The Staller Center for the Arts, the main arts building at Stony Brook University, recently held its annual Staller Center Gala for 2023, where they welcomed the American Ballet Theatre company, in a sold-out performance that foreshadows a bright future for the venue as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
American Ballet Theatre is a classical ballet company, based in New York City and founded in 1939; it is recognized as one of the world’s leading classical ballet companies and is especially known for dancer, choreographer, and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov serving as its artistic director during the 1980s.
The Staller Center, which originally opened in 1978 under the name of the Stony Brook University Fine Arts Center before being renamed in 1988, hosts numerous theatre, media, and dance productions throughout the year, such as Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, Yo Yo Ma, Katharine McPhee, and Kevin James, to name a few. Another yearly highlight is the annual Stony Brook Film Festival, which highlights numerous cinematic features of both foreign and domestic origins.
However, the Staller Center Gala – an annual fundraising effort – remains the highlight of every year, according to the venue’s passionate director, Alan Inkles.
The Gala is a long and revered tradition at the Staller Center; Inkles founded the event 25 years ago, and the inclusion of a performance by the esteemed American Ballet Theatre company this year was a true coup for Stony Brook University, he said.
Katherine Williams and Jarod Curley in Some Assembly Required. Photo: Millie Elangam.
“I’ve wanted the American Ballet Theatre company for ages. However, they typically don’t do single-night engagements, and they’ve never played a Long Island venue with their full company,” he said. “But this year’s Gala featured the entire company. They treated this like they were coming to the Kennedy Center for a week when it was only a one-night engagement, and it was a really special night for us. I’m so really excited about it, and they’ve been great to work with.”
Ever the impassioned Director with a fervor to make each year’s Gala the best it could be, Inkles already has the talent for next year’s Gala locked down, and he considers this acquisition an especially impressive catch for the Staller Center.
“Next year’s Gala, on March 9th of 2024, we will be welcoming Tony Award-winning Hamilton singer Leslie Odom Jr., who is phenomenal,” he said. “He’s someone that’s very hot right now. He was just in the recent Knives Out: Glass Onion movie, and of course, is so well known as the original cast Aaron Burr in Lynn Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. He’s fantastic and in very high demand, and he’s not played Long Island before. This will be the only venue in the region with Odom’s singing engagement featuring his band next year, and it’ll be with us on March 9th. I’m really excited about that.”
While the annual Gala tends to feature higher ticket costs than the Staller Center’s usual fare, Inkles said that it has remained vital to him over the years to ensure that the general public is never priced out of experiencing the vast array of impressive talent they have on offer every year.
“Because we’re a state university, I felt it was very important that we not make it this sort of elite event that only certain people could come to,” he said. “I’ve made it very clear that we’re always going to have a percentage of the house that would have more expensive tickets, but I wanted a big part of the theater to always be for regular-priced tickets. I want all-access; I want to make sure anyone can come to a show here.”
To that end, Inkles noted that the Staller Center’s Gala functions primarily as a fundraising effort aimed at not only supporting the venue, but also supporting its relationship with the Long Island community.
Scene from Jessica Lang’s ZigZag. Photo: Millie Elangam.
“The fundraising that we do with the Gala is for our outreach program,” he said. “The funds that we actually make on the night, after we pay our bills, go to our outreach and education program. We donate about 5,000 tickets a year throughout Long Island to underrepresented families and students.”
Aside from the annual Gala, the Staller Center is also welcoming a number of impressive acts for its upcoming spring season; some very well known, others up and coming, but all extraordinarily talented and sure to put on memorable shows.
“Mike Birbiglia is hysterical. He’s a storyteller and he’ll be playing here April 21st. Another performer is Storm Large, and she’s so funny and she has an amazing voice. She’ll be coming here on March 18th,” he said. “And we’re also welcoming back a singer named Sheléa, who we had here last year. She’s the first artist we’ve had here where I booked her again immediately after her first performance. She’s fantastic.”
Inkles also spoke on the lasting changes the COVID-19 pandemic has had upon the theater scene. While he said people have been becoming increasingly comfortable with attending live events once again, it will likely take more time to get overall attendance back up to full pre-pandemic levels.
“We have to find a way to get people excited about coming back to the theater,” he said. “There are still some people out there who are a little nervous, but I think that’s winding down now. So to get them to come back, I make sure that I book talent that people NEED to see.”
Katherine Williams and Jarod Curley in Clark Tippet’s Some Assembly Required. Photo: Millie Elangam.
That strategy seems to be working, as attendance for the Staller Center’s productions has been steadily increasing more and more, Inkles said.
“So far, since the pandemic, after every performance, somebody has reached out to me and said that it’s so great to be back in front of a live audience once again,” he said. “The standing ovations we’re getting, the applause…there’s a different energy with the crowds these days. You can tell the people really missed it.”
“We’ve come a long way here at the Staller Center,” Inkles concluded. “Our staff has a lot of passion and energy, and I’m always at every show we have because I love seeing the response. I try to see shows in advance when possible to scout out the talent and productions, and then it’s important to me to see how well it plays in our theatres and get our audience’s response. It’s been a great run, and we’re looking forward to the future.”
