Theatre Three

Theatre Three is a nonprofit professional theatre company located in Athena Hall in Port Jefferson, New York. Founded in 1969, it operates as a year-round performing-arts organization serving Long Island through productions, education, touring work, and community programming. Its home is a historic building whose uses have changed repeatedly over more than a century. Athena Hall was originally constructed as a large civic meeting place and later served as a high-school gymnasium after a local fire. It subsequently became a vaudeville venue that hosted touring performers, then a movie theatre. A workshop in the building also produced Griswold Film Splicers, equipment associated with motion-picture projection and editing. After the property fell into disuse, Theatre Three acquired and adapted it for theatrical production. The venue is arranged across two principal performance levels. The upper theatre includes raked audience seating and lobbies, while the lower portion functions as a second-stage space. This configuration supports Theatre Three’s multi-track artistic program, combining larger productions with smaller-scale plays, readings, cabaret, comedy, and experimental work. The organization describes its mission as expanding appreciation for live theatre among Long Island residents while involving a broad public in varied programming and developing future audiences and performers. Theatre Three’s principal programming includes a Mainstage season, Second Stage events, in-house Children’s Theatre, Touring Children’s Theatre, cabaret, and the Dramatic Academy. The Mainstage has traditionally presented a regular annual season containing musicals, plays, and a recurring production of A Christmas Carol. Its repertory has included revivals of classic and modern works, Long Island premieres, and new plays. Productions identified in reference material include 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, All in the Timing, Dream a Little Dream, and Pageant, together with world premieres such as The Irish Legacy, Before I Wake, and The Faculty Room. The Second Stage provides a more flexible setting for intimate and developing work. Its programming has included contemporary dramas, comedies, one-act plays, staged readings, and cabaret appearances. The space has also hosted Friday Night Face Off, a recurring improv-comedy program. Children’s programming combines entertainment with lessons related to social and personal issues, while touring productions address educational and child-at-risk themes for schools and community venues. Referenced touring projects include And These, Our Friends, From the Fires: Voices of the Holocaust, and The Bullying Project. Education is central to Theatre Three’s operating model. The Dramatic Academy offers instruction for children through adults across multiple yearly terms, and the company’s touring and in-house programs introduce young audiences to live performance and topical storytelling. Through its ensemble-based professional environment, collaborations with artists from outside Long Island, and work with other theatres, Theatre Three seeks to nurture performers, attract established theatre professionals, and strengthen the region’s theatre culture. Its identity is therefore broader than that of a single venue: it is simultaneously a producing theatre, historic cultural institution, training organization, touring presenter, and community arts provider.

