Since its construction in 1869 as the Collingwood Opera House, the Bardavon has taken a piece of each era in its long lifetime with it into the future. They have defined the Bardavon's distinctive position in the history of a community, a nation, an art form. Transformed from a 19th Century performance hall and gathering place into a movie palace in 1923, the theatre was retrieved from demolition in 1976 to become the leading performing arts and cinema venue of the Hudson Valley region that it is today. The stage has seen the great performers from all these eras: Mark Twain, Sarah Bernhardt, John Philip Sousa, the Barrymores, Martha Graham, Frank Sinatra, Milton Berle, Tommy Dorsey and more recently Dizzy Gillespie, Ballet Hispanico, Patti Smith, Pinchas Zukerman, Greg Allman, James Earl Jones, Harry Belafonte and many, many more.

Another facet of our organization is to preserve and continue to restore the Bardavon's National Register theater building, which is the oldest continuously operating theater in New York State.

Take a tour through this colorful history or travel through the theater with our NEW multi-media tour (You will need QuickTime player to view our theater click here to download). Check out our illustrious ghosts in past artists and past seasons, or hear the 1928 Mighty Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ in all its glory. In architectural history you can see how this National Register building has evolved and survived - and how it is being preserved for audiences of tomorrow.

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