The Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, is programmed to connect with the local community. There are after-school programs, high school internships, history classes for adults and creative presentations about life’s 2nd Act. And it doesn’t stop there. The woman behind the theater’s robust roster of offerings is Sheree Marcucci, the director of Special Projects and Curated Programs. She spoke with WSHU’s Randye Kaye about all that the Palace has to offer.
WSHU: Sheree and I are going to talk about the fact that your local theater is not just a place to come and be entertained, but truly a place that brings people together in person, usually for community and for service and for learning, and just to have an experience. So, Sheree, what I'd love to talk to you about today is a tiny bit of the history of The Palace Theater, if you would, and a tiny bit about the shows. But then let's go on to the other things, the things that you do. The special projects, the education, and curated programs. So tell me just a bit about the theater in Waterbury.
SM: Well, the theater was first opened in 1922, and it's spectacular. It's very unassuming from the street side. When people walk in for the first time, their mouths drop open. I call them the virgins because it's just magnificent. It truly is.
WSHU: I've been there. It is stunning. It's like a gem on a street, and you're just like, “Where did this pop up from?” Right?
SM: Yeah, and it's 2600 seats. A lot of people don't know that. So we're about the same size as the Bushnell in Harford. We present touring Broadway, just like the Bushnell and the Schubert. We also have headline acts, and we have a lot of other things going on, and I think that's what we're going to zero in on today. Yes, absolutely.
WSHU: Yes, absolutely. And the website is https://www.palacetheaterct.org/. And if you go on the website, you'll see all the shows and events, but you'll also see a section called Education and Resources. Can you tell a bit about that? And then I want to know about the special events that you do. I see so many things here. I see after school, programs, high school, and internships, there's so much. How does Palace Theater serve the community and provide education?
SM: Well, it's timely that we're talking about education. Our education program has been running this session for the last six weeks, and its topic this time around has been Making Community With Music. And they took two of our shows, Blue Man Group, which we just had a few weeks ago, and the upcoming Music Man, and the national tours of those shows, and use those as tools to help students understand how music brings us together. And so they've been exploring. They've had different people, everybody from a professional actor who's done 1000 performances of Music Man to costumers and technical side people. They've created instruments. And helping them understand how the creative process is important to not only oneself, but also how it can bring us together in ways that show us the beauty of each other.
WSHU: Yeah. Oh, I love that. And what age are the students?
SM: Middle school and high school age. We also have another program that's called In the Wings, and that allows specially selected high school students to work backstage with our union stagehands and our palace staff to learn that side of the theater.
WSHU: I love that there's so much going on. Do you ever have a kid come in who, like, never saw a theater show, never was exposed to theater, and just said, Oh, I'll do this after school and develop a love of theater and community because of the Palace?
SM: Oh, absolutely. So many times, someone will, whether it's a student themselves, or a young person, or a parent, say, " This is just such an open door, open the door for my child. So we hear that all the time.
WSHU: You know, we could talk about the education component forever.
SM: We also have an arts magnet school right connected to us. So those students from the Waterbury Arts Magnet School get to perform on the Palace stage, and that is so special.
WSHU: Yeah. It can totally change a kid's life or an adult's life. You have adult classes as well?
SM: Oh, we do. We actually have a history class about the Palace Theater. So people can learn not only the architectural history, but also how it came to be through the impresario Sylvester Poli, who was an immigrant from Italy, and just all the headline acts for the last century, a little bit more than a century, who have been on our stage. Fun fact: Bohemian Rhapsody was performed for the first time by Queen in North America on the Palace stage in Waterbury.
WSHU: Wow. There are probably so many gems like that in that program. Let me shift over to you and what you do as the Director of Special Projects and Curated Programs, and full disclosure, I'm going to be involved in one of them. Well, two of them in the next 12 months or so. If you go on that website, there's so much going on at The Palace at any given time. What are you bringing in?
SM: Well, primarily, what I have created is something called The Spotlight program, and it started before COVID. I was previously the Marketing Officer for the theater for 17 years. When we were getting ready to come back, I said, “I just don't want to do that anymore. I want to do something a little more creative in that capacity”. So, long story short, I had already created something called 2nd Act, and it was wildly successful, and people were telling their stories about what they're doing in the second acts of their lives. So I thought, Let's build on that. And thank God, my boss and their board were fully supportive of this idea. So I've created a whole platform of programs that we hope inspire, we hope educate, we hope they're created to, you know, lift people's spirits, and boy, oh boy. I don't know about you, but I know that I need to feel hopeful, and that's what all of our programs do, and they're in a theater. Theater is storytelling, so it fits right along. So I've created, besides 2nd Act, something called commUNITY, where Tragedy to Triumph falls under that series. Upstaged, which is about theater, but not necessarily just about the performance aspect, is about other parts of how we create theater.
