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County Events

Ulster County Events in August 2013

Annandale-on-Hudson Exhibit: "No Borders in a Wok That Can't Be Crossed." Works by Helen Marten and "Once Again the World is Flat," b...

05 Aug 2013 | 0 comments | Read more

Dutchess County Events in August 2013

Exhibit: "No Borders in a Wok That Can't Be Crossed." Works by Helen Marten and "Once Again the World is Flat," by Haim Steinbach. ...

05 Aug 2013 | 0 comments | Read more
Feature Articles

Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville

Major facelift completed in time for new season of shows by Tod Westlake If you haven’t been to Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville for...

11 Jul 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

The Heritage Wheat Revival

Stone ground ancient grains are packed with nutrients by Anne Pyburn Craig Wheat has been grown and domesticated ever since our specie...

02 Jul 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

Walkway Over the Hudson

New records being broken as new developments arise.    When Camoin Associates studied the potential economic impact of the Walk...

02 Apr 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

Radio Uprising by CMP

Local radio continues to inspire and push new boundaries. by Anne Pyburn Craig Mia Chin was a student throughout the progra...

01 Mar 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

Publisher's Editorial

  • 02 Aug 2013 Three Year Anniversary
  • 02 Aug 2013 Red Baron of Rhinebeck
The Yardavore

In the Weeds

by Maria Reidelbach Maybe you've never thought about this, but what is the definition of a weed? A weed is, simply, any type of plan...

11 Jul 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

Trees for Bees

by Maria Reidelbach Last month in my column about bees, Chris Harp, local apiarist, explained that the blossoms of fruit Mulberries...

13 May 2013 | 1 comments| Read more

Deerly Departed

by Maria Reidelbach Last month we talked about the havoc that deer wreak in your garden. We covered how deer are gourmets and like ...

08 Mar 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

Skål!

by Maria Reidelbach If you think we upstaters have it rough in the winter, check out Sweden. It's got the same latitude as Nova Scotia,...

05 Dec 2012 | 0 comments| Read more
Transition Field Notes

Relating with Permaculture: Principle #11

Use Edges and Value the Marginal by Deena Wade Founder of the Transition movement, Rob Hopkins, taught permaculture—design principl...

02 Aug 2013 | 0 comments| Read more

People In Your Neighborhood

Food & Restaurant

Fruit of the valley provides essential goodness.

by Phoenix Trent The Hudson Valley is a bounty of fresh produce throughout the calendar year, but the diverse offerings that the summer...

30 Jul 2013 | Read more
Arts & Music

From the Fisher Center to Lincoln Center:

The Bard Conservatory Orchestra and its well-rounded education. by Philip Ehrensaft Of all the Bard College success stories,...

28 May 2013 | Read more
Horoscopes

Inner Space for August 2013

by Eric Francis The Leo New Moon is Tuesday, August 6 at 5:50pm. This event is synchronous with the midsummer festival Lunesa, also kn...

02 Aug 2013 | Read more
Local Economy

Farming Risks and Rewards

Increase in local farmers and markets a sign of the times.   by Anne Pyburn Craig Besides being backbreaking, farming is a ...

16 Oct 2012 | Read more
Bread & Roses

It’s All Here

by Sherill Hatch “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses too.” This century-old labor slogan bears repeating today. Beau...

02 Aug 2013 | Read more
New Economics

Buddhist Economics 2.0

By David McCarthy E.F. Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful, first published in 1973 and still in print, is arguably the cornerstone of w...

02 Aug 2013 | Read more
Re>think Local

TEDxLongDock:

This is What Community Looks Like by Scott Tillitt The Dalai Lama visited NYC in 2003 for a week of events culminating in a public t...

02 Aug 2013 | Read more
Culture Features

New York Theater's Industrial Incubator

Vassar's Powerhouse Festival kicks off its 29th edition by Philip Ehrensaft Chloe Sevigny in Abigail/1702. © Vassar & ...

10 Jun 2013 | Read more

Daily Video

Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville

Major facelift completed in time for new season of shows

by Tod Westlake

If you haven’t been to Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville for a while, you might not recognize it. In the past few years the theater has taken on a major capital project that has turned its faded façade and interior into a theater venue that would be the envy of any community. And with the theater’s new season in full swing, you couldn’t pick a better time to reacquaint yourself with the place.

“A little over two years ago we set out to raise one-million dollars for, essentially, what has become a four-phase project,” says Shadowland’s artistic director Brendan Burke. “The first one was to build actor housing. We achieved that a couple of years back.”

Shadowland then turned toward fixing up the theater itself, which Burke says was broken down into two main phases.

“First, we did the front half of the building, so a new façade, a new roof, the marquee, offices, and the lobby. We finished that up last summer. We also added 22 seats in the theater.”

This past winter, the group took on the renovation of the rest of the building, which consisted of the main auditorium, the main roof of the building, the walls other than the front wall, and the backstage area, which includes green rooms and dressing rooms.

“We also rebuilt the entire stage,” says Burke. “And we revamped the sound system and the lighting.” Burke says that, at first, this endeavor didn’t have the large scope into which it eventually grew, but once the theater got started on the first project, it seemed like a good idea to just keep going.

“Originally I don’t think our plans were to do that much to this building,” Burke says. “But we did. We did it all. And we completed the project on the Tuesday before we opened for the season.”

Folks will also be interested to know that, from now on, the theater will be able to operate in the winter months, as it now has a state-of-the-art HVAC system. In prior years, the building would be temporarily mothballed.

“We’ll be thinking about what kind of programming we want to fit in there [during the winter] that will suit our mission,” Burke says. “A good part of it will be family oriented with our kids’ shows, and the kids’ classes and their performances. But it also offers us the opportunity to do some one-night stands with musical acts and things like that.”

The theater also recently acquired the storefront situated on the corner across from Cohen’s Bakery on Market Street that will eventually be turned into a 99-seat ancillary theater.

“It’s currently serving as our rehearsal space and our classroom space,” Burke says.

The board of directors for the theater, according to Burke, had formulated a 15-year plan as to where it wanted the theater to go over the next decade-plus, and that one of the constant conundrums it faced was a lack of rehearsal space when the stage is in use.

“If we have a show onstage, where do we have the kids’ classes?” Burke says. “So we looked around at the various places in the village, and this seemed like a really dynamic spot.”

With big picture-windows, the rehearsal space will have the effect of inviting the public to check out what is going on in the interior. Burke says that he especially wanted to thank Hal Brill for donating it to the theater.

“Hal Brill is a big supporter of the theater, and he was interested in having the space used, so he donated it to us,” Burke says. “We now have all the plans [for the second theater] sketched out, but we won’t be able to start that construction until we pay off the construction of the main building.”

As for this season of performances, Burke says that it’s off to a terrific start. The season’s opening play, "The Outgoing Tide," recently finished up its run, with terrific reviews. Next up is "Love/Sick," a romantic comedy written and directed by Tony Award-nominated auteur John Cariani, whose earlier play, "Almost Maine," has become one of the most-performed plays in the country. Then, beginning on July 12, Burke himself will direct the farce "Boeing, Boeing." For details on performances at Shadowland, call 845-647-5511 or visit shadowlandtheatre.org. Either way, be sure to stop by and check out Shadowland’s transformation the next time you’re in Ellenville.

“Aesthetically, the space is really remarkable when you walk in right now,” Burke says. “It’s a big transition that respects the Art Deco history of the theater, but also moves the Art Deco forward with a more industrial feel. It’s really a beautiful space.”

Posted by lil' Liza on 9:28 AM. Filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0

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