on

Dear CNYP Family,

We are still blown away by the support and love that you showed us when we had to leave our first home at Shoppingtown Mall in October 2020.

We finally have the news you’ve been waiting for!

Beginning this fall, CNY Playhouse’s new home will be in the theatre space at Atonement Lutheran Church in Syracuse. We are currently preparing for a return to performances and we can’t wait to welcome you back!

Atonement Lutheran Church is located at 116 West Glen Ave in Syracuse. There is ample parking onsite and we are also accessible via Centro Bus at the intersection of Glen Ave & South Salina Street (Route: SYR 10). The theatre space is accessible via elevator or stairs.

The past year has been a great time of reflection for our board about the direction of our company and opportunities for growth.

We know we need to be a more inclusive company (both for our artists and our audiences) and we are grateful for the work of our Anti-Racism Task Force in creating recommendations for a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive future. We believe this move is a move towards being more actively involved in our community, being able to reach a more diverse artist and audience base, and being able to partner with other organizations who are doing great work in the city.

We’ll be opening to audiences in September with a one-weekend revival of “The Guys” to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Our first full production will be in December, and we will be soliciting scripts/directors soon!

We can’t thank you enough for your support in keeping us afloat and making this reopening possible. We want to extend a special thanks to the Gratien Family and Mike Intaglietta/the Landmark Theatre for providing us with storage space and to Garrett Heater’s 3 x 10 Virtual Play Festival and Baldwinsville Theatre Guild for their donations and support.

We’ll see you in the fall.

With love and gratitude,

Abel Searor
Keith Arlington
Kate Crawford
Elizabeth Allers
Patricia Catchouny
Dan Randall

& The Production Board of CNYP

on

Dear CNYP Family,

No one imagined when we closed temporarily in March that the 2020 season would have turned out this way. We have missed seeing our actors, production teams, and audiences so much over the past six months. 

Today, we have sad news to share with you.

Shoppingtown Mall has asked its tenants to vacate their spaces in the next 30 Days. After almost 8 years, CNY Playhouse will no longer be the “theatre in a mall”. 

This does NOT mean CNYP is closing permanently. We are moving to a storage facility while we plan for whatever the next chapter looks like. We don’t know where or when that chapter will start but we will keep you posted as we regroup and reimagine our future.

In the next 30 days our board will be hard at work organizing, packing, cleaning, and moving. We’ll need to rent trucks, dumpsters, and rent our storage space. If you would like to help cover moving expenses, you can donate here.

We wish that we all could’ve had the opportunity to say a proper goodbye to the space that has become a creative home and a community gathering space for hundreds of artists and thousands of audience members since we opened in 2012. We’re grateful for the time we’ve had at Shoppingtown, the art we’ve created together and the friendships we found there. We hope you’ll stick with us through this transition and that we’ll see you when it’s safe to gather again. 

We’d love to talk with you more and answer your questions. Please feel free to email info@cnyplayhouse.org to reach the Governing Board but know that we have a lot of moving to do and we appreciate your patience if it takes us longer than usual to respond to you! 

With love and gratitude,

Abel Searor
Keith Arlington
Kate Crawford
Elizabeth Allers
Patricia Catchouny
Dan Randall

& The Production Board of CNYP

on
inbound8886278323057926943 - Bella Calabria.jpg

Involved at CNYP since:  2018
Board Member since:  2020
Real Life: Teaching Artists Redhouse arts center (when not in a pandemic)

Bella has been involved at CNYP since directing “Miracle on 34th Street” in December 2018. She’s also directed “The Addams Family” and starred in this season’s “Shakespeare In Love” – “My favorite musical and my favorite play,” she says. “I’m so lucky to have worked on both at CNYP!”

 

Her favorite memory of being part of the CNYP community is a huge group photo at her wedding. She appreciates that the community supports and loves each other even outside the walls of the theatre. That’s why she thinks CNYP is an important part of our community: it opens its arms to everyone.

CNYP is important to Bella because of the people she’s met and because of the way she’s been able to grow as a director. “I was surrounded by so much support and talent.” She’s looking forward to developing some education classes for CNYP in the future!

on

Involved at CNYP since:  2012
Board Member since:  2016
Real Life: Dental office manager/Dental Assistant

Korrie is the media coordinator for CNYP which means she’s the person who contacts and coordinates all the reviewers who come to see our productions.

