Ancram Opera House surveys audiences, looks to future
Part of the Ancram Opera House’s (AOH) Emergence Collective Play Lab in 2021, these performers were a part of what kept the AOH alive despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo courtesy Ancram Opera House

Ancram Opera House surveys audiences, looks to future

New offerings this August

ANCRAM — “Give the people what they want and they will come” is an old theater adage. So what better way to find out what the people want from the Ancram Opera House (AOH) and Theater than having a survey to check the pulse of some 2,000 members of the community?

Jeff Mousseau, who runs the program with his co-director and co-owner Paul Ricciardi, said the survey showed “there seems to be an appetite for more actual theater productions.” And that is precisely what will be included this August following multiple other activities presented throughout the early summer months. 

Mousseau said he was pleased with the strong survey response.

“It’s about wanting to forge a connection in our rural community of Ancram and the region through the performing arts,” he said, “by bringing what we think are really exceptionally talented artists to our theater and presenting them in a very intimate and immediate environment so they have a real connection with the audience.” 

He said the survey, conducted earlier in the season, was “inspiring.” 

That’s because it showed respondents “really liked our programing mix, the caliber of productions that we are presenting and the events that we present and produce.

“They responded with a lot of enthusiasm about our community outreach programs even if they are not necessarily directly participating with them,” Mousseau added. “The overall vibe that people seem to feel when they come to see a show here is welcoming and friendly.”

Respondents requested more “family-friendly” offerings, something of which Mousseau approves and believes is the result of more families settling in the area.

Hoping to expand its audience, Mousseau said the AOH could do a better job communicating what it does.

“People don’t necessarily know the full range of what we’re doing, so that’s something we have to work on,” he said, noting the opera house might want to cast “a wider net” and send expensive direct snail mail to supplement the email blasts that reach its current audience. 

“That is not helping us to grow,” noted Mousseau, who added the AOH “straddles the surrounding area.” 

His goal is to garner more patrons from nearby New York towns as well as parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, since people “seem willing to travel a half-hour or even more to see a show they’re really interested in.”

He added thanks to Zoom, the AOH is also working on collaborations with other organizations “in our neck of the woods [to] crack the mold and expand our partnerships.”

Mousseau added he’s not reaching out beyond Ancram simply to enlarge the audience; he’s also doing so for cast members. While some are local actors, when a particular role can’t be filled, auditions — and even some rehearsals — are sometimes moved to New York City, with its huge pool of professionals. 

Those chosen often stay in an apartment located in the AOH itself, which allows for plenty of cast bonding and convenient preparations while ensuring that each production has its own identity.

That use is just one of many the building has seen over the years since it was first built as a Grange Hall in the 1920s. Since the 1970s, Mousseau said it has gone through many incarnations. The building has housed a wood working operation, a theater company, music events, readings and even yoga classes. 

Mousseau and Ricciardi purchased the building in 2015, formed a nonprofit and offered their first presentation in the summer of 2016. While COVID-19 shut things down last year and presented some challenges, the “silver lining” is that it “stretched their creativity.”

They’ve used Zoom and other internet connections to the fullest extent possible to work with collaborators and make special presentations, sometimes working outside in order to take advantage of “this beautiful place we live in.” They have even moved productions to various locations, and will do so for upcoming events this August.

Recommended although not necessary, advance ticketing is available at www.ancramoperahouse.org, which also provides descriptions, times and locations of current offerings with more on tap for the fall. 

Upcoming productions include “Real People Real Stories,” set for Saturday, Aug. 7, at 7 p.m. at The Hilltop Barn, Roeliff Jansen Park, 16 Old Route 22, Hillsdale; and  live performances of The Plein Air Plays from Thursday, Aug. 12, through Sunday, Aug. 15, with the location TBA.

For other information, call 646-662-4061 or email jeff@ancramoperahouse.org.

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