Spencer Efing, Kevin Partridge, Seth Coburn, Anthony Haitz Photo by Howard Owens.
This weekend, Batavia Players presents at the Main St. 56 Theater Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale."
The production is directed by Patrick D. Burk with a script adapted by Burk and Tess Uline.
The Players promise a play of romance that is filled with surprises, modern-day twists, and glam. The play is a tale of love, jealousy, and redemption, and staged by the Players in a contemporary way, bringing characters to life for today's world.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Tickets are $22 for adults ($24 at the door) with discounts for students and seniors. Tickets are available at bataviaplayers.org.
CM Waide Photo by Howard Owens.
Cassandra O'Connell, Celeste Vescovi (seated), Sophie Houseman Photo by Howard Owens.
Anthony Haitz and Sophie Houseman Photo by Howard Owens.
Anthony Haitz and Sophie Houseman Photo by Howard Owens.
2018 File Photo of Batavia Players, with Patrick Burk in the center. Photo by Howard Owens
In the middle of a shaky stock market and uncertain economic future, there’s one thing that has been able to ride out even the worst financial storms, Patrick Burk says.
And that’s show business, in its many forms, including the one most dear to him, live theater by Batavia Players.
“Keep in mind, during the Great Depression, the only industry that excelled was entertainment,” Burk said to The Batavian during an interview about the Players’ new lease and determination to forge ahead. “We're ecstatic with how it ended up. We're very happy with the confidence the city manager and the city has shown us. We knew that we were on the right track.”
The nonprofit group has faced its share of hurdles so far, going from an expensive construction of Main St. 56 Theater to an even more costly project due to pandemic shutdowns in 2020-21, supply chain and labor delays, and the final nail in the production season’s coffin: not being able to continue with plays and musicals and collect revenue from ticket sales.
While in arrears with back rent adding up to more than $25,000, the group rallied to begin paying it back, and with assistance from attorney Ed Graney, negotiated with city officials for a new lease this year.
“When all of this came up, it was just a matter of making sure that it was presented in a way that was acceptable for everybody. We've had some very positive things happen, including, we have back rent down to $18,000, we've been able to pay our rent on time, on a monthly basis since December,” Burk said. “We kind of knew that that's where we were going. It's just we wanted to make sure that we could get there. We're ahead on where we originally where the agreement says we should be, so we're maintaining that."
“It's important for the public to know that we have been able to accomplish and do what we really said we were going to, and I think it's important for them to know that we're very healthy and we're doing well and we're producing 12 to 13 shows a year,” Burk said. “And everything is moving along. It's a very successful venture, it’s just been a very positive result, and we're just very happy that it ended up, through negotiations, everything that we all went through, we enjoy the fact that we have the confidence of the city and the city manager, and here we go.”
The lease is for five years. Burk doesn’t know if any kind of negative economic longevity will affect the theater since that industry as a whole has been strong throughout the decades, he said. Batavia Players has “some major work of fundraising” to do, which is happening on a regular basis, and a recent spaghetti dinner event went very well, he said.
Memberships are on the rise, along with everyone’s hopes for another successful season. Up next is Shakespeare in Springtime: the Winter’s Tale, set for 7:30 p.m. March 21 and 22 and 2 p.m. March 23.
“So all we can do is just keep working the work and keep doing the work,” Burk said. “And hoping for positive outcomes.”
City management’s “hold over tenant” status has apparently been replaced with an official offer of a lease for Batavia Players to pay $4 per square foot plus back rent of at least $500 per month in an effort to move forward from an original lease in December 2019.
The nonprofit group and city officials had been communicating through their attorneys since the rent had gone unpaid due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Players’ Main St. 56 Theater shutdowns, and there was no renewal in January.
The two sides were to meet after Tabelski issued a statement toward the end of 2024 that Batavia Players would be considered a “holdover tenant,” and the matter would be further discussed.
