Jeff Daniels Turned His Grandfather's Garage Into a Theatre

Long before it hosted plays, an old garage building on the edge of downtown Chelsea, Michigan pumped gas, sold pizza, and even sold vegetables off a stand out front. Nobody driving past in the 1970s would have guessed the building would one day belong to a Hollywood star, let alone that he would give the whole thing away.

A Small Town West of Ann Arbor

Jeff Daniels grew up in Chelsea, Michigan, a small town of roughly 4,700 people west of Ann Arbor. In the early 1900s, his grandfather ran that same building as a car and bus garage. Daniels left Chelsea at 21 to chase an acting career, eventually landing roles that made him a household name, including Dumb and Dumber, The Newsroom, and Godless. But he came back to Chelsea with his wife, Kathleen, to raise their family.

Buying Back the Garage

In 1989, Daniels bought the old garage building and spent months renovating it. He named the new theatre after The Purple Rose of Cairo, the 1985 film that earned him his first Golden Globe nomination.

The space began hosting productions in 1990 and officially opened as a nonprofit regional theatre on February 7, 1991.

He Gave the Whole Building Away

Daniels did not just found the Purple Rose Theatre Company. He personally purchased and renovated the building, then donated it outright to the nonprofit he had just started, keeping no ownership stake for himself.

The theatre stayed intentionally small, with just 168 seats and every seat within twenty feet of the stage. In 1999, it launched a $2.2 million capital campaign to expand its offices, stage, and lobby, reopening in January 2001. The mortgage on that expansion was paid off by March 2004.

A Home for the Kid He Used to Be

Daniels has said his goal was never to build a vehicle for his own stardom. He wanted a training ground for young Midwestern actors, directors, and playwrights, the kind of place he wishes he had at 21.

"What I envisioned was a company for the 21-year-old kid I used to be, where he could explore and grow before he went to New York or L.A.," he has said.

Saving a Second Building

The theatre was not the only Chelsea landmark Daniels and Kathleen rescued. They also bought an old brick schoolhouse that was slated for demolition and conversion into condominiums.

Instead, the couple turned it into the Chelsea Center for the Development of the Arts, which had started as a husband-and-wife operation teaching cello, voice, and violin lessons out of a single room in a local church. Students who trained there have gone on to earn university scholarships.