Theatre Three occupies Athena Hall, a historic building in the center of Port Jefferson, New York. The building predates the company by many decades and has served a succession of civic, educational, entertainment, and industrial purposes. It was initially built as a large communal meeting place. Following a fire, part of the structure was used as a high-school gymnasium. Later, Athena Hall became a vaudeville house, bringing touring performers to Port Jefferson during the period when variety entertainment was a major form of popular culture. As vaudeville declined, the building was converted or used increasingly as a movie theatre. Its history was also connected to motion-picture technology: the shop that is now associated with the lower performance space manufactured Griswold Film Splicers. These machines were used in professional and amateur film work and were regarded at the time as modern equipment. After its cinema-related uses ended, Athena Hall entered a period of decline and disuse. Theatre Three was founded in 1969 and subsequently acquired the building as its permanent home. The company adapted the unusually configured structure for theatrical production, creating an upper theatre with raked seating and lobbies as well as a second performance area below. The venue’s architecture enabled Theatre Three to produce both larger Mainstage shows and more intimate or experimental Second Stage events. The company’s long-term occupation also linked its identity to the preservation and continued public use of an important Port Jefferson landmark. From its early years, Theatre Three developed as a year-round nonprofit professional theatre rather than a seasonal or single-production organization. Its stated purpose has been to cultivate appreciation for live theatre among Long Island residents, involve a wide constituency, and provide an environment where artists can be trained and supported. The company’s work has included revivals of established plays and musicals, regional premieres, newly written pieces, staged readings, cabaret, comedy, and programming for children. The Mainstage became the company’s principal producing arm. Reference material describes an annual season traditionally containing seven productions, including four musicals, two plays, and A Christmas Carol. The repertory has ranged from commercially familiar musicals and contemporary dramas to less frequently produced works. Theatre Three has presented Long Island premieres of works including Into the Woods, Children of a Lesser God, M. Butterfly, Prelude to a Kiss, Mr. Cinders, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, All in the Timing, Dream a Little Dream, and Pageant. It has also supported new work through world premieres such as The Irish Legacy, Before I Wake, and The Faculty Room. The Second Stage expanded the company’s artistic range. It has been used for serious contemporary drama, comedy, original one-acts, staged readings, and cabaret. The cited repertory includes Blood Knot, The Puppetmaster of Lodz, A Man with Connections, Samm-Art Williams’s Home, Agnes of God, My Sister in This House, Three Tall Women, Death and the Maiden, Shirley Valentine, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, and The Mystery of Irma Vep. The venue has also presented cabaret artists including Tovah Feldshuh, K. T. Sullivan, Marilyn Sokol, Julie Wilson, Billy Stritch, and Nancy LaMott. Friday Night Face Off has provided a recurring improv-comedy component. Theatre Three’s educational and youth work became another defining part of its history. Its in-house Children’s Theatre has created original topical musicals addressing subjects such as smoking, honesty, race relations, and homelessness. Barnaby Saves Christmas has existed alongside the company’s Mainstage presentation of A Christmas Carol as a recurring seasonal offering. The Touring Children’s Theatre has taken original productions to schools and community settings, including And These, Our Friends, an anti-impaired-driving work; From the Fires: Voices of the Holocaust; and The Bullying Project. The company has also operated the Dramatic Academy with classes for students ranging from young children to adults across several annual terms. Through these activities, Theatre Three has developed from a theatre company occupying a former entertainment hall into a multidisciplinary cultural institution. Its continuing model combines professional production, new-play development, audience education, artist training, youth outreach, touring, and the stewardship of a historic venue.

• 1969

  Theatre Three is founded

  [1]Theatre Threeen.wikipedia.org

  Theatre Three is established as a year-round nonprofit professional theatre company in Port Jefferson, New York.

• The company establishes Athena Hall as its home

  [1]Theatre Threeen.wikipedia.org

  Theatre Three adapts the historic Athena Hall for theatrical use, including an upper Mainstage theatre and a lower Second Stage.

• Expansion into education and touring

  [1]Theatre Threeen.wikipedia.org

  Theatre Three develops an in-house Children's Theatre, Touring Children's Theatre, and Dramatic Academy alongside its professional seasons.

A year-round nonprofit professional theatre serving Long Island through a combination of Mainstage repertory, intimate Second Stage work, children's programming, touring productions, artist development, and theatre education in a historic Port Jefferson venue.

• Professional theatre season

  Mainstage

  The company’s principal production program, traditionally presenting a regular annual season of musicals and plays. Mainstage repertory includes revivals of classic and modern works, regional premieres, new plays, and the recurring holiday production A Christmas Carol. The program is designed for larger-scale productions in Theatre Three’s upper theatre and represents the company’s central public offering.

• Experimental and intimate theatre

  Second Stage

  A flexible performance program for smaller plays, contemporary drama, comedy, original one-acts, staged readings, cabaret, and improvisational performance. The Second Stage has been used to present both established works and developing material, allowing Theatre Three to complement its larger Mainstage productions with more intimate and artistically varied programming.

• Youth theatre

  Children's Theatre

  An in-house program producing original topical musicals for young audiences. Its subjects have included smoking prevention, honesty, race relations, and homelessness. The work combines accessible theatrical storytelling with educational or social themes, and seasonal programming has included Barnaby Saves Christmas.

• Educational touring theatre

  Touring Children's Theatre

  A touring program that takes original productions to schools, community centers, and other venues. Its subject matter has included impaired driving, Holocaust education, and bullying. Referenced productions include And These, Our Friends, From the Fires: Voices of the Holocaust, and The Bullying Project, with performances extending beyond Long Island in some cases.

• Performing-arts education

  Dramatic Academy

  Theatre Three’s instructional program for students from approximately age six through adulthood. The academy offers several terms during the year and provides training intended to develop performance skills, theatre appreciation, and the capabilities of future performers and theatre participants.

1. 1Theatre Threeen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Theatre Three official websitetheatrethree.com
3. 3Athena Hall / Theatre Three listingcinematreasures.org