Founded in 1972 as a touring company, the BroadHollow Theatre Company has grown into a not-for-profit, subscription-based company with two performance locations. The BayWay Arts Center in East Islip and BroadHollow at Elmont offer year round main stage entertainment, as well as children’s theater, educational theater and classes. In the past, BroadHollow has resided in several other locations including McGuire Theatre in Old Westbury, Centre Stage in Rockville Center, Studio Theatre in Lindenhurst and the original BroadHollow location on Route 110 in Farmingdale.
Our main stage programs consist of musicals, comedies, thrillers and dramas; and have ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime, from classics to contemporary works. The quality and integrity of our productions has helped us to grow and prosper for over thirty years. We have offered our patrons critically acclaimed productions of classic productions such as “Death of a Salesman”, “The King and I”, “Driving Miss Daisy” and Neil Simon’s Trilogy as well as newer works such as “Lobby Hero”, “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress”, “The Producers,” and “Little Women” to name a few.
Children’s theater is flourishing at our theaters every Saturday afternoon from September to May, creating a whole new generation of theater goers. We offer all the children’s favorites such as “Cinderella”, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves”, “Aladdin”, and “The Wizard of Oz”. Special attention is paid to the holidays with classics such as “Frosty the Snowman”, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “The Nutcracker” for the winter as well as “Who Took Tom Turkey?” around Thanksgiving and “Mr. Bunny” around Easter. The cost of tickets to experience our live children’s theatre is less than taking a family to the movies. In addition we offer a more interactive experience by hosting children’s birthday parties prior to the performance. After the show the cast invites the birthday child on stage to sing Happy Birthday with the audience. Post performance we offer Princess Tea Parties in which families enjoy tea and sandwiches with the likes of Cinderella, Dorothy, Alice, and Sleeping Beauty while other characters might stop in to converse with the children.
In the early 80’s BroadHollow began offering educational performances for children from nursery through high school. More than 10,000 school children every year are exposed, some for the very first time, to live theater. The performances range from “The Diary of Anne Frank” to “1776” for the older students, to “Charlotte’s Web” and “Aesop’s Fables” for the younger audience members. Teachers are provided with study guides and the children get to ask questions after the performances. As well the younger children get to meet and greet with their favorite characters including the likes of Winnie the Pooh, Frosty the Snowman, Dorothy or even Aesop.
Finally, BroadHollow offers classes starting as young as four years old and up to nineteen, as well as a camp program during the summer. The Tiny Tots program encourages children’s creativity and imagination through theater games and exercises, story-telling and role playing. As the children get older the classes are more performance based, with the opportunity to actually showcase their work for an audience. We have successful productions of shows such as “Godspell” “Les Miserables School Edition” and “Into the Woods.” Our summer camp program offered at the BayWay Arts Center features a more intensive study of three different aspects of performance including music, dance and acting and ends each session with two different productions of popular musicals. Many of our teachers are professionals actively working in the field or elementary school teachers with experience in the arts.
By continually adapting to the times and to the wishes of our audience, BroadHollow has managed to survive for over thirty years, and hopefully, with the support of our many patrons, we can continue to provide quality entertainment for the next thirty.