(Black Cat) Theatre

Backstory:

The small theatre upstairs in the old Woolworth Building on Main Street Nyack, New York. Had over a decade of being in existence gone through a couple of changes of name and theatrical directors. It had become important as one of the few places where a theatre troupe could afford to book and do a show. My own company performed there many times at Main Street Arts under Paul Perez’s Artistic management. Paul was a lovely man who’d worked hard for a long time at keeping the doors open. Not an easy task for anyone to do, as I was to later find out myself. These were good years with us stretching, finding new challenges and pieces to do. Eventually Paul sadly moved on and a new person stepped in to take the place over and the name became The Playhouse On Main. The theatre under this new management seemed to be going along fine. Several folks had sunk money into it, but as time went on, things changed. Around then, I was approached and asked to come aboard The Playhouse as a partner. It piqued my interest because I had grown tired of moving the company around. So, I was attracted to the idea of a more stable situation. In truth, it turned out I had been asked on board by the ‘Artistic Director’ in order to try to save himself and the place. I was to find out as we went along that he’d already burnt through the other folks who’d invested. As well as the good faith of many local actors and the other theatres. Running up bills, borrowing stuff and not returning things. A long list of generally being a twat. I had no money, so he could not get me there. Instead, I proffered that we came in to try to bolster audiences, fill out the season. So, I set about picking some shows which would be a draw for people to come to. Including doing new productions of some of our older shows.