There’s a stretch of Broadway in Kingston, New York, where the storefronts thin out and the buildings get taller, and if you look up at just the right moment you’ll see the vertical marquee of the Ulster Performing Arts Center cutting through the skyline like a neon bookmark in a very old novel. UPAC has been anchoring this block since 1927 — through vaudeville, through the golden age of cinema, through near-demolition, and back again. It is, in the truest sense, a survivor.
From Vaudeville to the Wrecking Ball (and Back)
The story starts in 1925, when a Kingston couple and an Albany businessman pooled $5,300 to incorporate a new entertainment venture. They hired Douglas P. Hall, a prominent New York City architect, and by October 1926 construction was underway. The Broadway Theatre opened its doors in June 1927 to a capacity crowd of 1,703. The inaugural program featured five vaudeville acts and Howard Hawks’ comedy The Cradle Snatchers. The Kingston Daily Freeman called it one of the finest theatres in the Hudson River Valley — and for a Classical Revival house with ornate plasterwork, a soaring proscenium, and the kind of lobby that made you feel like you were somewhere important, the praise was earned.
For fifty years, the Broadway Theatre served Kingston as a movie palace. Then the suburbs happened. In 1977, the Reade organization shuttered the theater, unable to compete with multiplex cinemas in the malls. The building sat dark. Demolition was discussed. And then Kingston did what small cities occasionally do when they realize what they’re about to lose — they fought back. A nonprofit, the Ulster Performing Arts Center, was formed to purchase and preserve the theater. A $1.7 million renovation followed, completed in time for the building’s 75th anniversary in 2002. A second, more ambitious $5.4 million renovation in 2017 brought the infrastructure into the modern era while preserving everything that mattered about the original room.
The Bardavon Connection
In 2006, the Bardavon 1869 Opera House — the legendary Poughkeepsie venue that had been programming world-class performances since the Gilded Age — began managing UPAC. The two organizations merged the following year under the Bardavon Presents banner. The partnership gave Kingston access to Bardavon’s deep booking relationships and decades of arts programming expertise, and it gave Bardavon a 1,500-seat complement to their more intimate Poughkeepsie house.
The result is a venue that books with ambition. UPAC is the largest proscenium theater between Manhattan and Albany, and Bardavon Presents uses that scale to bring in national touring acts that might otherwise skip the Hudson Valley entirely. The Wallflowers. Cowboy Junkies. Lukas Nelson. Mary Chapin Carpenter. Ghostface Killah. Marlon Wayans. It’s a lineup that would be respectable in a city ten times Kingston’s size. The Hudson Valley Philharmonic also calls UPAC home, drawn by the same acoustics that make the room work for amplified rock and intimate folk sets alike.
The Room Itself
UPAC is the only unaltered pre-World War II theater still standing in Kingston, and one of just three from that era in the entire Hudson Valley. That distinction matters once you’re inside. The Classical Revival detailing — the plaster moldings, the arched proscenium, the balcony with its gentle rake — hasn’t been sanded down or modernized into anonymity. The bones of the 1927 building are still visible and still doing their job. At 1,500 seats, the room is large enough to feel like an event but small enough that you’re never disconnected from the stage.
The 2017 renovation modernized the infrastructure (HVAC, electrical, accessibility, backstage facilities) without altering the architectural character. It’s a balance that a lot of historic theaters fail to strike, and UPAC nails it.
Before and After the Show
UPAC sits on Broadway in Kingston’s Uptown Stockade District — one of the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhoods in America, dating to the 1600s. The dining scene here has exploded in recent years. Hoffman House, at the corner of the Stockade District, is a Kingston institution serving continental fare with a focus on steaks and fresh seafood in a building that’s been standing since the colonial era. Santa Fe Uptown delivers bold, border-crossing flavors — think lobster quesadillas and sweet potato tacos — in a lively room just up the street. For something more modern, Chleo is a gorgeous wine bar near some of the oldest buildings in North America, where the interiors are sleek and the small plates are precise.
Parking is easier than you’d expect. A large municipal lot sits directly across Broadway on Cornell Street — well-lit, safe, and free during evening hours. There’s a second staffed lot near the gas station with room for about 150 cars, also free for UPAC events. Street parking is metered until 6 PM on weekdays but free in the evenings and on Sundays.
Insider tip: If you’re coming from the south, build in an extra thirty minutes and park near the Rondout waterfront for dinner before heading up to Broadway. The Rondout is Kingston’s other dining hub, and the drive between the two is less than five minutes.
Plan your visit: bardavon.org