History

The Philipstown Depot Theatre was founded in 1996 by a handful of visionary residents eager to establish a permanent home for the performing arts in their Hudson Valley community. Built on the legacy of our predecessors, the Hand to Mouth Players, the Depot Theatre is now a professionally run not-for-profit administered in partnership with the Philipstown Recreation Department. The Depot produces a variety of shows throughout the year and hosts workshops and classes for local kids of all ages.

The building in which we are housed opened at Garrison's Landing in 1893. A granite rectangle with high ceilings, generous eaves and a curved southern end, the Depot sits on the eastern bank of the Hudson, directly across the river from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. William H. LaDue, a contractor with several area depots to his credit—Cold Spring and Bronxville, among others—designed the building. It served its original purpose, facilitating train travel to, from and through the Hudson Highlands, until the early 1960s, though commuters continued to shelter beneath its eaves for years. Metro-North eventually built a new platform just down the line. One catches a train there and a show here.

Like each of the performances we have produced over the last 25 years, the Depot is unique. Where else can you watch an award-winning documentary and chat with its director or see a Sondheim musical while sitting in a pre-war (Spanish-American War, that is) train station blessed with both terrific acoustics and views of the Hudson River? Between New York City and Albany, at least, the Depot is it. We invite you to see for yourself.