As LakehouseRanchDotPNG Turns 5, Partnership With Main Street Players Grows

From left, Douglas Gonzalez as Oswaldo, Alejandro Arreola as Julio, Daniel Nieves as Martin, and Nicholas Valdes as Manny in “Salida” by Nicholas Quintana, opening at Main Street Playhouse on Saturday, July 18 through Sunday, Aug. 2 at Miami Lakes. (Photo by Daniel Manso, courtesy of Main Street Players)

Main Street Players closes its season with “Salida” by Miami playwright Nicholas Quintana. Beyond bringing a new play to the stage, the production also reflects a growing partnership between the Miami Lakes theater and LakehouseRanchDotPNG, the experimental theater company marking its fifth season this year.

Since becoming Main Street Players’ artistic director last fall, Sara Jarrell has been working to broaden that company’s commitment to original work, local playwrights and artistic collaboration.

“Our mission is to be a place for the community to create and collaborate,” Jarrell said. “A lot of the work that I’m hoping to do now that I’ve stepped in as artistic director is expanding the kind of work that we do and how that reflects our community.”

That vision aligned naturally with LakehouseRanchDotPNG, which has been presenting productions at Main Street Players since 2024. Florida International University graduates Brandon Urrutia and Indy Sulliero founded the experimental theater company during COVID-19.

Brandon Urrutia is the artistic director and co-founder of LakehouseRanchDotPNG, which is now entering its fifth season. (Photo courtesy of LakehouseRanchDotPNG)

The company’s unusual name traces back to a road trip to Lakewood Ranch, the master-planned community in Southwest Florida. After later misremembering the destination as “Lakehouse Ranch” and saving a photo as “LakehouseRanch.png,” they decided the accidental digital file name perfectly captured the spirit of the company they were creating.

“It was the summer after we graduated and we both wanted to do work but no one was hiring because of COVID-19. So we decided, ‘Let’s figure it out ourselves,’ ” Urrutia said.

In addition to being the artistic director of LakehouseRanchDotPNG, Urrutia is the drama teacher at Mater Lakes Academy.

LakehouseRanchDotPNG staged its first production in 2022 at Artistic Vibes, a small black-box theater in Kendall.

“I loved it. I love a good little black-box theater. We moved because Main Street offered us a better deal for rent. Realistically it came down to money,” they said.

But the relationship with Main Street Players stretches back much further than Lakehouse.

“They’ve been a part of Main Street Players since they were in high school — teaching, working, assistant directing,” Jarrell said. “It’s really where they cut their teeth and got their feet wet,” she says about Urrutia.

Today, they direct productions, serves on Main Street Players’ board of directors and helps develop new work while continuing to lead LakehouseRanchDotPNG.

Douglas Gonzalo as Oswaldo and Alejandro Arreola as Julio in Main Street Players’ “Salida,” directed by Brandon Urrutia. (Photo by Daniel Manso, courtesy of Main Street Players)

That collaboration is evident in “Salida,” which opens on Saturday, July 18 and runs through Sunday, Aug. 2, a new play about three generations of Cuban men whose annual Noche Buena gathering is upended when the youngest member of the family comes out as gay.

“When I read the play, it had a lot of really great bones, so we workshopped the production with Nicholas,”  Jarrell said. Quintana originally shared only the play’s first act.

“He came to us and said, ‘Hey, I have a second act,'” Jarrell said. “I saw it and said, ‘Listen, it needs a little bit of work, but it works perfectly for our season.'”

Rather than simply presenting the play, Main Street Players used the workshop process to continue developing it.

“We’ve taken the time, in the process with Brandon sort of spearheading that charge, to fully flesh out this story,” Jarrell said, who will direct the second show of LakehouseRanchDotPNG’s recently announced fifth season.

Bianca Utset in “Have You Seen Boomer?” by Robert Kerr, the opener in Lakehouse Ranch’s first season at Main Street Playhouse in Miami Lakes. (Photo courtesy of LakehouseRanchDotPNG)

And Urrutia contributions have extended beyond directing individual productions.

“Brandon was on our decision committee and really helped foster meaningful relationships with playwrights in New York to produce their work at Main Street Players,” she said. “They’ve been really integral.”

That collaborative spirit has defined LakehouseRanchDotPNG since its founding five years ago.

