Curtain to rise on Suffolk Theater’s new act

Nearly a decade after its rebirth as a performing arts venue, the Suffolk Theater is poised to make a new transition under new leadership.

The 1930s Art-Deco movie palace reopened in March 2013, newly restored and renovated to function as a dinner theater-cabaret style venue.

With new Executive Director Gary Hygom at the helm, the Suffolk is now transitioning away from the dinner-theater model. Over the years since it opened, the theater, which boasts a full kitchen, has had an in-house chef and it has partnered with restaurants — most recently Ellen’s on Front in Greenport — to run the kitchen.

Going forward, the theater will direct its guests to downtown’s various restaurants for a meal and offer only snacks, and eventually small plates, along with specialty cocktails, wine and beer.

That’s more in line with the vision for the theater’s future as a centerpiece for downtown Riverhead — and as a venue that draws crowds into the town and boosts surrounding businesses, Hygom said. A performing arts center like the Suffolk Theater is “intended to be the hub of a town,” he said.

“I think it’s important that we begin to partner with, not only the businesses that are within the town, but the arts institutions that are in town, and really make it mainstream — a draw for more than just the theater, but for the restaurants they can go to, the gallery they can go to, the aquarium, the museum, what have you,” he said.

The theater will continue hosting weddings, he said, though the happy couple will have to hire their own caterers. The theater hosts around 15 to 20 weddings a year, Hygom said.

“This seemed to be an opportunity to look at doing things differently, breaking out of that original mold and plan for the theater,” Hygom said.

Focusing on shows rather than food service will also allow Hygom to work on improving the lineup of performers.

Hygom said that although the theater will continue to book acts based on 60s music, they won’t be as dominant as they’ve been in the past. He said he wants to expand the audience the theater attracts with a diversity of genres of music and performances, including rock, jazz, comedy, musical theater cabaret performances and more.

“I want to really start doing family programming and make it a place for children to come and experience shows on a Sunday morning or Saturday morning,” Hygom said.

But Hygom said while the theater is moving away from the dinner-theater format, it will host a special “supper club” series once a month, when the food and beverages will be “paired” with the evening’s show. Hygom said the theater is in the process of finding a chef to collaborate with for the supper club series.

Hygom also wants to embrace the theater’s origins as a movie theater and begin a rock and roll film and documentary series.

The theater has begun to pursue it goal of becoming a full-fledged nonprofit performing arts center. Owners Bob and Dianne Castaldi plan an expansion at the back of the building that will provide a much bigger stage and create wings and a backstage area with a green room and dressing rooms. The expanded space will accommodate larger bands and other types of performances. Castaldi’s plans, which is under review by the Town of Riverhead, call for a five-story expansion, with retail uses on the ground floor and 28 market-rate rental apartments above.

The town plans to support the theater’s expansion with a piece of the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant announced by the state last week. The town sought a $20 million award and planned to allot $2 million to the theater. The allocation of grant funding to the theater and other projects will be reevaluated to take the smaller grant amount into account, Community Development Director Dawn Thomas said. How the money is spent will be determined by a strategic planning committee that will include state, town and community representatives.

The historic theater will be a visual centerpiece of the new town square to be located directly across from the theater and, will connect Main Street to the Peconic Riverfront.

Once the theater’s expansion is complete, the number and type of acts the theater will be able to book will “dramatically change” to include touring companies for theater productions and acrobatic acts, Hygom said.

“It will impact who we are and what we can offer in a huge way,” he said. “It’s very exciting. When it happens, I think it’s going to change the town. I really do. I think we’ll see an uptick in everything that goes on in the town because of who we can bring in,” Hygom said.

Hygom has deep roots in the theater community stretching back more than 30 years. He is the former executive director of the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts and the 20-year producing director at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. He joined the Suffolk Theater in October, when General and Artistic Director Daniel Binderman stepped down after eight years in that role.

Hygom reshaped and expanded the Patchogue Theatre’s programming to include more diversity and higher caliber performing artists as well as educational endeavors and community-based initiatives, the Suffolk Theater said in a press release in October.