About Us

The beautiful building that houses The Schoolhouse Theater was formerly the Croton Falls elementary school. In 1983 founder Lee Pope transformed the building into a visual arts center. At that time the cafeteria, gym, and auditorium space was simply a white walled room with no risers and twelve borrowed lights.

In 1987, Ms. Pope invited New York's Acorn Productions to bring their recently produced play, Bedroom Farce, by Alan Ayckbourn to the building. Starring Brooke Palance and Michael Wilding, its limited run was a huge success and The Schoolhouse Theater was born.

Gradually over the years theatrical amenities were added and a number of talented local theater companies presented shows in the space. But it was Pamela Moller Kareman, former artistic director of Acorn, who stayed in close touch, and she and Lee Pope charted a clear vision of growth for The Schoolhouse with its unique intimate space.

In 1998 The Schoolhouse Theater became a full fledged not for profit professional regional theater. In 2003 Quinn Cassavale joined the team and is now general manager and director of development. The first class design team consists of lighting designer, David Pentz; costume designer, Kimberly Matela; sound designer, Matt Stine; and set designer, Jason Bolen.

The Schoolhouse has been honored by visits from a number of theater luminaries including playwrights Jules Feiffer, George Furth, Tina Howe, Michael Weller, and Paul Zindel, who all came to see productions of their work and lend support to our theater. We have successfully launched three productions to Off Broadway; Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Ingmar Bergman's Nora, S.N Behrman's Biography, and most recently, Elaine Del Valle’s Brownsville Bred.

We are immensely proud of the years of rich live theater we have brought to Northern Westchester.

The Mission of the Schoolhouse is to enhance the life of the community through live, professional, regional, theater. Our goal is to support and promote the theatrical arts, to encourage actors, directors and playwrights, as well as to support and promote other art forms. This is a wide umbrella, enabling us to create opportunities for artists to challenge themselves and grow, and to enrich the lives of student interns, senior volunteers, and audience members. All of our theater programming, including main stage productions, workshops, classes, and staged readings, introduces our patrons to award-winning playwrights as well as emerging talented voices.

Our dedication to professional, earnest and creative achievement engenders pride and respect in the lives of all participants, and helps audiences and the community develop an appreciation for and enjoyment of theater and the arts.