Leandra (Lee) Pope is the legendary person behind The Schoolhouse Theater & Arts Center, which has become a landmark home for the arts in Westchester County. Pope founded the Theater when, in 1983, she transformed an old elementary school building in Croton Falls into a visual arts center. At that time, the cafeteria/gym was simply a white-walled room with twelve borrowed lights and no risers.

 

The classrooms were turned into galleries and studio spaces that exhibit paintings and sculptures by many of Westchester’s most acclaimed artists. The curtain went up on Westchester’s oldest non-profit professional theater in 1986, when Jack Palance’s daughter Brooke and actor Michael Wilding opened Bedroom Farce. Since then, playwrights Jules Feiffer and Tina Howe, and director and Royal Shakespeare Company co-founder John Barton, have all seen their work produced at The Schoolhouse Theater. Devoted to the highest possible standard, no less than six of the Theater’s shows have moved to Off- Broadway and Los Angeles.

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Through classes for children, live theater, live music, Lee's Cafe (events showcasing young musical talent in our art galleries), comedy, slam poetry, story telling and creative programs, we have sought to be a landmark home for all of the arts in Westchester County.