THE PLAYERS CENTRE

By Liz Reed

What history this theatre has. Jeffery Kin was wonderful, walking us around, and telling us the stories and history of the building. You could see and feel the love and pride everyone has for this place.

Built in 1936, it was made of cypress and had 246 seats and a nice lobby with a welcoming fireplace.

In the 1970s, the building was replaced with the current building. Many famous entertainers had entered its doors, from Charleton Heston to Bette Davis. A lot of stars also began their careers here.

While taking a tour with Jeffery and listening to the history and ghost stories he had to share, we were told a story by one of the staff members about the upstairs.
She told us that every time she goes up there, she feels the presence of someone. She will then talk to them and hear them answer or see things moving. When we went upstairs, I asked if there was anyone there and caught on recorder a “Yes.” I then asked if it likes to hide up here and again it said “Yes.” Our K2 meters showed a large amount of energy, lighting up in response to everything Jeffery was telling us through the whole tour.

Jeffery told us about a hand that he saw pressing against a back screen when he was backstage by himself. Thinking it was the child of one of the workers, he questioned them, and no one had brought any children to work with them that day. He saw this several times after that and was finally informed by psychic Rosemary Altea that someone in his family had had a miscarriage (his mother) and told him this was the spirit of his brother who was calling himself David.

Others have seen ladies sitting around working on costumes and then disappear when someone walks up to them. Also known to be there are people who have volunteered over the years and have since passed away. The love for this theatre is still there, shown by the spirits that remain. The theatre is moving to Lakewood Ranch as soon as a new building is built. I hope the spirits move on to the new theatre with them.

During the first time we worked at a Halloween event at the theatre, we had a lot of activity backstage. We had worked with different groups that asked a lot of questions and received a lot of answers.

The second year we did the Halloween event, we used our new SLS camera and picked up a figure backstage at the command center who the employees believe to be Bobby, an old stagehand. He would stand a certain way, and it was exactly the way the figure on camera stood.

We recently did a couple of investigations and we caught so much activity. We caught figures on the backroom stage, sitting in chairs saying “there’s someone here.” We also picked up voices by the sound booth as well as upstairs. The amount of activity was exciting, and we were thrilled.

We caught one spirit in the costume room busily working on the dresses. She could not be interrupted. It looked like she was on a deadline, so she had to hurry to get the work done.

In the back, there is a small stage where we caught two figures sitting at the table. To make sure they were really something, we moved chairs, and the spirits followed and sat back down in chairs. The stage showed plenty of orb activity. At one point you can see, on DVR recording, a crowd of orbs following me around. I could feel the energy in these areas before I knew about the orbs following me.

We enjoyed every minute, and we hope to go back again before they move to a new building in Lakewood Ranch.

Thank you, Players Centre spirits, for several wonderful nights.