyric Sloan in Southwest Tallahassee, after nearly 28 years at railroad square, this grassroot arts hub is reopening its doors and bringing a renewed sense of community with it.
"If you are one of those groups that is a minority, that feels like they are unseen and unheard, Faust is there for you to make sure that you are seen, heard, and I think the most important part is to be understood," Mickee Faust Producer Samantha Renee said.
For 28 years, Mickee Faust theater was filled with music, movement, and voices that didn't always have a stage anywhere else.
Then it went quiet.
"The tornadoes hit. It ripped the roof right off," Mickee Faust Co-Founder Terry Galloway said.
After two years of sporadic performances, Mickee Faust found stability.
The theater is coming back, and so is its mission to serve the south side.
"I love the south side, and so much has been taken away from the south side. That's where I wanted to be, and to everybody else in Faust, that was a unanimous vote. We're going to be on the south side, and we're going to help. if there's going to be a revitalization, let it be something that has to do with the local population here," Galloway said.
For residents of the south side, Mickee Faust is more than a theater. It's a creative home.
As art spaces across the city disappear, opportunities for local artists grow fewer, making this return especially meaningful.
"It really is about giving the voice to the individual artist and making them feel like they can contribute to what we are doing," Renee said.
Now the theater is reopening at the former House of Music, breathing new life into an old space and restoring a grassroots art hub many feared was gone for good.
"A lot of things that we did not have. So yes, it is. It's not really an expansion of space, but it is an expansion of means. So this allows us to do things we only dreamed about," Galloway said.
Galloway says, as local art venues continue to disappear, it leaves fewer spaces for local artists and audiences, especially in the South—a big reason why Mickee Faust wanted to return to the south side.
In Southwest Tallahassee, Lyric Sloan ABC 27.
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