The Ghent Playhouse is two seasons away from celebrating its 50th anniversary and the 130th anniversary of its historic building. With this in mind, Phase One of a capital campaign, The Ghent Playhouse Restoration Fund, is underway.
This $50,000 initiative will help with the cost of much-needed repairs to the building’s structure.
The Playhouse's Queen Ann-style building, with its decorative shingles and stained glass windows, remains nearly identical to what it looked like when it was originally built to house the first Ghent Town Hall in the 1890s.
Until 1985, the building also housed the Post Office and most of the town’s civic functions. In 1986, the Ghent Playhouse, formerly the Columbia Civic Players, officially took ownership of the building, renovating it to serve as a full-time theater.
“The structure is one of the few remaining pieces of the Golden Age of Ghent’s downtown, 1890-1920,” said Ghent historian Gregg Berninger in a prepared release.
To learn more about the campaign and the historic theater or to make a donation, visit Ghentplayhouse.org/capital-campaign. Donations can also be mailed to The Ghent Playhouse, P.O. Box 64, Ghent, NY 12075, or made by phone to 518-392-6264.