Poughkeepsie Profile: Chris Silva
Chris Silva has made his way through Hollywood and Broadway and back again working as a producer and director. Now, he has settled down in the heart of the Hudson Valley arts scene as the Executive Director of the Bardavon Theater. Here, he talks about the career he spent “always hustling,” and his experiences behind the scenes of the Bardavon.
How did you originally get into the arts?
“Like a lot of kids I did school plays going back to elementary school and all through high school. When I went to college I decided to major in theater. While I was still in college we started the beginnings of a theater and when I got out of school I found a commune in San Francisco that we started a theater in.”
After working on the West Coast and in New York City, what about Bardavon and the Hudson Valley has been able to hold you down for 22 years?
“I left New York when my son was two (and he’s thirty now) because a project that I was doing with my wife got bought by the movies. I loved the Hudson Valley. We used to come up here and visit friends; it used to be our getaway. So when the movies got this script we got a big bag of money. We thought: Okay, we could blow this, or the money would last longer if we moved to the Hudson Valley. It felt like a good time to make a change.
When I left New York [working as an independent producer and director] became more complicated because I wasn’t in the city. Then I found this gig at the Bardavon. When I investigated it and interviewed for it I realized it would be an opportunity to use the skills that I had, but I could do it from home. I didn’t have to go to New York or LA. That was super attractive to me. And as soon as I got here it really started to grow. We’ve had all of these big leaps that we’ve taken over this time which is all very exciting.”
What production are you most proud to have been part of?
“At the Bardavon, bringing in Al Pacino and Dianne Wiest in Oscar Wilde’s Salome. It was great. Al played Herod, Dianne played Herodias, his wife, Marisa Tomei played Salome and Isabel Parsons directed it. Amongst those four actors was five Oscars. It was amazing. It was like a pre-Broadway rehearsal in a week of performances before they transferred it to Broadway. Then having Bob Dylan here four different times to rehearse a new record and new material and tours. That has been a highlight. But then there are so many great performers that it’s impossible to count.”
What is something from behind the scenes at Bardavon that audience members would never know?
“That the personalities of the artists are always, always different. Not just the artist, but also the guys that come with the artists, whoever they are. That’s what the audience never really gets to know, is what these people are really like. Almost always, if everybody on the crew top to bottom is nice and easy to work with and professional and fun then the artist is also like that, like part of the gang. When everybody’s miserable, when they get here and are unhappy and a pain to work with, then chances are the artist also is like that. The vibe starts from the top. I’m happy to say 90 percent of the people we work with are cool and professional. Even Bob Dylan!”
What is your favorite thing to do in the area when you aren’t working?
“I do yoga on a regular basis and I love my yoga teacher. That’s three hours a week, or more, that I really just get away without going anywhere. In addition, I love to steam and jump in a lake. I’ve had a weekly ritual of doing that for 20 years. And I’ve played softball every Sunday morning for the past 28 years with a bunch of guys. Those are the things I do to relax that aren’t work related.”
What would you say your driving force is? If you could pinpoint one thing.
“I’m passionate about how what we do in our theaters affects the communities we live in. Both the Bardavon and Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC) are in the downtowns of their cities where, historically, theaters have always been. Those areas, especially in Kingston, need all of the help they can get. The fact that we bring nearly a hundred thousand people into those communities has a serious positive impact on the economy, as well as the quality of life and how people feel about their community. I think what drives us is impact — the impact in the communities we serve.”