“We wanted to do the work that no one else seems to be doing,” Urrutia said. “The stuff that makes us excited.”

That philosophy has shaped all 17 productions LakehouseRanchDotPNG has presented over the past five years, building a reputation for experimental works and premieres that many theaters might consider too difficult to produce.

“I’ve started saying that there’s no such thing as an impossible stage direction,” Urrutia said. “More often than not, we get folks saying, ‘This play … no one wants to do it because they’re saying it’s impossible to produce.'”

The Bonilla brothers, Miguel and Manuel, as Old Art and New Art in LakehouseRanchPNG’s “The Exhibit” by Mackenzie Raine Kirkman, the closing show of its fourth season. (Photo by Zachary Oshaughnessy, courtesy of LakehouseRanchPNG)

Rather than viewing those challenges as obstacles, Urrutia sees them as invitations to experiment.

“I just think it’s easier to be safe than take a risk,” they said. “That’s not what we try to do with Lakehouse.”

The company’s anniversary comes during a year of milestones for Urrutia. Earlier this year, Main Street Players presented the world premiere of “Kevin and the River Flan,” a play inspired by Urrutia’s own experiences. Their autobiographical solo play, “Lo Siento, Mi Español es de Mierda Más,” was selected from nearly 700 submissions for New York’s Downtown Urban Arts Festival, where it received an off-off-Broadway production. The play returns to Main Street Players for a one-night performance Saturday, Aug. 8 with Marla Lopez as Marlá.

Much of Urrutia’s own work draws from personal experiences. As one of the few openly nonbinary theater artists working in South Florida, they have learned that authenticity often challenges expectations.

“(I am) one of maybe four open and out nonbinary folks in the (theater) scene here that I am aware of,” Urrutia said.

Nico Grimes as Kevin in Brandon Urrutia’s “Kevin and the River Flan.” Giuseppe Fusca is in the background as Babalú-Ayé. (Photo courtesy of Main Street Players)

In the world premiere of “Kevin and the River Flan,” director Ina Ruiz cast a nonbinary actor in the title role. Urrutia said the choice wasn’t dictated by the script but appreciated how it added another dimension to the character.

[RELATED: Review of “Kevin and the River Flan”]

“It’s nice to know that we’re not afraid to take risks,” Urrutia said. “We’re very openly queer and I’m very openly nonbinary.”

Urrutia said LakehouseRanchDotPNG’s programming isn’t defined by identity, however. Instead, the company’s mission is to create opportunities for new playwrights, directors and actors.

In their devotion to new work and playwrights, Urrutia has a deal with play publishing company 1319 Press, which originally published Erin Proctor’s “Plague Play,” LakehouseRanchDotPNG’s Season Two opener.

Brandon Urrutia with scripts from the company’s productions. Play publishing company 1319 Press publishes every script that LakehouseRanchDotPNG gives a world premiere. (Photo courtesy of LakehouseRanchDotPNG)

“I began talking to them and they wanted to get more companies involved. I said that we only do new work. And one thing led to another and now every show that we give a premiere gets a publication opportunity through 1319 Press.”

Scripts are available for purchase on a bookshelf at Main Street Players.

“It is a great opportunity for playwrights because now their works can be licensed for performance through the publishing company. A perfect example is ‘juice’ by McKenzie Raine Kirkman (Season One). Someone licensed it and did it for their thesis project in San Diego.”

Urrutia said LakehouseRanchDotPNG initially attracted a younger audience but has watched that audience progress over the past five years.

“It’s kind of evolved into being theater for someone who is excited by something that is different than you might usually watch. If you wanted to see something that felt safer, you could go anywhere else. But what we try to do is something that you’re not going to find at another house. We have many people who tell us, ‘This is the theater I’ve been looking for.’ ”

WHAT: “Salida” by Nicholas Quintana directed by Brandon Urrutia

WHERE: Main Street Players, Main Street Playhouse, 6812 Main St., Miami Lakes

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Also, 8 p.m. Thursday, July 30. Opens Saturday, July 18 and runs through Sunday, Aug. 2

COST:  $30,  $25 for students and seniors with ID. Tickets here. 

INFORMATION: 305-558-3737 or mainstreetplayers.com.

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