GREENE – Total attendance at Chenango River Theatre exceeded 5,000 for the first time in the company’s short four-year history. The company’s budget also topped the $200,000 mark for the first time. The growth rate makes the theatre one of the fastest growing theatre companies in the state, a strong achievement given the economy during the company’s initial years. 

CRT’s Artistic & Managing Director Bill Lelbach says, “We continue to see a theatre audience that believes that the greater Binghamton area deserves a full-time Equity theatre (Actors’ Equity is the association for professional actors in the U.S.). We’ve built the company around that belief. As word spreads that you can see actors and productions that are on a par with what you’d see anywhere in the country, we see a fairly dramatic increase each year in attendance. Most importantly, local corporate supporters are starting to understand something about our unique situation.”