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The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center is preparing for its biggest transformation in decades after landing a $6 million capital grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to expand the historic venue’s seating capacity, stage space and arts education facilities.
Plans call for increasing the theater’s capacity from 425 seats to between 600 and 700 seats while adding flexible seating configurations, a deeper and wider stage, a new stagehouse and upgraded backstage amenities for performers, according to a press announcement.
The project also includes new classrooms and rehearsal spaces to support the center’s arts education programs, along with a rooftop reception area designed to expand year-round community use.
“With this key funding, New York State has affirmed what the greater Westhampton Beach audience has always known – that the theatre’s commitment to providing high quality arts experiences for children, adults, and seniors strengthens the fabric of our region, stimulates our downtown economy, and enriches the lives of everyone who enters our doors,” said Julienne Penza-Boone, the center’s executive director.
The nonprofit performing arts center, founded in 1997, occupies the former Prudential’s Westhampton Theatre, which originally opened as a movie theater in 1932.
Today, the venue welcomes more than 45,000 patrons annually through its mainstage performances and arts academy programming.
Top: The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center is located at 76 Main Street in Westhampton Beach, N.Y. (Credit: GLI/Mike White, file)
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