The Lexington Conservatory Theatre was a

summer stock In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock the ...

company in the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas cl ...

town of

Lexington, New York Lexington is a town in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 770 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census, Lexington town, Greene County, New York https://www.census.gov/search-results.html?searchType=web&cssp=SERP&q= ...

. Co-founded in 1976 by

Oakley Hall III Oakley "Tad" Hall III (May 26, 1950 – February 13, 2011) was an American playwright, director, and author. In 1978, after a very promising beginning to his career, he suffered massive head injuries in a fall from a bridge, and spent decades ...

, Michael Van Landingham, and Bruce Bouchard, the theatre operated for five seasons at the historic Lexington House, a former hotel turned artist retreat. Hall was seriously injured in a fall from a bridge during the summer of 1978. That summer and Hall's life in the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury were the subjects of the documentary ''

The Loss of Nameless Things ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''.

Formation

Oakley Hall III, Michael van Landingham, Thomas Culp and Bruce Bouchard had attended college at UC Irvine together, and continued to work together at South Coast Repertory Theatre. The group of friends eventually moved to New York City to continue their careers. In 1969, Evelyn Weisberg, owner of Lexington House, met Bouchard and fellow actor Kate Kelly while operating a local educational theatre program. Learning of the nascent theatre group forming in New York, Weisberg supported the formation of the group in 1975, inviting them to take residence at Lexington House and its surrounding facilities. LCT launched its first season in 1976.

Move to Albany

In spring 1979, LCT announced that it would form a theatre in downtown Albany, NY, that followed a fall-winter-spring season, to be known as Capital Repertory Company or "Capital Rep." That winter, LCT produced ''The Tavern'' by George M. Cohan at the Egg Theatre in Albany, under the Capital Rep name.In October of 1980, executive director Michael Van Landingham announced that the theatre would not return to Lexington House and instead move permanently to Albany. In December 1980, the group began its first full season as Capital Repertory Theatre at Page Hall in Albany.

Notable alumni

Patricia Charbonneau Patricia Charbonneau (born April 19, 1959) is an American actress, perhaps best known for playing the part of Cay Rivvers in ''Desert Hearts,'' her first film role and for which she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female L ...

Steve Hytner Steve Hytner (; born September 28, 1959) is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Kenny Bania on the NBC series ''Seinfeld''. Hytner is a native of Long Island, New York. He appeared as a regular in ''The 100 Lives of Bl ...

Cotter Smith Joseph Cotter Smith (born May 29, 1949) is an American stage, film, and television actor. Early life He was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Madeline (née Cotter) and John Lewis Smith, Jr., who was a federal judge. He graduated from the ...

Richard Zobel Richard J. Zobel Jr. (June 5, 1952 – October 4, 2005) was an American actor. He starred as the attorney Aaron Levinsky in the original Broadway run of '' Nuts'' in 1980. Over the course of his career, he was also a singer, instrumentalist, ani ...

* Sofia Landon Geier

Productions

*''Frankenstein'' by Oakley Hall III *''The Prevalence of Mrs. Seal'' by Otis Bigelow

References

Theatre companies in New York (state) {{US-theat-stub