The Little Theater: Cutting the Ribbon and Raising the Curtain

On October 8, donors, the Board of Trustees, and arts faculty gathered in the newly renovated Little Theater for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, marking the completion of over a year of renovations. With upgraded lighting and sound systems, the Little Theater will enable performers to take their art one step further, using advanced technology to bring stories to life.

In addition to technological improvements, the Little Theater was reconfigured from approximately 800 seats to 450 seats. The new theater was intentionally designed to create a more intimate space for performers and to make it easier for viewers to get in and out of their seats. “[The theater’s] still really big, but it’s nice to have that feeling for the kids of it being full when there are 400 people there,” Theater Department Head Ms. Deighna DeRiu said.

To accompany the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Ms. DeRiu worked with a group of six theater students to present a short, cabaret-style performance featuring a musical arrangement combining multiple duets with snippets from “A Musical” from Something Rotten! “I think it was really special for them because they got to not only see all the hard work that everyone did to make the renovation happen, and how beautiful the renovation turned out, but also got to see students doing what we do best within that space,” Ms. DeRiu said.

For student performers, the new space offered an opportunity to showcase their passion for musical theater to some of the most prominent figures in the Choate community. Ryan Murray ‘27, who performed “As Long as You’re Mine” from Wicked alongside Prudence Chen ‘28, noted that “the PMAC has held so many formative memories during my Choate career. As I close out my final chapter at Choate, it feels like such a nice full-circle moment and send-off to mark this new beginning.” In this way, the cabaret performance served as the beginning of the end for the sixth-form theater students. Murray also hoped that the new theater will encourage more students to come and support the productions by offering an enhanced viewing experience.

For Mia Cueto ‘28, the performance was accompanied by feelings of excitement and nerves. “When I was told I was going to be one of the first people ever to perform on the new stage, I was already nervous, and on top of that, also performing for the board of trustees and the donors,” said Cueto. However, Cueto’s nerves vanished as she sang the part of Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors in a duet of “Suddenly Seymour” with Nick Aston ‘28.

For both viewers and performers, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was a memorable way to begin a “second act” for Choate’s Theater Department. As Arts Concentration students began touring the new theater, anticipation built for its first production, Sense and Sensibility. Until then, the rest of the Choate community will have to wait patiently to experience the Little Theater in all of its thespian glory.