Lexington Conservatory Theatre

The Lexington Conservatory Theatre was a summer stock company in the Catskills town of Lexington, New York. Co-founded in 1976 by a group of professional theatre artists including Oakley Hall III, Michael Van Landingham and Bruce Bouchard, the theatre operated for five seasons at the historic Lexington House, a former hotel turned artist retreat.[1] Hall was seriously injured in a fall from a bridge during the summer of 1978. That summer and Hall's life in the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury were the subjects of the documentary The Loss of Nameless Things.[2][3]

Lexington Conservatory Theatre

Formation

Oakley Hall III, Michael van Landingham, Thomas Culp and Bruce Bouchard met while attended college at UC Irvine, working together on productions at Irvine Repertory Theatre and American Conservatory Theater.[4] The group of friends eventually moved to New York City to continue their careers. In 1974, Evelyn Weisberg, owner of Lexington House, met Bouchard and fellow actor Kate Kelly while operating a local educational theatre program. Learning of the nascent theatre group forming in New York, Weisberg supported the formation of the group in 1975, inviting them to take residence at Lexington House and its surrounding facilities. LCT launched its first season in 1976 after several summers of work to prepare the facility. Leadership included executive director Michael Van Landingham, treasurer Thomas Culp, and artistic director Oakley Hall III, later joined by Abraham Tetenbaum[5][6]

1976-1980 Seasons

Over the course of its first three years, the organization had grown to include several simultaneous projects. In addition to the main summer series at Lexington, LCT produced PROVOS, a new play reading series, an Upstate Tour production series aimed at serving rural communities, and a League of Women Artists focused on developing theatre opportunities for women. In 1977, the company received a Whitney Foundation award to support the search for a city in which to develop a resident theatre company.[7] 1978, LCT staff began visiting Albany to plan such a theatre, envisioning a downtown space for a 400-500 seat facility.[8]

Move to Albany

In spring 1979, LCT announced that it would form a theatre in downtown Albany that followed a fall-winter-spring season, to be known as Capital Repertory Company or "Capital Rep."[9] In early 1980, LCT produced The Tavern by George M. Cohan at the Egg Theatre in Albany, under the Capital Rep name.[10] In October of 1980, executive director Michael Van Landingham announced that the theatre would not return to Lexington House and instead move permanently to Albany.[11] In December 1980, the group began its first full season as Capital Repertory Theatre at Page Hall in Albany.

Notable alumni

Productions
  • Frankenstein by Oakley Hall III
  • The Prevalence of Mrs. Seal by Otis Bigelow[17]
  • Close Ties by Elizabeth Diggs (world premiere)[18]

In addition to the company's summer productions, LCT also produced plays in New York City, Off and Off-Off Broadway.

References
  1. "LCT Announces Fifth Anniversary Season". Stamford Mirror Recorder. March 5, 1980. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  2. Oakley Hall, now and then
  3. Oakley Hall obituary
  4. Titus, Tom (June 6, 1968). "UCI Rep Enjoys 2nd Big Season". Orange Coast Daily Pilot.
  5. Barnes, Janette (July 13, 1977). "Lexington Theatre Has It All". Stamford Mirror Recorder.
  6. "Introducing the Capital Rep". archive.org. League of Theatre Artists Inc. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  7. Bilowit, Ira J. (1977). "Spotlight on Someone Worth Watching - Sofia Landon". New York Theatre Review. Spring/Summer 1977: 28.
  8. Wright, Peg Churchill (April 14, 1979). "Albany Resident Theater Considered". The Daily Gazette. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  9. "Lexington Curtain to Rise June 13". Schenectady Gazette. May 14, 1979.
  10. "LCT Seeks New Home". Stamford Mirror Recorder. October 29, 1980.
  11. de Lisle, Doug (October 27, 1980). "Troupe Leaves Lexington". The Times Record.
  12. Independent Lens - The Loss of Nameless Things - Players
  13. "LCT: Class Act In Our Midst". Stamford Mirror-Recorder. July 2, 1980.
  14. "Capital Repertory Company 1980-81 Season Brochure". archive.org. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
  15. "The First - Who's Who in the Cast". Playbill. 1981. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
  16. Forsyt, Faith (October 14, 1980). "Sofia Landon - A 1980s Renaissance Woman". Soap Opera Digest. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
  17. Bigelow, Otis (1982). The Prevalence of Mrs. Seal. Samuel French. p. 3. ISBN 9780573613623. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  18. Borak, Jeffrey (August 23, 1980). "'Close Ties' is Unforgettable". Poughkeepsie Journal.



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