Tompkins Corners
Theatre Programs

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* Enriching Theater Programming in Putnam County. Putnam Theatre Alliance is a new collaboration of our county’s leading arts organizations: the Depot in Garrison, Arts on the Lake in Kent, and Tompkins Corners Cultural Center in Putnam Valley. The Alliance was founded in 2020, believing that together, our three small theaters can create more ambitious, daring theater projects than any one of us can do on our own -- and by doing so, we can position Putnam County as a hub for developing new, top-quality productions. The Alliance launched in 2021 with The Freedom Project, pairing 1940s radio plays with original plays on freedom and democracy. Pay Dirt builds on the success of that first initiative. 


Putnam Theatre Alliance: Pay Dirt Update
"A peek behind the curtain"

Sunday, April 16th, 3:00 pm
​Free! Refreshments will be served

The Putnam Theatre Alliance* invites you to an afternoon reception as we kick off Phase Two of PAY DIRT. Enjoy watching scenes and snippets of the play and mingle with the creative team over refreshments to explore the next steps of this developing project. ​

Last year, the Putnam Theatre Alliance commissioned three established playwrights to write three one-act plays featuring Daniel Nimham, Mary Philipse and Cesar, an enslaved miller. The three plays were presented as readings at Tompkins Corners last November. Phase Two has begun as the three writers and our director, Alice Jankell, weave the stories together to make one epic play about land struggles in the Hudson Valley just prior to the Revolutionary War.
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If you are moved to support this unfolding story of lives upended and land changing hands in the Hudson Valley, all donations will be gratefully appreciated. Our goal is to move forward with the writing and rehearsal process and to mount a fully staged production at all three theatres in March of 2024.
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The Putnam Theatre Alliance Presents
"Pay Dirt"
Sunday, November 6th, 3:00 pm

The Putnam Theatre Alliance* invites you to an afternoon reception as we kick off Phase Two of PAY DIRT on Sunday, April 16th, at 3 pm at Tompkins Corners.
Last year, the Putnam Theatre Alliance commissioned three established playwrights to write three one-act plays featuring Daniel Nimham, Mary Philipse and Cesar, an enslaved miller. The three plays were presented as readings at Tompkins Corners last November. Phase Two has begun as the three writers and our director, Alice Jankell, weave the stories together to make one epic play about land struggles in the Hudson Valley just prior to the Revolutionary War.
Enjoy watching scenes and snippets of the play and mingle with the creative team over refreshments to explore the next steps of this developing project. If you are moved to support this unfolding story of lives upended and land changing hands in the Hudson Valley, all donations will be gratefully appreciated. Our goal is to move forward with the writing and rehearsal process and to mount a fully staged production at all three theatres in March of 2024.

Click HERE for All the Details
At each step, audience input will be welcomed and greatly appreciated by the Alliance.  The reading will also be presented at Arts on the Lake in Kent on Friday, November 4th at 7:30 pm, and at the Philipstown Depot Theatre on Saturday, November 5th at 7:30 pm.
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Arm-of-the-Sea Theater presents
"ONE BLUE SKY"
Sat, October 23rd  1:00 pm
Suggested donation $10 -  Bring the kids in costume!

Enjoy this collection of visually-rich tales performed in the magical realm of mask and puppet theater. Designed to delight family audiences, this new show about humanity’s shared hopes and dilemmas was developed with support from the Jim Henson Foundation.

Now in its 28th season, Arm-of-the-Sea is an award-winning theater company whose mission is to inspire wonder, offer insight, spark joy and enrich the public imagination.  See a preview HERE.

"One blue sky above us, One ocean lapping all our shore, One earth so green and round, Who could ask for more" - Pete Seeger

A Contemporary Fable for a Changed World

Writer: Chance Muehleck
Director: Melanie S. Armer
Composer & Sound Designer: Chad Raines
Lighting Designer: Chris Rosen
Costume Designer: Tyler Carlton Williams


The Nerve Tank Presents
Saturn's Return
Fri, Aug 20 and Sat, Aug 21 at 7:30 pm


​LIVE THEATRE RETURNS TO TOMPKINS CORNERS!
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The people of Barthos are suffering. Not long ago, everyone had plenty to eat and plenty to trade. Rivers ran full of fish, crops grew without effort, and lifespans increased by decades. Then – with the disappearance of a very special prisoner – everything changed.

