Off-off Broadway and five stories up, Jack W. Batman had his work cut out for him.
His mission was to invigorate The White Plains Performing Arts Center and bring it to life.
Today, 10 months later, the executive director says: “We have now become Westchester”™s only professional regional theater (and) we have everybody we need to put on a Broadway show. And that”™s what we”™re giving people here; we give them on our beautiful proscenium stage Broadway shows, produced right from scratch.”
Since November 2003, the nonprofit performing arts center has been overshadowed by the 15-screen movie theater next door on the fifth-floor of the City Center in downtown White Plains.
A former casting director and co-founder of Chelsea Piers in Manhattan, Batman”™s company, Theatrical Consultants Ltd., was called upon by the center”™s board to create a business plan that included hiring an artistic director. After approving Batman”™s plan, the board decided it didn”™t need to look any further for a director.
“(The board) called me and said, ”˜This is great and we”™re going to put your plan into effect but we”™re not going to do a search (for a director); do you want to do it?”™” Batman recalled. “And how can I say no? I love this town and I have really grown to love this town after the ten months I have been here.”
On Nov. 30, the 410-seat theater sold out with the premiere of “Man of La Mancha,” starring Broadway veteran, Robert Cuccioli. The “play within a play,” is written by Dale Wasserman and inspired by the novel, “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes. The classic 16th-century tale is told by Cervantes while he is imprisoned during the Spanish Inquisition. In order to justify his presence with the other prisoners, he presents a charade and tells the story of Don Quixote.
“Man of La Mancha” is just one of the many musicals the theater will be producing. Theater-goers can look forward to a concert version of “Ragtime,” “Ain”™t Misbehavin”™” and “How to Succeed in Business,” which is being sponsored by the Westchester County Business Journal. Batman said the “renaissance of White Plains” calls for an alternative form of entertainment that will bring culture to the community.
“With the growth and number of new businesses and buildings and hotels and apartments, it”™s really extraordinary what has happened to downtown White Plains,” Batman said. “You can”™t really have all that and the infrastructure that is being built, it must have culture I think, and it can”™t be just movies. There has to be something else and we feel that by doing this we”™re allowing people who are working here, the 250,000 to 300,000 who work here, to have the opportunity to attend very high quality theater and not have to go into town.”
Â
Economic effects
Bill Fishman, tax attorney for McCarthy & Fingar and board trustee of the performing arts center agrees.
“The White Plains Performing Arts Center, like any cultural institution, is great to any community and its growth,” Fishman said. “I believe that the White Plains Performing Arts Center is a vital part of the White Plains community and will play an important role in further establishing White Plains as one of the most vibrant urban areas in New York state.”
Â
In addition to the positive cultural impact the center will bring to White Plains, the restaurants and hotels will be reaping the rewards of the theater.
“Theater is a business that impacts other businesses, particularly, restaurants and hotels,” Batman said. “There are so many wonderful restaurants in downtown White Plains and we think we”™re going to have a huge impact on them. We”™ve got sponsorship opportunities we have already created with them (such as) prix fixe dinners that are going to be served by many of them, and concierge opportunities, so if a group of people or a couple go into a restaurant looking for something to do, the concierge can call the box office and we”™ll hold great seats for them.”
Batman also said they”™re setting up the same opportunities with hotels.
While he wants everyone to patronize the other theaters, the accessibility and location of the Performing Arts Center upstages the rest.
“There”™s always parking. The convenience of it you certainly don”™t have in Manhattan, and the price structure here is half of what you”™d have to pay in town,” Batman said. “One of the special things about this theater is it”™s so convenient, it is at the crossroads at the capital city of the county and it couldn”™t be better. So I think all those things add up to a package that is so convenient, even for people who are coming from the city.”
For Bruce Robert Harris, associate producer and director of marketing of the center, watching the theater develop into a “high quality theater in Westchester” has been a wonderful experience.
“The pride of being able to take a theater that was unloved and be able to plant it and watch the seed grow, it”™s been, an unfathomable opportunity,” Harris said.
Batman credits the support of sponsors such as HSBC, Wal-Mart, Target and Entergy with the growth of the center.
“We”™ve been so fortunate to have corporate sponsors in White Plains and say we”™re behind you,” Batman said. “Louis Cappelli has been a major donor to the theater over the years, he is a firm believer in the arts and a strong supporter of everything we do and we are so very grateful for him.”
Ultimately, what Batman looks to build is more than just business.
“We need every single person to come to the theater,” Batman said. “They will be entertained and educated and have a great time. They will become one of our family. That”™s what we”™re building here: a family of theater-goers, a family of theater lovers, a family of people who produce theater. I think doing that and making this a place that is so particular to this city. It”™s everything. It will make us succeed.”
Â
