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

2023 Season

What The Constitution Means to Me  PLAYBILL
Chesapeake  PLAYBILL

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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