JUNE 2019 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 87
EASTLINE THEATRE
PERFORMANCES MOST INTIMATE
BY NICK FODERA
Nestled in the heart of downtown
Wantagh is Eastline Theatre, a
nonprofit, 42-seat black box theatre
dedicated to providing its audience
with the kind of offbeat, experimental
stagecraft that is uncommon this
far from Broadway.
Eastline takes a different approach
than a standard venue might, eschewing
bigger-budget, higher-profile
Broadway shows in favor of a more
left-field approach that speaks directly
to the community it is a part of.
“We felt that the one thing Long Island
lacked was that it did not have
a theatre that was producing work
specifically for Long Island,” says
Executive Artistic Director Daniel
Higgins.
The purposeful intimacy between
performers and crowd allows
Eastline to focus more on character
and-dialogue driven pieces with
minimal use of set design in a smaller
venue, forcing audiences to stay more
focused on the actors themselves,
rather than any stage pyrotechnics.
EastLine has gained some recognition,
receiving a grant from the Huntington
Arts Council. It achieved its
nonprofit status in September 2018.
Keeping the organization nonprofit
is something Higgins believes in
strongly, owing to his unwavering
devotion to theatre for its own sake.
“No one should get into art to make
a fortune,” Higgins says. “Our
currency at Eastline is not money,
it’s enlightenment and emotional
catharsis.”
Eastline’s upcoming production is a
stripped-back adaptation of Robert
Louis Stevenson’s 1882 novel Treasure
Island, which runs July 13-28.
Reconfiguring a beloved
piece of adventure fiction
into a stage show catering
to a crowd of less than 50
without losing any of its
emotional impact meant that
the Eastline team’s viewpoint
of theater as an extension
of community was useful.
As Higgins put it, when the
audience is close enough to
the cast to see them sweat,
the transformative power of
theatre shines through.
“Theatre is pointless without
an audience,” he says. “But
what makes it even more
interesting is when that audience
becomes the theatre.”
EastLine Theatre is located
at 2123 Wantagh
Ave. in Wantagh. It can be
reached ay 516-749-5047 or
eastlineproductions.com
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