Savage Wonder set for Oct. 11-13

The Veterans Repertory Theater, a performing arts nonprofit that is pouring six figures into renovating the 1929 bank building at 139 Main St. in Beacon, will host its first event in the space on Oct. 11, the Savage Wonder Festival of Veterans in the Arts.

VetRep’s work “is not art therapy, although I am all for art therapy,” says founder and artistic director Chris Meyer. “We’re not here to help veterans — we’re here so that veterans can help American theater, not necessarily with war stories or wallowing in pity, but with world-class, public-facing productions that could be about anything and are informed by the veteran perspective.”

Chris Meyer, the founder and artistic director of VetRep, stands outside its new home in the former Beacon Savings Bank building. Photo by M. Ferris
Chris Meyer, the founder and artistic director of VetRep, stands outside its new home in the former Beacon Savings Bank building. (Photo by M. Ferris)

For the company, veteran is a broad term that includes first responders, law enforcement, intelligence services, foreign service and Department of Defense employees, along with their immediate family members.

The performers on Oct. 11 range from opera singer Jesus Daniel Hernandez to live painters. Work by Beacon artists Matt Kinney and Michael Isabell will be on display. 

Meyer says the event is intended to represent the “ferocity and the creativity” of veterans. “We’re looking to present the entire spectrum of the arts with a broad aperture.” The company’s pillars are intimacy, absurdity, whimsy and jarring stories.

Meyer, who enlisted in the U.S. Army after 9/11, began staging readings, producing plays, hosting art shows and holding multimedia festivals in 2021 after returning from deployment in Afghanistan.

“I feel like we’re 10 minutes old,” says Meyer, the scion of a thespian family.

Savage Wonder 2024

Friday (Oct. 11)

  • Noon – 5 p.m. Art gallery open with works and live painting by Kat Furrow, Delvin Goode, Lani Hankins, Gina Herrera, Angelo T. Robinson and Beacon artists Michael Isabell and Matt Kinney
  • 2 p.m. Ben Fortier (music)
  • 3 p.m. Lois Hicks-Wozniak + Hot Wrks (music)
  • 5 p.m. Exit 12 Dance Company with guitarist Michael Bard and opera singer Jesus Daniel Hernandez

Saturday (Oct. 12)

  • Noon – 5:30 p.m. Art gallery 
  • Noon. Ben Fortier
  • 2 p.m. Lois Hicks-Wozniak + Hot Wrks
  • 5:30 p.m. Scott Arcangel & Hexatonic

Sunday (Oct. 13)

  • Noon – 6 p.m. Art gallery 
  • Noon: Ben Fortier
  • 2 p.m.: Lois Hicks-Wozniak + Hot Wrks 

Tickets are free. See bit.ly/vetrep-savage-2024.

A donor helped underwrite the renovation project to transform the cavernous 12,000-square-foot space into a vaudeville room in the back, a basement art gallery and a theater with a modular stage, 53-foot ceiling and seating for 125 people.

VetRep signed a favorable lease-to-own agreement for the building in March. For 60 years, the building housed Star of Bethlehem Baptist Church, a historic Black congregation that sold the property in 2021 and moved to a new location in Fishkill.

Meyer foresees many shows in the round and lauds the location. “This is what ‘right’ looks like,” he says. “It took six weeks to get the contract completed after we visited the site.”

Expect a dizzying 48- to 50-week programming schedule, along with public access to the art gallery. “We own the rights to a huge backlog of material,” says Meyer. “It’s going to be a circus.”

VetRep is adding a wine bar to the art gallery and a full bar for the main stage and vaudeville room, located in the old bank’s vault and created by cutting through the back wall to build a tunnel between the rooms. 

By year’s end, the troupe is relocating its offices from Cornwall, in Orange County, to 6 Commerce St., steps from the theater’s back door. The building will also provide housing for actors and apprenticeships and internships for veterans and their families.

Meyer’s construction crew tells him that all but the main stage should be completed by year’s end, “but even I’m a little skeptical,” he says. The goal is to have the soaring theater space ready for a new season in March.

“We want this to be the mecca for veterans and the arts,” he says. “There’s a big wellspring of untapped talent out there.”

Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Marc Ferris is a freelance journalist based in Croton-on-Hudson. He is the author of Star-Spangled Banner: The Unlikely Story of America's National Anthem and performs Star-Spangled Mystery, a one-person musical history tour.

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