WSHU: I'm going to be part of that in spring 2027. We’re booking way out. But yeah, I mean, it is all about the connection of storytelling, one human being to another in so many ways and in so many different forms, and you've created so many opportunities for people to do that and gather and hear an experience. And we have
SM: And we also have an Immigrant Stories series. And for me, when I hear someone's story from a different perspective, it helps me be more empathetic. It increases my knowledge, like, “Oh, I didn't know that”. And I think today, especially, we make snap, you know, judgments based on little sound bites that we hear all over social media or, you know, wherever, and it's like, no, I need to see this in its full context to understand it and hear it first person. That's why I am such a believer in storytelling, in that model of communication.
WSHU: Yeah, I love that. And as an actor myself, I know that when you play a role, and I think this happens if you read fiction too, you're inside the person, you're thinking their thoughts, or you're reading their thoughts, and that's very different from watching someone in a movie. So when you're in the theater, you're immersed in the experience. And I think theater and storytelling are great ways toward empathy, so let that bring us from tragedy to triumph. This is the second annual of this?
SM: It is, it is, and Randy, you've been a part of it since last year. We had a sold-out event. The impetus for that was to take several people and put them on a panel and hear stories of tragic or unfortunate circumstances they've encountered in their lives and how they've moved beyond them. Because it's one thing you know, to hear a tragic story and you go, Oh, that's so sad, but I want to be lifted up. I want to know how somebody gets beyond those circumstances. So last year, it was an all-female panel. This year, we've incorporated men as well, because they need to be heard, too, and they have some very interesting stories. So we've put together five people. One of the founders started a homeless organization because her twin brother became homeless, ended up committing suicide, and she was so distraught. I don't want to give all the tag lines away, but there's more to her story of how she ended up forming this organization. Another young man, who was 33 years old, had just married. And the love of his life, actually, when they got engaged, she had a brain tumor, and so at 33 years old, newly married, he became a widower. And how he moved on. And he said something interesting to me, Millennials today, there seems to be a missing piece for them. He moved on by creating a new community, and that was through, actually, a softball team, I think a co-ed softball team in New York City. And our millennials today. I know I have two of them, so I can attest to this. They are so isolated if they don't have a ready, a built-in community, a spouse or significant other, and they want to be nesters. That's difficult. There have been books on this…
WSHU: And I don't want to give away all the stories, so those are two amazing ones, and I'm thrilled to be the moderator of the panel. And so it's so you know, we asked people to tell their stories, but also how they came out of it, and it's a lovely luncheon also. So, when is the event, and are tickets still available? Or is it sold out already? Tickets are still available.
SM: Tickets are still available. It's Saturday, April 18, and it's from 12 to about three o'clock, Randy, not only were you the fabulous moderator last year and again and shared so honestly your story, but you're also going to perform a little bit of your one-woman show that I've had the pleasure of seeing. And again, you know, you just open yourself up, and you do it in such an entertaining way. There's some rawness to it. So you're going to give us just a little snippet, because you're coming back to the palace next spring, I believe…
WSHU: …to do the whole hour-long show, absolutely.
SM: Yeah, so that's exciting. And this whole event is very cost-effective. It's $25
WSHU: That includes lunch. And being uplifted.
SM: It’s a steal. And I have to thank our supporter, our funder, the Connecticut Community Foundation, for being able to present this in an affordable way.
WSHU: Wonderful. Well, I am so excited to be moderating and to be part of it. I can't wait to hear the stories. Again, I felt uplifted last year. And again, there's something called collective energy, where people come together, have an experience together, and when the group disbands, and that includes the audience, not just the cast of a play, then you take a little piece of that energy home with you. And I hope that energy for Tragedy to Triumph includes hope and faith.
SM: It does. And I want to shout out to Bluebird Counseling, who will be on hand just in case something that's talked about triggers somebody in the audience, and maybe they need to talk to somebody, and so there'll be some people there, very inconspicuous.
WSHU: Wonderful, very well thought out. Well, I hope to see you there. And I think it's just so wonderful, all the things. And I encourage everybody, whatever your local theater is, check their website. It's more than just the main stage shows, although those are amazing as well. So, Sheree Marcucci, thank you so much for joining us here today.
SM: Oh, thank you for this opportunity. Randy, my pleasure.
