Once the heart of rural American life, grange halls served as gathering places where farmers met to discuss crops, host community suppers, and organize local initiatives. Since 2015, Ancram’s former grange hall has enjoyed a new life as a different kind of community hub—one dedicated to new ideas, intimate performances, and courageous storytelling. Over the past decade, Ancram Center for the Arts has transformed the historic space into one of Columbia County’s cultural anchors and a destination for bold contemporary theater upstate.
In founding Ancram Center, theater industry veterans Paul Ricciardi and Jeffrey Mousseau wanted to provide a space where professional artists from New York City could take risks in their theater-making while enhancing the cultural landscape of their rural community. “Our launching Ancram Center was a leap of faith, but one we knew we needed to take,” says Mousseau. “Paul and I were drawn to the welcoming nature and size of the theater, with a seating capacity of 70, which provides an intimate setting for audiences to experience a performance up close.”
Ancram Center has since made a name for itself as a home for cutting-edge performance and an incubator for innovative theater-makers to develop and stage bold works that challenge audiences’ notions about themselves and the world. “We hope people come away from each one-of-a-kind performance not only entertained, but also challenged to think, reflect, and grow for themselves and as a vibrant community,” says Mousseau.
This summer, Ancram Center has unveiled a celebratory season of programming emblematic of its mission.
July 11-20, it will stage “Where the Mountain Meets the Sea,” a lyrical play about fathers and sons that traces the journey of a Haitian father from Miami to California, and years later, that of his gay son who travels the route in reverse. September 19-28, “Penelope” reimagines Odysseus’s long-suffering wife as a modern woman navigating memory, loyalty, and longing.
Off its main stage, two of Ancram Center’s signature programs return with a focus on community connection and discovery. On June 28, the much-loved Real People Real Stories series brings together local residents at Roeliff Jansen Park in Hillsdale to share personal stories from their lives—an early Ancram Center community initiative that began in area schools and is now open to all ages. August 7–10, the roving site-specific Plein Air Plays will stage a trio of short performances at secret outdoor locations around Ancram, offering audiences a sense of spontaneity and surprise.
This summer will also welcome performances of two new works, thanks to Ancram Center’s Play Lab artist residency program. A cornerstone of the organization’s commitment to exploration in theater-making now in its sixth season, the program offers selected artists a week-long residency in Ancram that culminates with a work-in-progress showing.
August 16-17, three-time Obie Award winner David Cale returns to present a staged reading of his latest solo work, “Blue Cowboy,” an evocative tale about a screenwriter’s encounters with an enigmatic rancher while on assignment in Idaho. On October 19, Outer Critics and Drama Desk Award-winner Mary Murfitt debuts “Framed,” which centers on a love triangle-fueled crime and the resulting trial.
To mark its milestone 10th anniversary, Ancram Center will host a celebratory Birthday Bash on August 2, raising funds to support its next decade of ambitious programming and strengthen its community ties. The evening will bring together friends, supporters, and artists in a joyful gathering that honors how far the organization has come and where it’s going next. The event will also raise funds for Ancram Center’s renovations currently underway that will expand its footprint and include accommodations for artists-in-residence and additional community programming space—an investment that will deepen its impact for years to come.
“We would not be doing this ten years on without the generous support of the community,” says Ricciardi. “The next chapter promises to be equally exciting as we finish the building project next door and create a campus, here in Ancram’s historic hamlet, devoted to creating original, and engaging performing arts experiences through which we can all grow.”
Tickets, full season details, and information on subscriptions and discounts for first-time attendees are available at Ancramcenter.org.