The new lease agreement is up for discussion at Monday’s City Council conference session. The commercial lease is for city properties 2, 35 and 39 in Batavia City Centre, including 11,052 square feet of “improved commercial space that was renovated by Batavia Players through a Downtown Revitalization Initiative and Anchor grant,” Tabelski said in a memo to council. “Base rent will remain $4 per square foot to be paid $3,684 monthly. Back rent will be paid $500 per month or more until the balance is satisfied.
"The lease also recognizes the city’s capital projects for the roof and HVAC units previously approved by City Council and clarifies how the Batavia Players shall submit requests for maintenance to the property,” she said.
The lease is to take effect April 1 for a period of 60 months to March 30, 2030. The tenant would have the option to renew “so long as the tenant is not in default under the terms of this lease” for a five-year renewal term at a negotiated rent not to exceed $6 per square foot.
If the city were to sell the premises, it would have to provide a six-month written notice of cancellation, and the tenant would be able to negotiate with the city to purchase the property at any time during the lease term, according to the lease.
James Barcomb, as Christopher Wren, and Leigh LeFevre as Mollie Ralston, run through a scene during a Thursday rehearsal for "Mousetrap" at Main St. 56 Theater in Batavia City Centre. Photo by Howard Owens.
Opening Friday at the Main St. 56 Theater in Batavia is the Batavia Players' production of Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap."
A murder mystery, it is Christie's most popular play and is directed by Sophie Houseman.
Set in a cozy guesthouse nestled in the snowy English countryside, run by a husband and wife new to the hospitality business, a group of strangers become trapped by a snowstorm. When a police detective arrives with chilling news—a killer is among them—secrets begin to unravel, and tensions rise. Everyone is a suspect in this classic whodunit, filled with Christie’s signature twists and turns.
Show times are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $24 for adults at the door and $22 for students and seniors. Tickets are $2 cheaper if purchased online.
Photos by Howard Owens.
James Barcomb as Christopher Wren. Photo by Howard Owens
Elijah VanEpps gives a perplexed gaze as Giles Ralston. Photo by Howard Owens
Mollie Wadhams as Mrs. Boyle and Elijah VanEpps as Giles Ralston run through a scene during rehearsal. Photo by Howard Owens
Elijah VanEpps as Giles Ralston. Photo by Howard Owens
Amelia Schuster as Miss Casewell. Photo by Howard Owens
James Barcomb as Christopher Wren. Photo by Howard Owens
Leigh LeFevre as Mollie Ralston. Photo by Howard Owens
File Photo of Maia Zerillo in "Bye Bye Birdie" Photo by Howard Owens
As the saying goes, the show — or, in this case, the awards gala — must go on no matter what.
And no matter if there hasn’t been a definitive answer to Batavia Players’ third attempt to fulfill the city’s request for a five-year financial plan to pay rent and pay back rent owed, the group is preparing for its Harvie Awards gala later next month, Patrick Burk says.
"I have not heard from the city. I think the last letter that we got from the city was an explanation of what they were required to make a decision, and that was on December 19. We have sent them a number of pages of information, including our budget,” Burk said Monday. “You know, we have been working on making sure that we are attempting a plan to pay that COVID rent back; even though many people are questioning why we have to pay rent when we weren't allowed to go into the facility, we still just want to get on with what we do best, which is entertaining people and providing theater. And we're doing that very successfully.
“It's important for people to understand that we've been paying all of our bills. We owe nobody, every single month we've paid every single bill,” he said. “We've made arrangements for things to be paid on a timely basis, and we're doing our best with everything, including sell-out shows, and more audience members and bigger box office numbers than we've ever seen before.”
The five-year plan was requested as part of a resolution to the Players owing back rent for its new theater, which was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The theater folks have said it was difficult to raise revenue during a time when they weren’t even allowed in the building to put on a show and charge admission.
Meanwhile, city officials and the theater’s landlord have said there are still operating and maintenance expenses and that unpaid bills end up costing taxpayers. City Council President Eugene Jankowski has said that no one is against the theater but that the tab does have to be paid, and he’s hoping a solution can be found.
