Chelsea's Purple Rose Theatre, founded by Jeff Daniels

For a town of about 5,000 people, Chelsea has a surprisingly big footprint in American theater — thanks to actor Jeff Daniels, who grew up here. In 1991, Daniels founded the Purple Rose Theatre Company, a professional nonprofit theater in a renovated downtown building (one his grandfather once ran as a garage). He named it after “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” the film he starred in that earned him his first Golden Globe nomination. The Purple Rose is known for developing brand-new American plays and Midwestern voices, and Daniels himself has written more than a dozen plays staged there. It’s grown into one of the most respected theaters in the region, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to little Chelsea every year for shows in its intimate 168-seat house. Tickets are kept deliberately affordable — Daniels has long said theater shouldn’t be just for the well-off.

The Purple Rose Theatre Company is at 137 Park Street, Chelsea (purplerosetheatre.org).