How Halifax Repertory Theatre Is Reviving Live Arts in Volusia County, FL
For Jack and Sandra Cook, returning to Ormond Beach marked a new chapter focused on family, community and the performing arts. After growing up locally, spending years away and building professional careers, the couple returned with a shared goal of strengthening live theater in Volusia County.
Both Jack and Sandra attended Seabreeze High School before their paths took them elsewhere. “Jack joined the Marine Corps and then went on to attend college at the University of North Carolina,” Cook says. “We both ended up in Orlando and got married in 2006.” Jack became an attorney, while Sandra worked as a paralegal for 25 years, and throughout that time, performance remained part of their lives.
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Staying Connected to the Arts
Even while working full time, the couple continued performing. “Theater was always a passion of ours and we both performed in Orlando in our free time,” Sandra Cook says. “We spent our evenings working in a murder mystery dinner theater, performed with Orlando Opera Company and sang in various bands.”
That connection stayed strong as their family grew. In 2020, the timing felt right to return.
“Jack became a partner at Morgan & Morgan law firm, and our oldest son, Chase, was about to start middle school, so we decided it was time to return home to Ormond so our kids could grow up in the community we loved so very much,” Cook says. “In October of 2020, we moved back to Ormond Beach.”
A Shift in the Local Theater Landscape
The move coincided with a challenging period for live performance. “When we returned to the Ormond Beach area, it was during the height of COVID,” Cook says. With the city-owned Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center closed during shutdowns and later closed again for renovations, the Cooks noticed how much had changed.
“We were surprised to find that the vibrant theater scene that was here in our area when we were growing up had disappeared, and we made it our mission to revitalize it,” Cook says.
She recalls earlier decades when live theater was a regular part of community life. “There was a successful professional regional theater program and several community theater groups that were in town doing productions, and the theaters were always filled,” she says.
Creating Halifax Repertory Theatre
Those observations led to the creation of their next adventure.
“We wanted to bring that back to our area, so we launched the Halifax Repertory Theatre,” Cook says. From the beginning, the focus was on quality and opportunity. “We started providing elite instruction and putting on productions to rejuvenate and elevate the arts here,” she says.
Professional instruction quickly became central to the program.
“We are bringing in highly qualified instructors from New York to teach and, in some cases, perform, which provides our youth the opportunity to learn and work with professionals,” Cook says.
Sandra Cook
“We were surprised to find that the vibrant theater scene that was here in our area when we were growing up had disappeared, and we made it our mission to revitalize it.”
Vocal instructor Jennifer McGill is one example. “Jennifer was on the All New Mickey Mouse Club and has extensive training and a voice unlike any other,” Cook says. “We are seeing a huge improvement in the students she works with.”
Halifax Repertory Theatre operates as a traveling theater group, performing primarily at the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center and staging at least one production each year at the News-Journal Center. “Both theaters are wonderful, and we are happy to have our productions in either space,” Cook says.
Creative Impact
The arts are woven into daily life in Greater Daytona. For Nancy Maddox, economic development, recreation and public affairs director for the City of Daytona Beach Shores, that role is tied to how communities grow, connect and plan for the future.
“We’ve got some exciting things happening here,” Maddox says, pointing to cultural investments taking shape in Volusia County.
One of the most significant is the transformation of the Museum of Arts and Sciences, now entering a new chapter as the Cici & Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, Science & History.
“It’s going to be amazing,” she says. “That level of investment only adds to the attraction of people wanting to move here.”
Cultural momentum continues throughout the county. Institutions such as the Atlantic Center for the Arts, which will mark its 50th anniversary in 2027, bring artists from around the world while offering community classes and educational programming.
In Daytona Beach Shores, Maddox sees arts programming as a core component of economic development and community planning. “We need those quality-of-life programs and things for people to be attracted to come here,” she says. “The arts support that.”
Community feedback reinforces that focus. During the city’s parks and recreation master plan process, Maddox says the most requested priority was arts and well-being programming. “Integrating the arts helps with socialization, cognitive health and overall wellness,” she says. “It all adds up.”
Together, these efforts reflect a region where arts and culture continue to shape how residents live, gather and invest in the future.
Programming With Broad Appeal
Show selection is guided by audience interest. “We try to select a variety of shows that will have a large appeal to all,” Cook says. “We usually aim to have one of our shows be a golden age musical.”
Past productions at the theater include 42nd Street, Guys and Dolls and Annie.
Community support is built into the theater’s work.
“Currently, the majority of our funding is from attorney Jack Cook,” she says. “None of this would be possible without his commitment.”
Halifax Repertory Theatre also supports arts education locally. “We offer support to Children’s Musical Theatre Workshop and the local high schools to help build up their programs,” Cook says.
Get to Know Greater Daytona Beach
Want to learn more about living and working in Greater Daytona, FL? Check out the latest edition of Livability Greater Daytona Region – Volusia County, Florida.