The Black Cat Story:
The Black Cat’s Tale.
When in 2004 the venue became once more vacant and this vital artistic space looked like it would be lost. I took the decision and stepped up to take the reins. Forming the Black Cat theatre was one of the best and hardest times in my artistic life. It was to be a year of struggle, growth, hardship, and joy as the harsh realities of running an entire season fell to me. I had up until now had the ‘luxury’ of picking a show I wished to perform. Doing that piece in someone else’s building and then walking away with whatever profit or loss came from it. But now, things were different because, as well as trying to repair and make the space usable. Since the previous person had left the place literally gutted, full of trash with water dripping from the ceiling. I now had an overhead of bills and expenses. As in a landlord who expected rent and on top of that, all the costs of mounting a season of productions. Which were royalties for the plays, monies for construction of sets, costumes, props, etc. Then you needed to publicize. This was before the internet had taken such a pervasive hold on our lives. So, it was print journalism and posters. Both of which were very expensive. Also, the problem of finding actors had increased. My normal roster of actors who had been available for a couple of shows in a year. Understandably could not commit to be in show after show indefinitely. Not without the threat of losing their partners. LOL! Therefore, I had to expand the performers available for the larger number of shows needed to fill out the year. All the while being the only director. So many problems to overcome. But on my side, I was fortunate to have a wonderful group of friends and people I was to meet along the way who would help. Including Bob Olsen and the Mother-ship Elmwood playhouse who allowed me so much access to their depts from which I borrowed to stage shows. Many, many thanks to all of you who gave your time and effort to make the Black Cat a success. It only lasted a short year before I had to come back to Gibraltar to take care of my Mother. But it will always remain a bright memory and a high water mark for me. All hail Dionysus!!!
Lisa Lundgren & Ed Mooney
The Party.
Lisa Lundgren and Ed Mooney were a great help in getting the Theatre up and running. They threw a fundraiser with Ed Mooney, getting local restaurants to come on board and donate food to the occasion. The party was a great success and from the monies we received, we were able to get repairs underway. I was thrilled, as a major Trek geek, to have Christopher McDonald christen the theatre. Besides being a lovely man and a good egg. He also played Castillo in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s classic episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise”. In which, by the end of the story, he became Captain of the ‘Enterprise C’ by a battlefield promotion.
The Mess.
Looking back, after some sixteen years have passed. I am quite taken aback by how much work we accomplished. There was so much damage and disrepair. From the neglect of the absentee landlord and the truly destructive, spiteful behavior of the previous tenant. These are but a few of the many photos I took to record the work.
The Work.
In order to make the small theatre usable we had to basically start from scratch. After volunteers and friends came in and helped throw out the trash and clean the place. Two people were essential for making the theatre functional. They gave freely their time, tools and effort. First John Hearity helped redesign the space and build the raised tiers for the seats. Which I had no idea where we would get them from yet? He also took out the old tech booth, which had been at the back of the theatre. Allowing me to put in another row of seats and created a new Tech area. Then secondly Mike Gnazzo, a long-time friend from ‘Elmwood Playhouse’, came in and redid the electrics of the place. Tracking down wires and power in this very old building and making them usable and safe. Which they had very much not been! Then he donated an old but still functioning set of lighting dimmers. So, we had some simple but basic lights to work with.
John Hearity
Mike Gnazzo
The Seating!
The much needed seating came from Nelson Page, owner of the beautiful classic ‘Lafayette movie theatre’. He found out about our plight and contacted me. It turned out he had a bunch of movie theatre seats from one of his cinemas in storage and offered those to replace the ones which the previous tenant had trashed in a pique of anger on his way out. I, of course, said yes! Problem was we had to go get them from another state and bring them back to Nyack. So with some of the funds from our party. I can still remember hiring a huge truck and driving with Mike Gnazzo to pick them up from a warehouse storage unit down in New Jersey. We loaded onto the truck some 75 or so disassembled chairs. Then Mike drove back, and we both carried them up the seemingly endless number of stairs into the theatre. Over the coming couple of weeks, installing 50 of them by hand into the platforms made for them.
The finished auditorium ready for the public with seats which had cup holders. LOL!
‘Tailgate Productions’
Tom Olori and Jenn Bornstein of ‘Tailgate productions’ came along wanting to rent the space and put on a show. I knew Tom from our time at Elmwood and got to quickly like Jenn. They came for a show and ended up helping to fill out the season with a total of three fine shows and infuse the place with their joy and bountiful energy.
to the Black Cat theatre.