During council’s Dec. 10 conference meeting, two representatives of Batavia Players spoke about the attributes of their organization and asked that city leaders give them some time and understanding to pay back the money. City Manager Rachael Tabelski said the owed amount was approximately $27,000.
“We are awaiting an executive summary and five-year financial projections of the Players' plan moving forward,” she had said.
The lease expires on Wednesday, Jan. 1.
Burk is taking the contract to its word that the lease is “automatically renewed” on the first of the year, he said. Since he hasn’t heard from the city otherwise, plans are already being made for three events in January, including the 2025 Pure Imagination Harvie Awards Gala.
“We’re just going through that it's automatically renewed. I don't know what else we can do. Again, I only want to provide good entertainment shows. We've got a lot of things planned for the coming year; we're going to be announcing a new season relatively soon. We're working on securing that, like, right after the first of the year so that we can make a definitive announcement at the gala,” he said. “We've already started with programs in January that are not season-related. We have three weekends, the 11th, the 18th and the 25th, where things are going on at the theater. Two of them are from outside groups, and our gala is going to be wonderful.”
Set for 7 p.m. Jan. 11 at Main St. 56 Theater in Batavia City Centre, this annual event recognizes and honors exceptional talents of actors showcasedin Batavia Players productions from throughout the past year. Awards are given in several categories for male and female lead and supporting performances, venues of plays, cabarets, musicals, and from child to adult actors.
It's just a typical Prohibition-era night at Ruth's Speakeasy, where you can find the best moonshine and jazz singers in town before one of the patrons is murdered.
To solve this crime, the cast of Batavia Players needs your help.
"Murder at the Speakeasy" is an immersive and interactive murder mystery and scavenger hunt.
Audiences are encouraged to register in teams of up to four people each and dress in period-correct costumes.
Ruth's is a place with simple rules -- no business and no guns. It is the haunt of gangsters, crooked cops, businessmen, and rising stars. The perfect environment for betrayal, vengeance, greed, and, ultimately, murder.
Who done it: the crooked police chief? The sultry jazz singer? A scorned woman?
You and your companions will have to figure it out.
You will be provided clue questions to ask the possible suspects and a map of all the local places the suspects hang out so you can track them down and find the clues.
The adventure begins at check-in. Audience members will receive the secret password to gain entry to the Speakeasy. Upon entry, they will meet the host of characters, and that's when the game begins. Sleuths must keep their eyes and ears open for any hints that might be dropped.
The scene will unfold, the murder will happen, and then the questioning begins. Then the audience is released to follow the leads and track down the clues scattered throughout Batavia's local business community. When the audience returns, the members will cast ballots for who they suspect is the likely killer before reentering the Speakeasy to see if they got the details right.
There are prizes supplied by local businesses.
Batavia Players encourage audience members to take pictures and post to social media but they ask, "please, however, at no time share the solution so the other groups can have the pleasure of solving the crime on their own."
The show is Saturday at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. at Main St. 56 Theater in Downtown Batavia.
Tickets are $30 per person or $100 for a team of four people. For tickets, click here.
Anthony Haitz as Shakespeare and Sarah Hill as Olivia. Photo by Howard Owens
“The Whirligig of Time,” the newest production from the Batavia Players at Main St. 56 Theater, melds the fantasy of time travel with the magic of William Shakespeare to captivate an audience's imagination.
Written by Rick Bingen, Whirligig (itself a reference to a line in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night), the play is the story of a woman who visits London on vacation and then returns to complete the journey he longed to take before they returned home. Her husband, a software engineer obsessed with Shakespeare, had planned a visit to a tavern known for its authentic recreation of a watering hole from the Bard's time. Alas, when they arrive on that last night, the tavern is closed.
The husband begs his wife, Olivia (another allusion to the Twelfth Night), to stay in London a few more days and catch another flight home. After all, he argues, you never know if their plane might roll off the runway or he might die of boredom in his job.
After he passes, Olivia returns to London and that tavern. After a brief visit to contemporary times, she is magically transported back four centuries and meets Shakespeare and his friends and associates, Richard Burbage, Will Kemp, Rebecca Heminges, and John Heminges.
