Lexington Conservatory Theatre

Playwright Oakley Hall III on the Rt 42 Bridge in Lexington, NY

Oakley Hall III, Michael van Landingham, Thomas Culp and Bruce Bouchard met while attended college at UC Irvine, working together on productions at Irvine Repertory Theatre and American Conservatory Theater.[4] The group of friends eventually moved to New York City to continue their careers. In 1974, Evelyn Weisberg, owner of Lexington House, met Bouchard and fellow actor Kate Kelly while operating a local educational theatre program. Learning of the nascent theatre group forming in New York, Weisberg supported the formation of the group in 1975, inviting them to take residence at Lexington House and its surrounding facilities. LCT launched its first season in 1976 after several summers of work to prepare the facility. Leadership included executive director Michael Van Landingham, treasurer Thomas Culp, and artistic director Oakley Hall III, later briefly joined by Abraham Tetenbaum for the 1979 season[5][6]

The facility at Lexington House included two 150-seat theatres, presenting a main stage season as well as numerous staged readings and developmental works. Tickets were sold via several subscription packages in addition to single ticket sales.[7]

Over the course of its first three years, the organization had grown to include several simultaneous projects. In addition to the main summer series at Lexington, LCT produced PROVOS, a new play reading series, an Upstate Tour production series aimed at serving rural communities, and a League of Women Artists focused on developing theatre opportunities for women. Company members also taught a series of theatre classes to students ages 6–18.[8]

LCT produced numerous world premieres as well as development workshops for emerging writers, including playwrights such as Paula Vogel, Peter Parnell, Monte Merrick Wendy Kesselman and Kathleen Betsko.

By its third season, the company had secured significant funding from the New York State Council on the Arts and was growing its reputation nationally, with attention from critic Brooks Atkinson.[9] In 1978, the company won a regional theatre award from The Rockefeller Foundation.[10] In 1979, the company received a $2,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for its new play development work, and in 1980, $4,000.[11][12]

In 1977, the company received a Whitney Foundation award to support the search for a city in which to develop a resident theatre company.[13] 1978, LCT staff began visiting Albany to plan such a theatre, envisioning a downtown space for a 400-500 seat facility.[14]

In spring 1979, LCT announced that it would form a theatre in downtown Albany that followed a fall-winter-spring season, to be known as Capital Repertory Company or "Capital Rep."[15] In early 1980, LCT produced The Tavern by George M. Cohan at the Egg Theatre in Albany, under the Capital Rep name.[16] In October 1980, executive director Michael Van Landingham announced that the theatre would not return to Lexington House and instead move permanently to Albany.[17] In December 1980, the group began its first full season as Capital Repertory Theatre at Page Hall in Albany.

• Patricia Charbonneau[18]
• Steve Hytner
• John Griesemer[19]
• Richard E. Council[20]
• Cotter Smith[21]
• Richard Zobel
• Court Miller[22]
• Sofia Landon Geier[23]
• James Rebhorn[24]
• Kit Flanagan

• Frankenstein by Oakley Hall III
• Nurseryland by Monte Merrick[25][26]
• The Revengers adapted by William C. Sandwick and Philip Soltanoff, music composed by Philip Soltanoff[27]
• Beatrice (Cenci) and the Old Man by Oakley Hall III[28]
• The Prevalence of Mrs. Seal by Otis Bigelow[29]
• Grinder's Stand by Oakley Hall III[30][31]
• Arlecchino Undone by Christopher Ceraso[32]
• Close Ties by Elizabeth Diggs[33]

In addition to the company's summer productions, LCT also produced plays in New York City, Off and Off-Off Broadway.