Theatre Three

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.
This article has been tagged since January 2007.

This article lacks historical information.
Please add it if you can.
For more information, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Historical information.
Please remove this message once the article has been expanded.

Theatre Three occupies Athena Hall in Port Jefferson, NY as a fully functioning, non-profit theatre company. Begun in the late 1970s by three high school teachers (the "three" in Theatre Three's name), Theatre Three has become one of the premier theatre houses on Long Island.

[edit] History

Athena Hall was originally a vaudeville house where a number of famous acts would pass through weekly. As vaudeville waned, Athena Hall became used more as a movie theatre, then fell into disuse until it was acquired by Theatre Three. Theatre Three is a year-round, non-profit professional regional theatre that was founded in 1969. For the past 21 seasons, Theatre Three has occupied Athena Hall, a 125-year-old historic building.

[edit] Programs

Each year, Theatre Three presents a Mainstage season of seven productions (four musicals, two plays, and A Christmas Carol.) The Second Stage presents an ongoing series of events including small plays, original one-acts, staged readings, and cabaret performances. The in-house Children's Theatre presents nine original topical musicals. The Touring Children's Theatre offers four original programs dealing with child-at-risk or educational issues. Theatre Three's Dramatic Academy offers three semesters each year (Fall, Winter/Spring, and Summer) with classes for ages six through adult.

Theatre Three's Mainstage seasons have offered a wide variety of productions including the Long Island premieres of Into the Woods, Children of a Lesser God, M. Butterfly, Prelude to a Kiss, Mr. Cinders, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, and All in the Timing, as well as the world premieres of The Irish Legacy, Before I Wake, and The Faculty Room.

Theatre Three's Second Stage has produced an outstanding roster of cutting-edge dramas (including Blood Knot, The Puppetmaster of Lodz, A Man with Connections, Samm-Art Williams Home, Agnes of God, My Sister in This House, Three Tall Women, and Death and the Maiden) and delightful comedies (Shirley Valentine, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, and The Mystery of Irma Vep). The Second Stage has hosted such cabaret luminaries as Tovah Feldshuh, K. T. Sullivan, Marilyn Sokol, Julie Wilson, Billy Stritch, and the late Nancy LaMott.

The in-house Children's Theatre has presented programs on a wide array of subjects: the dangers of smoking (Puff-The-Not-So-Magic Dragon), honesty (The Boy Who Cried Werewolf), and race relations and the homeless (The Three Little Pigs, or Home Is Where You Hold Your Heart). These programs double as entertainment and education.

The children's touring productions have included the nationally acclaimed anti-DWI play And These, Our Friends which has been performing for the past eleven years. From the Fires: Voices of the Holocaust, the most recent addition to Theatre Three's touring productions, has been seen in schools and community centers on Long Island, as well as in Manhattan and in four other states, for a total of over 200 performances in the past three years.