Four friends who have a lot to say, and they say it through song -- sharing their stories, their ups and their downs, and their secrets -- is the motif that makes Four the Record, a cabaret show, an entertaining show at Main St. 56 Theater this weekend.
The four-person cast features four Harvie Award winners: Deacon Smith, Jocelyn Coburn (not available for photos), Sarah Hill and Sophie Houseman.
The show opens on Friday at 7:30 p.m., with performances on Saturday at 7:30 and on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Stephen Van Valkenburg, in Love Lines at Main St. 56 Theater. Submitted photo.
Friday and Saturday evenings, and Sunday afternoon, theater goers can take a special Valentine's moment to explore along with Batavia Players the nuances of love.
The play "Love Lines" was written by Patrick D. Burk, who is also the director of the production, and Vincent M. Gauteri.
The production is described as "a celebration of love and how people fall in love currently or in the past; there are special moments from real people and real-life situations."
Show times are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday, at the Main St. 56 Theater in Batavia City Centre.
Kendra Morrison, Peyton Woeller, Marc Sapareto, Maia Zerillo, Seth Coburn, Rylee Lippens and Deacon Smith get ready for a cabaret at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Main St. 56 Theater, Batavia. Photo by Nick Serrata.
It’s perhaps an unusual title, emphasizing Broadway favorites with a title of "Do Not Sing List, and the “Not” has a red slash through it. So are these to be sung or not?
Director Sophie Houseman, a seemingly jack-of-all-trades when it comes to theater according to her resume, explains the mystic cabaret title of this weekend’s show.
“The ‘Do Not Sing List’ of musical theater is something that I have heard talked about much too frequently during my college education and my continuing path through community and semi-professional theater,” she said. “It is a list that I have always battled with when auditioning myself. Technically, the list is full of songs that agents, directors and other top decision-makers would advise against auditioning with.”
She listed examples of songs that boast about the performer, include profanity, sexual innuendo, rope in one or more people for a duet or ensemble, songs that are “massively over-performed, under-rated, tied to a certain demographic or songs that have such a strong connection to a particularly famous performance that you are unlikely to measure up.”
Ah, that makes the title make a little more sense. The show goes on at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Main St. 56 Theater at Batavia City Centre, Batavia.
Batavia Players will present the cabaret showcase of the “most memorable melodies from your favorite Broadway shows, new and old, and some fantastic songs you are perhaps yet to hear.”
Houseman is a versatile participant, with a portfolio listing her as a performer, artistic staff, teacher, actor, dancer, singer, director and musical director, choreographer, music teacher, and vocal coach.
The mezzo-soprano said that, despite all of the pitfalls of the typical audition guidelines for songs, for this weekend’s cabaret, “we are fighting against many of these taboos.”
“We are tackling the notion that you cannot perform a song if 128 other people are singing it in the same audition room and choosing to express an emotion and tell a story that we think is important, regardless of any connotation attached to it,” she said. “These performers have really taken these songs and used this opportunity to make them different, to stand out from the crowd and really make everyone question why they shouldn’t be performed. They have been dedicated, honest and, frankly, inspirational in their approaches to the material and in their final performances. I thank them deeply for that.”
Furthermore, she said, the troupe of vocalists is taking this two-night opportunity to perform songs “we think should be banned from the banned list.”
Clever, though, that she didn’t answer the question of what songs would actually be included in the show. To find out, tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for students and seniors, and may be purchased at bataviaplayers.org
Photos by Nick Serrata.
Kristin Gelia
Kristin Gelia, Jacqueline Morrison and Jessica Brandt
The first patrons enter the new Main St. 56 Theater in City Center, Downtown Batavia,, on Friday, for the new theater's first show, Cry Baby, The Musical. Photo by Howard Owens.
A wandering band of nomadic thespians has finally arrived home.
For the first time since the late 1960s, when the troupe abandoned the dilapidated Playhouse at Horseshoe Lake, the Batavia Players has a theater to call its own.
