944 Empty Chairs & One Mission
By Nicole Iuzzolino
After making $500 producing a Greek-themed production for a local festival in 1972, Chris Silva and a few friends decided to open up their own theater.
The college students stumbled upon a collective called the Alternative’s Future Commune. “It was run by these two women who were ceramicists and there was a gay rock band in the basement and assorted other artisans,” Chris recalls. “But there was a big sanctuary open and they wanted a theater very bad, so they were thrilled to have us there.” Unfortunately, the fire department actually shut down the theater at the Alternative’s Future Commune, forcing them to open their theater in a church instead.
But the experience lit a fire under Silva.
“We were kind of big fish in a little pond back in San Francisco,” Chris says, who was no stranger to traveling and experimenting with his career. He eventually finagled his way into becoming a road manager for a traveling band, something Chris quickly realized he strongly disliked. “I left the band, went to New York, and I never turned back.”
In 1989, Chris moved to the Hudson Valley. After a few years of living in the region, he applied to be a director for the Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC), a theater in Kingston, New York. While researching the position, Chris found the same opening but at a theater in Poughkeepsie called the Bardavon. Within six months of applying for the position at the Bardavon, Chris was hired. Ten years later in 2004, he took over UPAC as well.
The Baradvon is a 944-seat opera house, where Chris oversaw the growth of the theater’s annual operating budget. It grew from $800,000 in 1994 to its current annual budget of $4 million, in addition to completing $11 million in capital projects.
Illustration by Janine Pultorak
During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, theaters around the world closed their doors hoping that in a few short weeks their seats would be packed with audiences again. Over a year later, nothing has changed, forcing many theaters to close their doors permanently.
For the Bardavon theater, it was no different. “I was kind of in shock for about a month. I tried to just go with it,” Chris says. However, planning had to be done to keep the theater alive.
“I had to really buckle down and start figuring out, where am I going to find an extra million dollars and what are we going to do so we don’t just disappear?” Chris explains. “It wasn’t all about making money but rather keeping our presence there and keeping our programming.”
Through streaming services, the Bardavon created educational programs that reached twenty thousand children during the year. They shared a variety of diverse stories, something that Chris believes is needed today. “There’s a hunger and an interest in these programs that are very diverse and hit on issues that are relevant to the moment, so that has been very rewarding.
Some of the theater’s most popular programs include powerful stories about racism, like a piece called Rhapsody in Black. A current piece titled Step Afrika!, centers around a Washington D.C. dance group, highlighting the African American tradition of stepping, which garnered thousands of views. Also included in the theater’s repertoire is Sugar Skull, a piece honoring the Day of the Dead, which reached nearly five thousand students.
“Many teachers have said that because of the program, their Latin students, who are not Mexican and may not necessarily celebrate the Day of the Dead, are actually able to discuss what they do celebrate instead and their traditions,” Chris says. “So, it opened up this cross of cultural dialogue. That is what we should be doing, especially with kids. We should be feeding them stuff that makes them think.”
Hitting on issues of diversity was an important aspect of these streaming programs, but will also be a crucial part of the theater’s future. After the sudden passing of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Music Director, Randall Craig Fleischer, the orchestra committee began looking for replacements. Chris thought, “Why don’t we think about a woman or a person of color? There might be the perfect woman or the perfect person of color that we should be considering.” And when he eventually retires, Chris hopes that an individual with a diverse background will fill his shoes.
When it comes to the future of theatre, Chris says, “I’m hoping the future is like the past on a certain level — where people can once again go out, have a drink, have dinner, and go to a show. Then they can stand up, cheer and scream, and sing along or do whatever they want to do.”
Chris has been considering ideas like having a symphony season during the Fall of 2021 that continues into 2022. This would include holding the first concerts virtually and then allowing the Spring shows to be in person.
Nonetheless, Chris says the concert hall experience is not as lively with COVID-19 restrictions. The audience members would have to be socially distanced and many rows completely closed off. “Spreading out an audience dilutes the experience so much for the artist in particular, and the audience too, so I don’t know what the future will be like,” Chris says.
However, there is something that Chris is certain about — the pieces of work that will come out of this pandemic will be influential. “There’s so much good theatre out there, and I think after this pandemic, it’ll be even better. What just happened can’t be ignored by any good writer.”
As he sits in his office, Chris reflects on his early years in San Francisco. “I remember I worked a show in San Francisco called One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. I understudied five parts, I did props, I house managed, I did concessions, and I sold some weed for the company manager. I made $75 a week, and I thought I was home. I thought this is heaven.”
FOR THE RECORD UNCUT
OBJECT PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography by Bobby Oliver
For this year’s project, we asked our Changemakers to bring items that had meaning to them to the shoot.
“The Power Broker is the greatest history and biography of 20th century New York City.
The yoga mat gives me stability, mobility, strength, focus and and meditation.
The baseball glove because love the game and playing always makes me feel like a kid again.”