Every show has its own special moments but Korrie’s favorite memory was getting to share the stage with her husband and two kids in “Annie”- Josh and Korrie played “Rooster” and “Lily St. Regis”, their daughter Tatum played “Molly”, and their son Trent was in the ensemble. “Seeing my babies onstage made me so proud i can’t even explain it,” Korrie says.

CNYP is important to Korrie because it’s an extended family. “Theatre can be a very good escape from the real world for me and CNYP is a very welcoming environment. The friendships I’ve made there will last a lifetime and I love that the family keeps growing.”

“If you are looking for a fun group of people to go a little crazy with…. CNYP is it. Like i said, it truly is a family and we are always excited to welcome new people into this crazy world of theatre!”

on

May 4

Dear CNYP Family,

It’s been almost two months since we shut down and we miss all of you so much. We miss seeing you in rehearsals and in our audiences. We’ve been busy online with workshops and performances but we wanted to share an update on our plans for in-person productions.

Our current plan, provided that we can open safely and in accordance with all government and public health guidelines, is to reopen in September with our production of “The Wedding Singer” and to finish the rest of our 2020 season. This will include our productions of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”, and “You Can’t Take It With You”. The production teams from these shows are continuing to meet and plan virtually. 

We take our commitment to the directors, actors, and artists who choose to work on our productions very seriously and we are making every effort to reschedule all the performances that we have had to cancel. We are working with the licensing companies to reschedule the productions of “Biloxi Blues”, “Keely and Du”, “Merrily We Roll Along”, “Oliver”, and “Love and Information” for 2021. Once we have confirmation on dates for each of these shows we will communicate this via our website and social media. 

If you’ve purchased tickets to any of our postponed productions, you will be able to use your ticket for any of that show’s performance dates in 2021. You can also exchange your ticket for a ticket to any of our 2020 shows, or donate the price of your ticket to the company to help offset the lost income we are facing this year. Please email rsvp@cnyplayhouse.org to let us know which of these options works best for you.

As we are scheduling dates for 2021 and continuing to plan for the end of 2020, we are also keeping updated on best practices and guidelines to ensure the safety and health of our artists and audiences when we are able to reopen our space. We are lucky to have a strong network of other community theatres in our area who are eager to collaborate and learn together in order to make all of our venues as safe as possible. 

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Thank you for choosing to be part of our community, and we can’t wait to see you in the fall.

-The Board of CNY Playhouse

March 16

We know that the threat of COVID-19 has caused concern for all of us. You (our audiences, actors, artists, and friends) and your safety and health are very important to us, and we are monitoring the rapidly-changing state of health in our area.


The Event Safety Alliance has advised producers and presenters of events and entertainment that decisions about this public health crisis should be made on a local level in accordance with public health officials. As of today (March 12) there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Onondaga County. However, we know this situation is changing on a daily basis and we are closely monitoring any information put out by the Onondaga County Department of Health and New York State.


We plan to move forward with all planned productions unless directed otherwise by the County or the State, or unless we have an internal reason to believe that the health of our artists and audiences may be at risk. We will notify all current ticketholders as well as post notices via our website and social media letting you know of any changes.


Some changes that we’re making for the time being are temporarily eliminating table seating and implementing general admission seating in rows. This will eliminate some communal surfaces and allow you to practice whatever social distancing you are most comfortable with. We encourage you to continue to follow the guidelines put out by the CDC to slow the spread of COVID-19.


We are always more than happy to do a ticket exchange for you to another night or another show. Please, in the interest of your best health and the best health of our community, stay home if you are feeling unwell. Email rsvp@cnyplayhouse.org and we’ll gladly exchange your tickets.


Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@cnyplayhouse.org if you have any questions or concerns. We continue to be grateful for your support, encouragement, and patronage.


Best,
Abel Searor Board President
Keith Arlington Vice President
Kate Crawford Board Secretary
Elizabeth Allers Treasurer
Patricia Catchouny Production Board Liaison
Dan Randall Facilities Manager