Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center looks to expand, add more seats

A planned expansion of the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center would significantly increase seating capacity, enlarge the stage and position the theater to attract more popular acts.

The project calls for increasing seats from 425 to nearly 700, adding about 8,900 square feet of building space, and expanding the stage and backstage area to accommodate larger productions, theater executive director Julienne Penza-Boone told Newsday.

“After this happens, we will be the only venue in the Hamptons that has that kind of capacity,” she said.

The plan is to complete the expansion by July 2028, in time for the nonprofit theater’s 30th anniversary, Penza-Boone said. The project still requires village approval.

Penza-Boone said the total cost of the project has not yet been determined. The theater set a fundraising goal of $25 million for the renovations, and $18 million has been raised so far, she said. In June, the theater was awarded $6 million from the New York State Council on the Arts' Capital Projects Fund.

Size presents fiscal challenges

The expansion is designed in part to address financial challenges tied to the theater’s current size. Penza-Boone, who has worked there since 2008 and became executive director in 2020, said the theater could regularly afford acts like Elvis Costello, Blondie and Cyndi Lauper a decade ago. But since the pandemic, many big names have been out of the small theater’s budget or require charging higher prices.

“An artist charges what an artist charges, whether you're 425 seats, or 2,000 seats, or 10,000 seats,” Penza-Boone said. “We've always had a reputation for punching above our weight — and I like to think that we still do — but the truth of the matter is that when an artist fee is that high, you have to pass that along to your ticket buyer.”

Increasing capacity would allow the theater to spread those costs across more attendees and charge lower prices, Penza-Boone said.

“People are making more choices about how they're spending their leisure time, and people don't want to spend a fortune on tickets,” she said. “We see that the shows that sell the best for us are the shows where the ticket price is affordable, and we have a harder time the higher the ticket gets, even though the artists are certainly worth what we're paying them.”

Plans also call for expanding the stage’s depth and width and adding wing and backstage space. The upgrades would allow the theater to host professional touring theatrical productions and expand its school-day programming, which draws thousands of local students each year, Penza-Boone said.

The expansion would be built on property owned by the nonprofit behind the theater. Additional planned improvements include a new terrace and bar area for hosting donors and special events.

Village approval needed

The project requires a village permit to exceed zoning limits, but officials have expressed support.

Westhampton Beach Village Mayor Ralph Urban said the theater is “an integral part of our community, and we very much look forward to this expansion and improvement of their facility.”

Still, the village must resolve infrastructure concerns before approving the project, Urban said. The village has halted approval of all site plans and building permits in the downtown area that includes the theater while it studies wastewater treatment and parking capacities.

Urban called the theater’s goal of completing renovations by July 2028 “ambitious” but said it could be achievable if those issues are resolved by winter.

The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center opened in 1998 and has become a cultural hub in the village, hosting a mix of concerts, comedy, films and community programs throughout the year. Housed in a restored 1932 single-screen movie theater on Main Street, it also runs a variety of performance classes, workshops and camps.