The Beacon Theatre was an American

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

performing arts theater located in

Beacon, New York Beacon is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city located on the Hudson River in Dutchess County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was 13,769. Beacon is part of the Kiryas ...

, in the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...

, on Main Street in the city's downtown section (known as "Theatre Square"), across from

Fishkill Creek Fishkill Creek (also Fish Kill, from the Dutch ''vis kille'', for "fish creek") is a tributary of the Hudson River in Dutchess County, New York, United States. At U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dat ...

. The theater was run by 4th Wall Productions, which has been producing live theater in the Hudson Valley since 1994, from 2010 until they sold the building in 2015. The main stage was gutted and converted into residential units, with the second floor converted into a smaller performance space. In 2011, the original Beacon Theatre was featured in a music video for the song "Walk Katie Home" by American folk singer Seth Glier, on his album '' The Next Right Thing''.

History

The site where the structure sits was originally the Dibble Opera House, constructed in 1886. The Opera House had also housed a roller skating rink in its early days until it was torn down in 1927 with plans to construct a new and modernized theater that would be large enough to accommodate larger crowds for the rise of

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

s, known then as "photo-plays". With the intention of becoming a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

house, the Beacon Theatre was constructed in 1928 as an

performing arts theater; however, its opening was delayed by six years with the coming of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. When the theater opened in 1934, it was advertised as "the most beautiful theater from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to Albany" and was repurposed to operate as a movie theater, serving 1,200 people. The theater quickly became a cultural hot-spot throughout the Hudson Valley, hosting many musical performances, plays, vaudeville acts, and films. During the 1930s, a popular jazz club, known as the "Wonder Bar", operated the second floor, where live acts performed over the theater's signature marquee. The original venue was draped with

tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art which was traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical pieces are intended to han ...

, and

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

s decorated the ceilings. During the 1940s, the theater also hosted ''

Vox Pop ( ) is a Latin phrase (originally ''Vox populi, vox Dei'' – "The voice of the people is the voice of God") that literally means "voice of the people." It is used in English in the meaning "the opinion of the majority of the people." In journa ...

'', a national touring radio show that featured interviews and quizzes. The Beacon Theatre was greatly disheveled by the

urban decay Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban decay. ...

of the 1960s in which suburbia began to take over and many large theaters throughout the Hudson Valley fell to large complexes. The theater officially closed in 1968 for renovations that were never completed, and would remain empty for nearly 40 years. During the 1990s, the space was used as storage for roofing contractors and as a meeting location for a local church group, which was responsible for sealing up the second floor, demolishing the balcony, repainting the theater walls and setting new reclining chairs in the theater. In 2002, the theater was acquired by New York City investor William Ehrlich, along with other properties, after the Dia:Beacon modern art museum put the city on the map. Norman Adie, of Brooklyn, was contracted to buy the building from Ehrlich, who planned to split the building into three auditoriums for mixed uses. Adie hoped to invest $4.5 million, for "boutique theaters". Robert Rutigliano of Beacon had another vision for the same building - a performing arts center with music, drama and film. However another Brooklyn cinema operator and developer had a vision for a six-screen movie house. Ultimately none of these plans came to fruition and the building would continue to remain empty. In October, 2010, 4th Wall Productions purchased the Beacon Theatre in hopes of restoring the venue's former interior and allowing live theater to become a part of Beacon once again. Previously 4th Wall Productions was operating at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center at the Vassar Home for Aged Men in

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Town of Poughkeepsie, New York (state), New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie i ...

. Plans were announced that the second floor would house a dance studio, where 4th Wall ran their Studio B acting classes and a small

black box theater A black box theater is a performance space, typically a square or rectangular room, with black walls and a black, flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interact ...

. In August, 2015, 4th Wall Productions sold the infrastructure of the theater to Brendan McAlpine of McAlpine Construction, who had shown an interest in purchasing the theater in 2010 before deciding to instead focus on converting an abandoned factory down the street into the Roundhouse at Beacon Falls, converted the existing theater into residential units, with the second floor of the theater turned into a multi-use performance space.

References

{{reflist Theatres in New York (state) Beacon, New York Art Deco cinemas and movie theaters Cinemas and movie theaters in New York (state)