The Emelin stages a comeback - Westfair Communications

Move over Broadway: You”™re about to be upstaged by one of Westchester”™s finest theaters. Starting in late 2008, Mamaroneck”™s Emelin Theatre will undergo a dramatic renovation.

Designed by James Czajka, the 18-month project will expand the existing 9,000-square-foot theatre to 36,000 square feet and will include a “larger, expanded main theater, a dedicated film theater and a black box theater for more experimental work or works in development,” said Sara Feldmann Sheehan, president of the Emelin Theatre”™s board of trustees. “The larger stage means we can mount larger theater productions with more production value. The expanded seating capacity, from 250 to 399, will preserve the intimacy enjoyed by the audience and performers alike, but will enable us to attract a larger variety of artists.”

The theater was built in 1972, thanks to the Emelin family, which gave $300,000 to begin construction. Funding for this project will also depend on private donations. “There are a number of contributing donors at this point and they will be announced at our gala on Oct. 11 at the Glen Island Harbor Club.” said Sheehan. Other forms of fundraising will be announced at the gala as well.

Michael Bush, a veteran of theater and the Emelin”™s new artistic director, will play a key part in producing new and diverse works that will fully utilize the new renovations.

“Michael has taken a look at our plans and we are counting on his many years in the theater to help us refine the plans,” Sheehan said. “Michael brings a wealth of knowledge of all aspects of the theater and we are grateful for his input.”

To “get a taste” of Bush”™s artistic prowess, this November the theater will present a three-week festival of eight different shows, or as Bush called it, “a tasting menu of my artistic aesthetic.”

“In speaking to Michael Bush, the coming seasons will provide programming that will make the Emelin a destination and this whole area a great place to visit,” said Sheehan.

But the renovations not only promise an aesthetically pleasing performance center with better variety of productions. “The reason I was so thrilled about the project was the excitement, commerce and diversity the new center will bring to southern Westchester,” said Sheehan. “I am hoping that the increased number of theatergoers enjoying our beautiful new center, will also be eating in the many wonderful restaurants, and shopping in our stores.”

Bush shares similar hopes. “If I take a play that”™s never been produced before and I finance it through Emelin”™s budget, we own the future rights of it, if other theatres want to use it. I want to create products that bring in more revenue for the theater.” While on the social level: “If we can all come together as a community in the dark and see something in the light, we will all be better for it.”