Those who are native to the Livonia area may know and love the Italian restaurant Buca di Beppo right off of six-mile and Haggerty Road s. What locals may not know, is that neighboring the establishment is a hidden gem: the Trinity House Theatre. 

The Theatre is a non-profit performance venue for concerts established in the independently-claimed historic Livonia building. The venue is described as an “intimate listening room” by Trinity House volunteer , Kathy Kitzmann, as it seats 70 people. The Theatre tends to book up weekends, with occasional instances of hosting concerts on week-days. Tickets are primarily set at $20, but may vary for specialty shows. For example, international artists can be $25 or $30: for those who are subscribers, they can get tickets for $17. 

The Trinity House typically showcases acoustic, singer/songwriter artists but they also cover a wide genre of music like jazz, Americana, blues and roots as well as spoken word, empty-chair concerts and other audience-interactive shows. The majority of artists are locals who play in coffee houses and bars with periodic hostings of national artists as well. In some special cases, they will bring in international artists: with the collaboration of the Michigan Finger Guitar Style Society (MFGS), one such event being when they hosted Luca Stricagnoli, a finger guitar artist from Italy. 

Those who are interested in performing can email the Trinity House and will be put into contact with the concert coordinator, Bill Kieth. He typically asks for a CD or some recording of their music and depending on the arrangement, may have them open for a show. Most local artists receive their compensation via a portion of the House’s profits of that night. 

“One of [Kieth’s] students in Plymouth has performed a couple times here recently and [they] are just a highschool student; a recent graduate. But he knew [them], got [them] to open for somebody – [with opportunities like that,] eventually, they might get their own show,” said Kitzmann. 

The drama behind this historic building

The main portion of the Trinity House was built in the 1850s with the original intent as a meeting house for the community; presumably for Quakers at the time. The cemetery behind it was also established at the same time and allowed people to buy shares from the grave site. 

Over the years of groups using the building, it then became the Trinity Baptist Church which served as a satellite for the community and held services, Sunday school, etc. One of the youth pastors, Paul Paton, saw further potential for the church as being a creative outlet for theater. 

He was a Playwright himself and eventually became “Head of Drama for Theatre and Communications” which became his life-long career. 

Due to his position as a youth pastor, Paton reached out to recruit people from the community and orchestrate plays. The people who got involved helped build the whole set up of the Theatre, including the stage and the light booth. 

In 1981, the first ever play was performed in the building which established the School of Theatre. It then became a non-profit organization in 1988 and staff was composed of a board of volunteers. 

As theater became less popular and people’s schedules grew, volunteers had less time to commit, initiating the shift into hosting concerts. Nonetheless, the now family of volunteers have been at the Theatre for years, if not decades and have nothing but great things to say about the Trinity House. “It’s just a cool place to hang out, meet great people and I thoroughly enjoy it. I love coming to hear the music,” said Kitzmann. 

The almost Greek-like historic and comforting feel of this smaller, intimate venue may appeal to those after a long day of classes and work. The Trinity House Theatre welcomes all ages and would love to expand not only their audience, but the genres they host. Performances are typically on the weekends with relatively affordable ticket prices perfect for an inviting, fun night out. The best part, it is right off campus!

For more information, visit https://www.trinityhousetheatre.org/ or contact [email protected].