Leandra (Lee) Pope is the legendary person behind The Schoolhouse Theater, 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 when Jack Palance’s daughter Brooke and actor Michael Wilding opened Bedroom Farce. For thirty-seven years, Leandra Pope served as the managing director and angel for The Schoolhouse Theater, using her dedication, resiliency, and enthusiasm for the arts to create a landmark cultural center in the heart of Westchester County. In 2018, she received the coveted Lifetime Arts Community Award from Arts Westchester.

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On March 15, 2020, Leandra "Lee" Pope passed away, but her memory and influence lives on, and we seek to honor her legacy and her commitment to boundary pushing, professional theatre in Westchester.