History
IT ALL STARTED WITH THE BUILDING. Nestled between the shores of Lake Champlain and the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks, The Depot Theatre originated out of a community-wide effort in 1978 to save the historic Westport train station (circa 1876) from demolition.
Initially, the Westport Historical Society maintained stewardship over the historic Westport train station. The Historical Society saw the potential for cultural activity in the partially renovated Delaware & Hudson train station, and they decided to begin presenting theatre in the space. They turned to a unique funding solution to accomplish that goal: Wednesday Night Bingo. Initially this venture raised the tidy sum of nearly $3,000.
In 1985, The Depot Theatre stepped out from under the Historical Society’s umbrella to become its own separate not-for-profit entity. In 1988, it became a professional theatre company operating under an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers.
In 1995, The Depot Theatre was recognized with a Park Heritage Award from the Adirondack Council and in 2000 with an Adirondack Architectural Heritage Award which recognized major renovation and restoration work to the historical building.
Though Delaware and Hudson is no longer in operation, Amtrak continues to service rail passengers on the Adirondack Line between New York City and Montreal. The Westport stop is a primary gateway to the Adirondack Park, and the train station and the Theatre have developed a unique partnership to keep this historical space vibrantly used and maintained, as the Depot Theatre continues to be the steward of this historical site.
At present, the Town of Westport owns the station building and leases space to both the Depot Theatre and to Amtrak. The CP Rail owns the land upon which the building sits, and owns and maintains the track.
Today, The Depot Theatre is the only professional Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) affiliated theatre company in the Adirondack Park, a 6 million-acre publicly and privately held natural resource, that includes many small communities like Westport.
We are grateful to the minds and energy of people like Carol Buchanan and Shami McCormick, who were catalysts for the creation and evolution of a high-quality, live professional theatre in a historic train depot. Today, the entire Depot Theatre community embraces that metaphor, and invites all to…
“Take a journey without leaving the station.”
Depot Theatre Inc. is a 501(c)3, non-profit corporation.
P.O. Box 414, 6705 Main St, Westport, New York 12993 www.depottheatre.org
PRODUCTION HISTORY
2024 Season
Analog and Vinyl PLAYBILL
Every Brilliant Thing PLAYBILL
Pump Boys and Dinettes. PLAYBILL
2023 Season
The Fantasticks
2022 Season
Putting It Together PLAYBILL
RED PLAYBILL
The Addams Family: A New Musical PLAYBILL
2021 Season
The Mountaintop PLAYBILL
Working: A Musical PLAYBILL
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill PLAYBILL
2019 Season
The World Goes ‘Round
An Act of God
Forever Plaid
2018 Season
Always…Patsy Cline
The 39 Steps
Ain’t Misbehavin’
Hey Big Spender – the music of Cy Coleman (Produced by Seagle Music Colony)
2017 Season
A Brief History of Penguins & Promiscuity
Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins
The Taffetas
The Last Romance (Produced by the Adirondack Stage Rats)
~introduced Page2Stage Reading Series
2016 Season
Shout! The Mod Musical
Outside Mullingar
Murder for Two
The Glass Menagerie (Produced by Pendragon Theatre)
2015 Season
The Bikinis: A New Musical Beach Party
New York Water!
Savin’ Up For Saturday Night: The Honky-Tonk Musical
2014 Season
My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra
Greater Tuna
Pete ‘n’ Keely
~ introduced Depot Dangereuse Reading Series
2013 Season
Route 66 (world premiere)
Boeing Boeing
Funked Up Fairy Tales
Lombardi
2012 Season
Careless Love (world premiere)
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Marvelous Wonderettes
Real Women Have Curves
2011 Season
Riffin’ and Tappin’ (regional premiere)
Living Together
Wicked City (regional premiere)
Fully Committed
The Cabbage Patch (world premiere)
2010 Season
What a Glorious Feeling (co-production with Adirondack Theatre Festival)
The 39 Steps
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The Drawer Boy
Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet
2009 Season
Round and Round the Garden
Always…Patsy Cline
Heroes
Smokey Joe’s Cafe
Almost, Maine
2008 Season
Sherlock’s Last Case
Five Guys Named Moe
Off the Map
Pippin
Italian American Reconciliation
2007 Season
Hank Williams: Lost Highway
Moonlight and Magnolias
Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
The Memory of Water
2006 Season
Ain’t Misbehavin’
It Could Be Any One of Us
Camelot
Stones in His Pocket
To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday
2005 Season
Engaged
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
The Woman in Black
Show Boat
Rounding Third
2004 Season
Proposals
Beehive
Picasso at the Lapin Agile
Kiss Me, Kate
Collected Stories
2003 Season
Moon Over Buffalo
The Mikado
The Cripple of Inishmaan
Annie Get Your Gun
Proof
2002 Season
Arsenic and Old Lace
Always . . . Patsy Cline
Camping with Henry and Tom
Carousel
2001 Season
Balmoral
Swingtime Canteen
The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
2000 Season
Absurd Person Singular
I Do! I Do!
Bell, Book & Candle
On The Town
1999 Season
Born Yesterday
Song of Singapore
Time of My Life
The Pajama Game
1998 Season
Harvey
Radio Gals
Sylvia
Guys and Dolls
1997 Season
The Mousetrap
Pump Boys and Dinettes
Tartuffe
Damn Yankees
1996 Season
Bedroom Farce
Forever Plaid
All in the Timing
South Pacific
1995 Season
Wait Until Dark
Relatively Speaking
The World Goes Round
The Music Man
1994 Season
Sleuth
Tell Me on a Sunday
Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me
Oklahoma
1993 Season
The Mystery of Irma Vep
The Sum of Us
Into The Woods
1992 Season
Lend Me A Tenor
Broadway Bound
My Fair Lady
1991 Season
Driving Miss Daisy
Woman In Mind
Winchell
Nunsense
1990 Season
A Life in the Theatre
Dames at Sea
Northern Lights
Willpower
Big River
1989 Season
I Do! I Do!
Taking Steps
Airwaves
Evita
1988 Season
Biloxi Blues
The Gin Game
Galileo
Little Shop of Horrors
1987 Season
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Brighton Beach Memoirs
The Foreigner
Jesus Christ, Superstar
1986 Season
The Pirates of Penzance
The Odd Couple
How the Other Half Loves
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1985 Season
A Little Night Music
The Belle of Amherst
Dial M for Murder
Man of La Mancha
1984 Season
Tintypes
The Lion In Winter
Holiday
The Passion of Dracula
Kiss Me, Kate
1983 Season
Side by Side by Sondheim
The Mikado
Private Lives
Deathtrap
New Playwrights Festival
Same Time Next Year
On The Town
1982 Season
Last Of The Red Hot Lovers
Misalliance
The Devil and Daniel Webster
Vanities
The Time of Your Life
New Playwrights Festival
Anything Goes
1981 Season
The Sea Horse
The Star-Spangled Girl
Dames at Sea
Dirty Works At The Crossroads
Arms and The Man
All In A Day’s Work
Waiting For Godot
Guys and Dolls
1980 Season
Barefoot In The Park
Down In The Valley
The Real Inspector Hound
Happy Journey
Cole Porter and Friends
The Belle of Amherst
Damn Yankees
Wait Until Dark
Blithe Spirit
Harvey
1979 Season
Let Me Entertain You
George
Impromptu
Sorry, Wrong Number
The Fantasticks
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