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From
out of Shadowland, a Shining Light for Ellenville
By M.R. Smith
Image
One: 1984, a vacant movie house, old-school Art Deco, in the middle
of a southern New York town, well off the NYC/Albany corridor. Built
in the 1920’s, in what was then the heart of town, this was
once the main source of entertainment in a 50 mile radius, along
with the Norbury Theatre, one street over. It still showed movies
into the 1970’s, when, like so many smalltown theaters, it
was abandoned. First vaudeville, then the cinema, now dust.
Image Two: 35 NYC theatre artists united, creating Cooperative Artists
in the early 1980’s. Led by Ron Marquette, they opted to move
en masse upstate, creating a non-profit, and pursuing their creative
muse in a much less severe environment than the Great White Way.
A certain art-deco movie house became available, in the middle of
a well, here’s where the images superimpose.
The Resulting Image: Shadowland Theatre is reborn as a live theatre,
and over the next ten years, audiences swell, budgets improve, the
season expands, and renovations are made. While maintaining the
art deco interior, the theater is shortened from both the front
and back, more backstage room is created, with the lobby extended.
Shadowlands is transformed over the next 10 years into a comfortable
148-seater with a semi-thrust stage, where everyone has perfect
sight-lines and is within 35 feet of the performance. Equity (Actor’s
Union) staus is achieved in 1995, under the guidance of Bill Lelbach.
With steadily better shows and bigger names, Shadowland proves itself
to be an indispensible source of pride in a town that could, well,
use it. Coming into the summer season, the theatre is looking at
having its best year yet. So far, this is shaping up to be one of
the rare good stories about a smalltown theatre. CONTINUE....
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