Nancy Swann, who has been the artistic director at the Philipstown Depot Theatre since 2005, is retiring Sept. 1. She will be succeeded by Alice Jankell.
How did you land the job?
I was on the Depot Theatre board when we hired Amy Dul as executive director. She was running the whole theater and a year or two later, when we were doing a lot more in the space, she asked for help. Another board member, Chris Nowak, said, “Maybe you should do this,” but I was unsure. I’m an actor and I just wanted to act. But I talked to my husband and he said, “You’d be good as the artistic director.” Twenty years later, here we are.
What are your responsibilities?
Probably not what a true artistic director should do. There are four of us on the staff, and we’re all part-time, so everyone does what they can to fill the holes. You must be flexible. Typically, Amy and I decide on the season and discuss children’s shows and films that are brought to us. We talk to prospective performers about one-nighters, and we take care of the building of the sets. I do a lot of set work and direct and, of course, clean the theater. The crew feels like a close family. We all work together.
What was your favorite show?
I think it was Secret Garden, which we did in 2009. The set directors came up with a brilliant plan in which we used projections. One of my favorite moments was the song “Lily’s Eyes,” which is about a character who has died. We had a projection of the actor like a painting displayed on the back of the stage. Chris came up with this great idea to have the actor stand behind the projection so that, with just a little light, she appeared alive. Every time that happened, the audience would respond with shock. For me, that’s why you do theater. You want people to have that moment when they’re amazed at seeing an effect that blows the heartstrings.
How can people get involved?
We have all kinds of opportunities. There are notices for auditions online [at philipstowndepottheatre.org] and we have a documentary film program [Depot Docs] and one-nighters where people can perform for one show. We have a strong children’s program, and what’s exciting about that is watching the kids develop and grow. Quite often they are very young when they start out, and they work their way through getting more comfortable in theater. Kids can start off in the youth program and then end up in our main-stage productions. It’s rewarding to see their talent, and how theater affects their lives in ways where it helps them be more comfortable with themselves and their body and with talking to adults. We’ve had some children who had special needs become transformed by the process of being onstage.
Any memorable backstage disasters?
Well, there have been moments when the power went out. That is always bad. We hosted a takeoff of Sherlock Holmes by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and the power went out. We had someone drive a car onto the patio and shine the headlights through the windows to light the stage. Another time, we had people use their cellphones to light the stage, and some people had flashlights in their cars. People would panic and say, “We’re going to have to send everyone home,” and I’d say, “No, no, we’re not going to do that. All these people came here to see the theater and we’ve got their money, so we’ll give them a show.”
