Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts is Located at 71
East Main Street
The Main Street Tunnel, located in Welland, Ontario, Canada, is an underwater tunnel, carrying Niagara Road 27 and the unsigned designation of Highway 7146 under the Welland Canal. It is named as a part of East Main Street.
The structure was bui ...
in
Patchogue Village,
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County () is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York. It is mainly located on the eastern end of Long Island, but also includes several smaller islands. According to the 2020 United States census, the county's populatio ...
(nearest cross street, North Ocean Avenue).
The Patchogue Village Center for the
Performing Arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
, Inc., organized under a Not-for-Profit Corporation Law of the State of New York. This helps to manage The Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts in the public interest. The Center's mission is to have The Patchogue Theatre serve as a
cultural center
A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run.
Asia
* Ce ...
for
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
. The Center showcases a broad spectrum of performing arts for the benefit of a wide-ranging audience at affordable prices.
The Patchogue Theatre as a full-time mixed-use venue, offering a variety of events including live performances, films, educational presentations, commercial productions, community forums, and other appropriate events.
History
The Patchogue Theatre opened on May 23, 1923, as perhaps the largest and most magnificent theater on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, Ward and Glynne’s
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
, as it was called then, was described as “palatial” and “magnificent in its interior decorations and appointments.” For the first half dozen years, the theatre hosted first-run feature films,
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
productions,
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
and the best in
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. . In 1929 the Theatre was sold to Prudential Theater Circuit and it remained a movie house for the next forty plus years.
In 1958, a fire destroyed the
lobby
Lobby may refer to:
* Lobby (room), an entranceway or foyer in a building
* Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians
:* Lobbying in the United States, specific to the United States
* Lobby (food), a thick stew ...
, so a new, much smaller lobby was built and three storefronts were added to the front of the building along Main Street.
In 1980, United Artists bought the building, and converted it to a three-theatre “Multiplex”. This was the beginning of the era that saw single screen theaters give way to more and more screens in one place. The conversion of the Patchogue Theatre into a triplex destroyed much of the interior as plaster columns were smashed, sheetrock and wallpaper were installed over the original walls, and new lower ceilings replaced the magnificent interior. Unfortunately, the theatre went out of business several years later and stood empty, forlorn, derelict and almost forgotten for over a decade.
In 1997, the Patchogue Village Board made the decision to purchase the theatre for the
Village of Patchogue.
Several local businessmen came up with the initial funds to purchase the theatre and the village applied for grants to renovate and restore the building to its former glory. The three empty storefronts were torn down. Where they stood, a brick walkway to the parking lots was built and a new building was constructed that is now a restaurant. The small theater lobby was replaced by a much larger one, featuring a mahogany bar and
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style bathrooms. The old exterior brick was cleaned up and the new buildings had new brick fronts.
The theatre interior was restored to its 1923 grandeur in several phases as the theatre was open for business. The old seats were cleaned up and installed and the first performance was held in December 1998. The theatre was alternately open and closed for the next few years as renovations continued.
Plasterers restored and repaired the plaster work on the
auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...
walls, the columns were restored, tapestry wall fabric was installed, a new brass rail was placed at the edge of the
balcony
A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor.
Types
The traditional Maltese balcony is ...
, and the original marble steps were cleaned up.
Period seats were obtained from Manhattan’s
Imperial Theatre
The Imperial Theatre is a Broadway theater at 249 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1923, the Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed fo ...
and were repainted and recovered. There are now 944 orchestra seats and 222 balcony seats; a total of 1166, plus two sections for disabled seating.
By early 2001, the plaster and ceiling were painted and gilded, the new chandelier was hung and the restoration of the magnificent theater interior was complete.
Despite the old look of the theatre, the restoration added many modern amenities for the performers. of conduit was installed beneath the floor to bring 2000 amps of electrical power into the building. 60,000 pounds of steel were installed on the stage to be able to support up to 17 tons of lighting and scenery in the air.
The building had to be reinforced to accommodate this and supporting columns were installed. A addition to the back of the building was built to accommodate extended wing space for larger, modern sets. New dressing rooms were added as was a loading dock so that even the largest production can easily be brought into the theatre.
In 2004, the final pieces of a world class
sound system were installed so that any performing artist or stage act can now perform at the theatre with outstanding sound quality and no need for rented equipment.
Since its opening in 1998 the theatre has played a part in housing -
Broadway shows
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
, ice shows,
plays
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* P ...
, The Long Island Hall of Fame, comedy, auctions, dance performances and competitions and live concerts by local and national acts.
The Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts, has seen the likes of a wide range of Music styles, ranging from classical to Jazz, Rock, Blues, Folk, Etc.
The Theatre displays a vast array of musical talent in the heart of
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, New York's
south shore .
References
{{No footnotes, date=May 2009
*http://patchoguetheatre.org/
*http://events.stamfordadvocate.com/patchogue-ny/venues/show/76398-patchogue-theatre
External links
Patchogue Theatre websiteHistorical image of Patchogue Theatre- as movie theatre triplex
Patchogue, New York
Patchogue
Patchogue (, ) is a village in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 11,798 at the time of the 2010 census. Patchogue is part of the town of Brookhaven, on the south shore of Long Island, adjoining Great South Bay. It is officially known ...