For two nights next week, the Seminole Theatre at 18 N. Krome Ave. in downtown Homestead will stage Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and an hour before each curtain it will open a hidden room off the lobby where ticket holders mix their own monster-themed drinks while actors play out short scenes between rounds. The shows run Friday, Oct. 16, and Saturday, Oct. 17, at 8 p.m., with the pre-show lab at 7 p.m. both nights.

What the La-BAR-atory actually is

The theatre calls the add-on The Frankenstein La-BAR-atory, and it is set in what the venue describes as its Secret Room. The format is hands-on rather than a lobby bar with a theme. Guests are walked through mixing three drinks under the direction of hosts dressed for a laboratory gone wrong, and after each one a short live performance tied to the Frankenstein story plays out in the room. The theatre's event page lists the lab at $38.44 per person, plus a transaction fee, and it notes that space is limited. It is sold separately from the play, so you need both tickets if you want the full evening.

The timing is built to feed straight into the main show. The lab runs from 7 to 8 p.m., and the play starts in the auditorium at 8. You never have to leave the building, and parking once on Krome covers the whole night.

The play itself

The stage version follows Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist in Geneva who becomes fixated on creating life and then has to live with what he made. According to the show listing, the production is directed by Frankie Navarro of MagicArts Studios and produced by Katherine Rubio of the Seminole Theatre, and it leans on stage effects: fog, strobe lighting and heavy sound. Tickets are $26. The theatre posts an advisory that the play includes adult themes and violent scenes along with the strobe and fog, so this one is for older kids and adults rather than the whole family.

There are only two performances, so if you want a specific night, it is worth choosing early.

Why this building suits a monster story

The Seminole has its own resurrection story. According to the theatre's history page, the name traces back to a movie house that had been taken apart in Miami in 1916, shipped to Homestead by train and rebuilt on Old Dixie Highway. Pioneers James Washington English and Henry Booker Sr. carried the Seminole name to a new building downtown, which opened on Nov. 26, 1921, to show silent films.

A stage fire in March 1940 gutted it down to the walls. It was rebuilt with the Art Deco front that still faces Krome Avenue, and in the meantime residents watched movies projected in the alley. The theatre shut in 1979, then took near total damage from Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The owners handed the empty shell to the city in 1993, and after a $5 million city bond and $550,000 in state money paid for a full restoration, it reopened on Dec. 12, 2015. A building that came back from fire, a closure and a hurricane is a fitting place for a play about bringing something back to life.

Make it a downtown weekend

The Frankenstein run lands in the middle of a busy stretch for Losner Park, the city green at 104 N. Krome Ave., a short walk up Krome from the theatre. The City of Homestead's events calendar lists free gatherings there in the same window, including these two:

Friday, Oct. 16, 5:30 to 9 p.m. A park movie night screens Super Mario Galaxy. Families with younger kids can do the lawn while adults with Frankenstein tickets head down the block.

Saturday, Oct. 17, 5 to 9 p.m. The city's Fall and Spooktacular event fills Losner Park. If you are seeing the Saturday play, arrive early, walk the park, then cross over for the 7 p.m. lab.

The theatre has a gentler Halloween option two weeks later. On Saturday, Oct. 31, its Toy Story of Terror Spooktacular opens doors at 2 p.m. with a kids' costume contest, trick-or-treat stations and craft tables, followed by a 3:30 p.m. screening of the Pixar Halloween special. Tickets start at $9.48.

What it means if you live here

A night out with a show and a drink does not have to mean driving north to Coral Gables or Brickell. This month the Seminole is building that night inside a restored 1920s theatre on Krome Avenue, with the city programming the park a block away around it. Residents who want downtown Homestead to keep filling its calendar on weekends have a simple way to say so: buy the ticket, park once, and stay on Krome for the evening.

Tickets for both the play and the La-BAR-atory are sold through the Seminole Theatre website, and the box office is at 786-650-2073.