The idea to start a Marionette theater in Mount Dora goes back to 2004, when Hector De Leon relocated from Massachusetts. 

After his work was profiled in the November 2007 edition of Lake Magazine he paired up with Dr. Thomas Davis, a retired chiropractor with more than 20 years of puppetry experience, and the idea took a new momentum.

After meeting with Andrew Mullen, president of the Mount Dora Historical Society, several ideas evolved to combine history and entertainment. 

The Old Jail Museum needed help to promote itself, and in exchange it provided to the puppeteers the much needed space for the creation of a suitable stage platform.

After agreeing on some planning the construction started with the goal to open during the 2008 Halloween week.

In order to maintain the integrity of the overall historical preservation mission, the team decided to use discarded wood from the Unity house in Mount Dora.

The concept worked really nice in maintaining and providing the vintage Floridian vernacular "cracker" architectural  look that the theater is now proud to show, and blending well with the museum's collection.