The story is spun by four crisscrossed souls. Each has their personal stake in the truth and each is desperate to know the full picture. Because in Barthos, what you believe is as important as who you listen to – and why.

Tompkins Corners is pleased to present The Nerve Tank’s production of Saturn’s Return, a contemporary fable about loss, sacrifice, and ordinary magic, in a site-specific performance created for our historic carriage barn. Written by Chance Muehleck and directed by Melanie S. Armer, it features acclaimed professional actors, live music, and immersive visual design.
This project was made possible, in part, through the Putnam Arts Council’s Arts Link Grant Program with public funds provided through the NY State Council on the Arts, with support from Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the NY State Legislature and with public funds from Putnam County.

Putnam Theatre Alliance

The Freedom Project
Three Exciting Pairings of Plays

The Putnam Theatre Alliance is a new collaboration among a trio of Putnam County’s leading arts organizations: Arts on the Lake, the Philipstown Depot Theatre, and Tompkins Corners Cultural Center. Our mission: Work together to deliver daring theatre to the Hudson Valley and present the region as a hub for the development of top-quality productions.

View our Press Release HERE:  Putnam Theatre Alliance Press

Part 3
"Above Suspicion"
and
More Beautiful

Streaming June 24-27

The Fourth Amendment to our Constitution guarantees “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”

How does that look in 1940? In The Free Company’s play, “Above Suspicion,” directed by Donald Kimmel, a young man from Nazi Germany visiting his American relatives is terrified by a knock on the door.

And in 2021, Craig Lucas has written a brilliant response, More Beautiful, in which we see that families, like nations, can be torn apart in Civil Wars. To the drumbeat of competing news sources, one nuclear family goes nuclear. Alice Jankell directs this gem of a short play.

Tompkins Corners Cultural Center is thrilled to join the Putnam Theatre Alliance along with Arts on the Lake and the Philipstown Depot Theatre to provide the Hudson Valley with relevant, vibrant and original plays, musical performances, and events. The Freedom Project presents a series of radio plays written in 1940 paired with original plays written during the pandemic as on-screen readings.  Q&A to follow.

Part 2
Miracle of the Danube
and
Expression of Regret

Streaming June 3-6

This second Alliance streamed reading pairs The Miracle of the Danube by Maxwell Anderson written in 1940 with Expression of Regret written in 2021 by Christine Toy Johnson. Both plays directed by Jason Beckmann.

"Miracle of the Danube" cast: Annemette Andersen, Sean Cleary, Patrick Dunning, Claudia Godi and Joseph Somma.

"Expression of Regret" cast: Michelle Liu Coughlin, Diane Huey and Yan Xi.

More info at Arts on the Lake

Part 1
His Honor, the Mayor
and
The Secret Secrets of Wonderland County

Streaming May 13-16

Great theatre in the comfort of your home!

Join us for the first episode of THE FREEDOM PROJECT! 

His Honor, the Mayor, which Orson Welles wrote as a radio play in 1940, focuses on a small-town mayor who finds himself caught in a deep tension within his community when he looks to defend the rights of a fascist group that wants to hold a public meeting against the will of many of townspeople who want to stop it from taking place.

The Secret Secrets of Wonderland County a new play John Pielmeier wrote during the pandemic, follows Alice, who, in an attempt to help effect change in her community, gets lost in a twirl of bureaucratic machinations seemingly trying to keep her out.

This first episode features Peter Gerety, Shona Tucker, John Pielmeier, Linda Speziale, Robert Convertino, Nancy Maloy, Liz Keifer, Robert Lincoln, Ron Schnittker and John Christian Plummer.
Alice Jankell and Donald Kimmel direct.
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