The Half Moon Theatre Celebrates Its 10 Year Anniversary
Tucked away on the campus of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, an unassuming brick building stands tall. Its style reflects the history of the campus on which it sits, and its big glass doors invite people in. This is the Mariott Pavilion, home to Half Moon Theatre, the Hudson Valley’s regional professional theatre company. This year, they celebrate their 10th anniversary of bringing quality theatre to the Hudson Valley area. To celebrate, Half Moon is holding a concert on October 22nd at 7 p.m. with Seth Rudetsky as the host and a performance by Laura Osnes, a Broadway star of shows like Cinderella and Bonnie and Clyde. In addition to these guests, some artists from Half Moon and the Junior Company will be performing. Molly Renfroe Katz, executive director, added, “If you look at national trends, it’s a pretty big deal to reach 10 years as a regional theatre. We’re so happy to be able to bring Laura and Seth to the Hudson Valley! Our artistic director, Michael Schiralli, has actually worked with Seth in the past.”
Though Half Moon is recognized for bringing theatre to the Hudson Valley, they also have an education outreach program for both children and adults. The program includes in-school programs as well as student matinees, where the show’s audience is exclusively students. In addition, the Half Moon Theatre School of the Arts in Poughkeepsie gives classes for all ages with all levels of experience, including acting, dance, musical theatre, and even stage combat.
Katz commented on the improvement of Half Moon Theatre over the past 10 years “Well, we’ve expanded tremendously, our programming especially has expanded. We started out doing only 1 or 2 shows a year, and then we did a Dutchess Divas benefit at the golf club 8 years ago, and we just started growing. Our School of The Arts started 5 years ago. Our partnership with the CIA has really helped in expanding our programming, we now have a cabaret series as well as a mainstage series. Because our funds have increased, we’ve been able to do more like hiring professional actors, our sets and scenic elements have become much more illustrative, and we’ve also purchased some lighting, which is very exciting! We’re also now looking to hire staff members so we can support the infrastructure we’ve already built.”
Katz stated that not only does she love hiring people who live in this community, but she also enjoys giving back to it. “It really feels great to hire local union artists,” she said. “I moved up here as an actress 20 years ago, and there wasn’t really a place I could work. It is amazing to have such a phenomenal, incredible number of wonderful professionals, lots of which are still commuting to the city to work as well. One of the most rewarding moments for me thus far has been being able to do student matinees, and reading the letters we received from children who saw our production of Christmas Carol last year. They were so perceptive! Each letter focused on different aspect; nothing was missed. It made us all so excited…it was really magical.”
As for the importance of theatre in the Hudson Valley area, Katz quoted the Chamber of Commerce: “Think local! As everyone knows, going to New York City for theatre is really expensive. The arts bring a lot of money into the county every year!People are spending money in the county,and we’ve hired over 125 artists over the course of our season. People are looking to move to this area for a more affordable lifestyle, and they can still get a terrific professional production and have a great experience at a fraction of the cost. You can have dinner at the CIA, whose chefs are some of the best in the nation, and see a company of professional actors put on a high-quality performance. The quality doesn’t suffer.”
Tickets are still available at Half Moon’s website. Come out to support local theatre and to celebrate 10 years of Half Moon Theatre.