The Players staged its first show on Friday night at the new Main St. 56 Theater in City Centre.
Norm Argulsky, board secretary, prop manager, and house manager, said the opening of the new theater is a dream fulfilled for the entire group.
"At long last, we are finally in a theater that we really want to be in," Argulsky said as patrons filled the lobby waiting to enter the first performance of Cry Baby, The Musical, performed by members of the Summer Youth Theater. "This is it for pretty good Players. We're going to be here permanently. We have a home. We have a lovely theater. We have a great group of people working for us. They have worked very, very hard, extremely hard in order to have this come to fruition, and it finally did. I mean, we never thought it would happen. And now here we are, opening night. I feel like Broadway."
And Board President Pat Burk said the success of the opening night was a pleasant surprise.
"(Opening night) went extremely well," Burk said. "I was very surprised that we had our biggest audience in quite a few years. We were excited that the audience had such a great reaction to the show."
Batavia Players is transforming (the project is far from complete) more than 14,000 square feet of former medical office space into a lobby, theater, dressing rooms, prop rooms, and office space at a cost of more than $1 million.
The project is made possibly largely through a portion of the Downtown Revitalization Grant awarded to the city by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2017.
To complete the project, the Players still need to raise $265,000 from private donors. So far they've raised $41,000 (to make a donation, visit bataviaplayers.org).
Argulsky couldn't be more pleased with how things have turned out so far, though he's already running out of prop and costume space, he said.
"I love the theater, the actual theater. The theater is wonderful," Argulsky said. "I'm looking at my costume room, and I'm saying I don't think I have enough room. But the theater is absolutely great. I mean, the sightlines I've sat all over. I've been able to see the different perspectives from the seats, and there's not a bad seat in the house. So I think the audience will like it. I like the fact that there are wider seats, which are not going to be touching the shoulder of somebody else. And the sightlines are great. The sound is great. So I think everybody is going to enjoy being here."
The initial reviews from the first-night patrons standing in the lobby were positive.
Carol and Dave Waples drove from Spencerport for the opening and described themselves as big supporters of Batavia Players.
They love the fact that the new theater is downtown and were impressed with the overall ambience.
"Oh my gosh, unbelievable," Carol said. "I couldn't wait to get in here. We were so so excited about this. Yeah, it's very, very, very nice. Very impressive from what we've seen."
Co-workers Vicky Muckle and Lisa Casey teamed up to attend opening night. Muckle said she was also there to support a friend, Paige Sikorsky, who was appearing in the show.
"It's a definite improvement over the last place they were at, so I'm excited to get inside," Muckle said.
Casey praised the project for "bringing life back to this area."
They had dinner downtown before the show and said that's the value of building the theater in downtown Batavia.
"You figure the DRI money was awarded in 2017, and now it's 2023, so to see it actually happening is really cool," said Casey, who worked in the City Manager's Office when the DRI award was announced. "I'm super excited. I didn't think I was to be here for the first actual show, so Vicki bought my ticket, and I'm so excited.
Except for that brief period at Horseshoe Lake in the 1960s, Batavia Players has never had a space it could really call its own.
The Players were founded in 1931 by Ethel McIntosh, a Latin teacher at Batavia High School, and was comprised of 25 members to start. Their first production was "Beggar on Horseback" at Batavia High School (now the Middle School). Until the 1960s, the Players performed shows at the New Family Theater on Main Street and in school auditoriums.
After abandoning the Playhouse, the Batavia Players almost disappeared until Wanda Frank helped revive the group. When the school district started raising rental prices, the Treadway Motor Inn offered performance space as part of a dinner theater. In that era, they also performed at the newly constructed Genesee Community College campus. In the following decades, the Batavia Players staged shows at schools and churches until renting space at the Harvester Center a few years ago.
(History Source: History of the City of Batavia by Ruth M. McEvoy.)
Photo by Howard Owens.
Photo by Howard Owens.
Lisa Casey and Vicky Muckle. Photo by Howard Owens.
